Mornings with Simon Beaumont

Shelley Farmer, a former foster child, is hoping to use her own challenging experiences - growing up bouncing from home to home - to improve the lives of the next generation of children in State care. 

Shelley had 9 foster homes in 8 years from the age of 10 until she turned 18, but despite her difficult upbringing her positivity and determination shine through.

Home Stretch is a new program which aims to support young people transition out of foster care by focusing on the crucial years between 18 and 21. 

It is being run by Anglicare WA and Shelley is helping inform the program. 

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WorkSafe WA Commissioner Darren Kavanagh says an investigation is underway to determine what led to a building collapse at a construction site at Curtin University yesterday.

The incident resulted in the death of one man and left another fighting for his life in hospital.

Mr Kavanagh said there had been a "catastrophic failure". 

You can hear Mr Kavanagh's full interview here, as well as Gareth's cross with 6PR Jake Battrick who was at the site as students arrived to place flowers at the scene and show their respects.

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A new gene-based treatment could drastically improve care for those suffering depression by rapidly identifying which medication will be most effective for individual patients. 

Professor Shane Hood, Head of Sir Charles Gairdner Hospital's Mental Health Unit, explained pharmacogenomics and how it could be used in depression treatment to Gareth Parker. 

The clinical trial will be conducted by UWA's Australia's Young Lives Matter Foundation and Meeting for Minds thanks to funding by health insurer HBF. 

To express interest in being part of the trial you can email [email protected].

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A roadmap to eradicate cigarette smoking in Australia will be the focus of a new research group based at the University of Queensland.

The Centre for Research Excellence on Achieving the Tobacco Endgame (CREATE) will involve researchers from 11 institutions in Australia, New Zealand and Canada, with the aim of phasing out smoking for good.

Centre co-lead Professor Billie Bonevski says one measure could be to require  certain smokers to buy cigarettes from pharmacies or even require prescriptions.

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A worker who was hospitalised with chemical burns to his legs and feet after wading through toxic slurry on the Forrestfield-Airport Link project is still fighting for compensation more than a year after the incident.

George Deliu, 68, spoke to Gareth Parker about his experience and says believes he could not work again.

This story first aired on Nine News Perth.

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A Footscray champion who played against Polly Farmer in WA's famous win over Victoria in the 1961 national carnival used Polly's guernsey as a wet-suit for years.

The match is regarded as one of the most historic in WA football history, considering it was the state's first win over the 'Big V'.

John Schultz who played for Victoria swapped guernseys with Polly after the match and for years he wore it while surfing before putting it at the back of a drawer. 

Now the Black Swan Guernsey is heading home to go on display during a special exhibition of Polly Farmer memorabilia at WA's State Library. 

It will eventually be auctioned off for the Polly Farmer Foundation's upcoming 25-year anniversary. 

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Fisheries Minister Peter Tinley is in Esperance following to hear from the community following the shark attack on 52 year-old Andrew Sharpe. 

Mr Tinley spoke to Gareth Parker about what the Government is doing to make the ocean as safe as possible for its users. 

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Listener Peter called into the program to tell us not to give up on the lotto dream as he won over one million dollars three years ago. 

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Saturday Lotto is changing as of tomorrow with a larger Division One prize and the chances of winning any prize improving from 1-in-86 to 1-in-42, based on one game.

Players will only need three winning numbers to win Division Six.  Players previously needed 1 or 2 winning numbers plus 2 supplementary numbers. 

Lotterywest say that the changes were in response to national research conducted by the Australian Lotto Bloc. 

To support the changes there will be a price increase of 10 cents, plus retailer commission, per game.  

Lotterywest Spokesperson Pina Compagnone says we will be seeing thousands more WA winners after every draw.

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The State Budget was released yesterday with an iron ore royalties windfall helping to record a 1.2 billion dollar surplus. The Government has promised a $27 billion dollar infrastructure spend over the next four years.

The Treasurer confirmed the budget wasn’t based on any assumptions of a COVID-19 vaccine but is looking at the WA border opening sometime in the June quarter next year. There is an assumption the international border will open by December 2021 despite the Commonwealth saying it’ll be 2022.

Gareth Parker says that the budget lacks ambition and that "it does abit but it could do more."

 

 

 

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