Nicolas Perpitch has worked as a broadcast and print journalist at The Australian, SBS and AAP in Perth and Sydney. He joined ABC News in Perth in 2014.
Follow Nic on Twitter @NicPerpitch
Posted
| UpdatedBoth major parties bring out retired, successful leaders to boost their image as they campaign ahead of the March state election.
Topics: elections, perth-6000
Posted
| UpdatedThe Western Australian education system is failing to meet the needs of some highly disabled children because of inflexibility and a lack of expertise, an experienced educator says.
Topics: schools, disabilities, wa
Posted
| UpdatedA study involving Aboriginal mothers locked up in Western Australia highlights the impact of domestic violence on their lives — with almost 90 per cent saying they suffered abuse, often intergenerational, and many saying they were reluctant to report it.
Posted
| UpdatedA helicopter rescues about 15 people trapped by floodwaters on Western Australia's south coast, after torrential rain swells waterways.
Topics: floods, storm-event, storm-disaster, ravensthorpe-6346
Posted
A critical flaw in traffic modelling for Perth's Roe 8 highway extension underestimates the number of trucks that will use the road by up to 16,500 and invalidates the noise management plan and road design, new analysis suggests.
Topics: states-and-territories, environmental-health, health, elections, perth-6000, wa, fremantle-6160
Posted
| UpdatedWestern Australia's Deputy Premier brushes off the results of a poll showing the Barnett Government is on track to suffer a heavy loss in the upcoming state election and tipping One Nation to pick up 13 per cent of the primary vote.
Topics: elections, government-and-politics, states-and-territories, one-nation, alp, liberals
Posted
| UpdatedThe WA Nationals want to use $610 million in revenue from their proposed tax increase on big iron ore miners to boost regional tourism and diversify the state's economy, following the end of the mining boom.
Topics: elections, rural-tourism, tax, nationals, karratha-6714, perth-6000, wa
Posted
| UpdatedWestern Australia and the Federal Government have finalised a bilateral agreement to operate a state-run version of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in the state.
Topics: disabilities, health, wa
Posted
Western Australian wildlife rangers search for a bottlenose dolphin in the South-West which appears to have had a T-shirt or singlet deliberately pulled over its head.
Topics: animals, conservation, bunbury-6230
Posted
WA Labor is trying to draw federal issues such as GST and NBN into the state election campaign in the lead up to the March election.
Topics: state-parliament, elections, perth-6000
Posted
| UpdatedDrivers in Western Australia who try to flee a police pursuit will be automatically jailed under a new policy promised by the Barnett Government ahead of the March election.
Topics: traffic-offences, wa, perth-6000
Posted
Disability advocates and families want West Australian women in government care to be able to choose female carers to assist them with showering and other intimate duties to minimise the potential for abuse.
Topics: disabilities, carers, wa
Posted
| UpdatedThe Barnett Government promises to introduce legislation to scrap the six-year statute of limitations on when victims of child abuse can take civil against their perpetrators or institutions if it is re-elected.
Topics: child-abuse, family-and-children, sexual-offences, wa
Posted
| UpdatedThe family of a former WA footballer who was left permanently disabled by a car crash six years ago, loses their final bid to sue the driver for compensation, after a Perth court threw out their appeal.
Topics: disasters-and-accidents, law-crime-and-justice, health, wa
Posted
| UpdatedPolice are trying to confirm the background of a foreign national who is dead after jumping off cliffs at Blackwall Reach into Perth's Swan River.
Topics: accidents---other, death, bicton-6157, wa, australia
Posted
A Perth woman is sentenced to more than six years' jail for stealing $2.1 million from a law firm to fund her "pathological gambling", buy clothes, pay off her mortgage and support her lifestyle.
Topics: law-crime-and-justice, crime, wa, perth-6000, fremantle-6160
Posted
Western Australia's Yongah Hill Immigration Detention Centre will be partially rebuilt as a high-security facility to house increasing numbers of high and extreme risk foreign nationals linked to organised crime and outlaw motorcycle gangs.
Topics: immigration, federal-government, prisons-and-punishment, northam-6401, wa
Posted
| UpdatedTwo men are arrested by police outside a Perth court hearing of a case involving former One Nation senator Rodney Culleton, who walked out after demanding the men leave.
Topics: courts-and-trials, law-crime-and-justice, perth-6000, wa
Posted
| UpdatedWestern Australian Premier Colin Barnett says he does not want people imprisoned for unpaid fines, but has stopped short of committing to the state coroner's recommendation for legislative change to rule out detention for fine defaulters.
Topics: black-deaths-in-custody, indigenous-aboriginal-and-torres-strait-islander, government-and-politics, wa, perth-6000
Posted
| UpdatedThe WA coroner delivers a damning assessment of the treatment of an Aboriginal woman who died in custody, releasing shocking CCTV footage of her final hours and saying her life could have been saved.
Topics: death, black-deaths-in-custody, south-hedland-6722, perth-6000
Posted
| UpdatedWestern Australia's peak business group joins the Opposition in condemning a sharp increase in the state's unemployment rate, describing it as an "unacceptable" result that warrants immediate reform.
Topics: unemployment, states-and-territories, federal---state-issues, economic-trends, work, perth-6000, wa
Posted
Town of Vincent Mayor John Carey announces he will step down in January to contest the critical seat of Perth for Labor in the upcoming state election.
Topics: local-government, state-parliament, elections, perth-6000, leederville-6007
Posted
| UpdatedThe wreck of a nearly 300-year-old former slave ship lying just off the coast of Perth is scoured by maritime archaeologists using new technology to help learn more about Australia's underwater past.
Topics: conservation, maritime, fremantle-6160, perth-6000, wa
Posted
| UpdatedAuthorities are warning fuel loads bolstered by a mild, wet spring could see a catastrophic bushfire again strike the Perth Hills, where two blazes have already razed homes in the past decade.
Topics: bushfire, disasters-and-accidents, parkerville-6081, stoneville-6081, wa
Posted
| UpdatedWestern Australia will operate a version of the National Disability Insurance Scheme unlike the rest of the country, after the Commonwealth agrees to the adoption of a state-run model subject to a number of conditions.
Topics: disabilities, health, government-and-politics, wa