Hole cut into fence at WA prison

A hole was discovered in the fence at Acacia Prison this week. Source: PerthNow

WESTERN Australia's prisons minister says there was never any risk of a jailbreak despite last week's discovery of a hole cut into a fence at one of the state's prisons.

The state's Department of Corrective Services has confirmed the alarming discovery at Acacia prison, which can house more than 1000 medium-security prisoners.

But prisons minister Joe Francis says there had been no real danger of an escape.

"What happened here is the system worked,'' Mr Francis told ABC radio.

"I'm not going to go into the operational issues of it, but you can rest assured there was never any threat to the public of these people getting out.

"Intelligence was gathered that obviously discovered people plotted to escape, and it was stopped very quickly.''

An investigation has been launched into the potential security breach.

"Appropriate actions have been taken and there is no risk to the community,'' a spokeswoman for Corrective Services said. The WA Prison's Officers Union said continuing staff shortages were contributing to growing issues in WA prisons, but Mr Francis rejected that as a "cheap shot''.

"There are five thousand people behind bars in Western Australia, and many of them spend an awful lot of time trying to escape,'' Mr Francis said.

Man in dinosaur onesie on moving car

A WOMAN has been charged after police allegedly caught her driving while a man lay on her car bonnet dressed in a dinosaur onesie.

Broome police were travelling to Gantheaume Point, Cable Beach about 7.20am when they sighted a white Ford Falcon wagon travelling in the opposite direction.

Police allege the vehicle was travelling at approximately 60km/h with an adult male lying on the bonnet, facing the driver.

Officers stopped the vehicle and located the man still lying on the bonnet, smoking a cigarette, dressed in a dinosaur onesie and wearing a snorkel.

The 23-year-old female driver has been charged with excess 0.05% and reckless driving.

The vehicle was seized under hoon legislation. 

The woman will be summonsed and appear in court at a later date.

The pair are French nationals, believed to be backpackers living in the vehicle.

Warning of horror WA bushfire season

WA's wet winter could create a dangerous bushfire season in the hot months. Source: PerthNow

WA authorities fear a devastating bushfire season ahead after a wet winter.

WESTERN Australia's wet winter has authorities fearing a devastating bushfire season to come, as New South Wales firefighters continue to fight their worst blaze for 50 years.

Launching WA's Bushfire Action Week, Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis said the wetter than usual winter months had meant higher grass growth and less prescribed burns across the state.

``That means any bushfire has the potential to be intense and dangerous,'' Mr Francis said.

Firefighters 'fed up' with bureaucrats withholding funds for vital training and resources

``We have done everything we can to prepare for any threat that arises. Our firefighters are set for the season, but people have to understand that there are no guarantees in bushfire season.

``It's a dangerous time. Last year alone, there were more than 3,800 bushfires across WA.''

WA and federal governments, supported by the National Aerial Firefighting Centre, have boosted the overall capacity of WA's aerial firefighting fleet, which will include an Erickson Aircrane.

``This year's fleet of 22 helicopter and fixed-wing water bombers can drop more water than previous fleets, greatly helping firefighters who protect lives and properties on the frontline,'' Mr Francis said.

WA land owners were also urged to play their part in reducing the risk of bushfire, by clearing around their property, installing firebreaks and cleaning out gutters.

The warnings came as the state's Fire Commissioner Wayne Gregson said councils were failing to properly train and resource volunteer fire brigades.

Hames backs Serco amid fraud claims

Health Minister Kim Hames says he is confident private contractor Serco will deliver first-class services at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital. Picture: Marie Nirme Source: PerthNow

HEALTH Minister Kim Hames says he is confident private contractor Serco will deliver first-class services at the new Fiona Stanley Hospital despite allegations in the UK that the company has defrauded millions from the British Government.

The UK Metropolitan Police are investigating the multinational amid claims staff had altered transport records as part of its deal to deliver prisoners to and from courts.

It is also being investigated for claims it billed the UK justice department for electronic tags belonging to dead prisoners.

Serco Australia runs Acacia and Wandoo prisons in WA, immigration detention centres, transports prisoners to and from WA courts and will be in charge of most non-clinical services at FSH when it opens in 2014.

Serco is not accused of any wrongdoing in WA, but come under fire over the past year a number of incidents.

As a result it was abated almost $200,000.

Details regarding these "abatements" are contained in the 2012/13 Department of Corrective Services annual reports for three Serco contracts.

Among the incidents were:
transferring a prisoner to the wrong prison
allowing a prisoner to almost escape a hospital with a blood-filled syringe and
five unauthorised releases of a person from a court custody area due to administration errors
one case of juvenile escaping custody while being escorted from a regional court house to an adjacent police station

A Corrective Services spokesman said Serco had maintained a 99.5 per cent success rate since it took over the court security and custodial services contract two years ago.

But in a recent report it said the contractor's failure to deliver prisoners to court on time remained an issue and that overall customer satisfaction sat at just 61.2 per cent.

"The number of late deliveries to the courts remains an issue for significant business improvement opportunities throughout the system,'' the report said.

The police investigation in the UK centres around allegations that employees falsified documents to make it look like prisoners had been delivered to court on time.

According to UK reports, Serco was warned by the British Government last year that its transport contract would be terminated if it continued to deliver defendants late to court.

Evidence of the potential fraud emerged during an investigation by the UK's Ministry of Justice following allegations Serco and rival firm G4S had overcharged the government for electronic tagging of prisoners who were dead.

WA Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis would not comment on the investigations in the UK.

When asked if he had confidence in Servo to deliver services, he said he had ``confidence in the process'' that Serco would deliver.

``With respect to Serco's contracts in WA, as with all Government contracts, a public open tender process was followed and the contract is transparent and publicly available.

Commercial penalties apply for breaches of the contract,'' he added.

Dr Hames would also not comment on the UK matters saying he had confidence Serco would be able to deliver what it promised adding that "contractual mechanisms to withhold payment" were put in place to ensure this and that the government had to the power to "terminate the contract if poor performance was to continue".

A Serco spokesman said the "rigorous" performance regimes in its contracts held the company accountable and helped to direct efforts to continuously improve.

"This has seen our Court Security and Custodial Services team achieve a performance success rate of 99.5 per cent. We remain committed to providing high quality services in an honest and accountable manner," he said.

CCTV released of Bicton robbery

Police have released images of men wanted over the attempted robbery of ATMs in Bicton

Police have released images from CCTV in connection to a group of men wanted for trying to steal an ATM in Bicton. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

Police have released images from CCTV in connection to a group of men wanted for trying to steal an ATM in Bicton. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

Police have released images from CCTV in connection to a group of men wanted for trying to steal an ATM in Bicton. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

Police have released images from CCTV in connection to a group of men wanted for trying to steal an ATM in Bicton. Picture: Supplied. Source: PerthNow

POLICE have called for information about an aggravated burglary and the attempted stealing of an ATM from a shopping centre in Bicton early yesterday morning.

At about 2.40am, an offender in a stolen Toyota Hilux ute drove in through the entrance doors and through the mall area of the shopping centre. Three other offenders followed on foot.

The white 2008 Hilux was stolen from a business in Forsyth Street, O'Connor about three hours before.

The vehicle was used repeatedly to ram two ATMs which were fixed in the mall area. The offenders then tried to take cash from the ATMs but were unsuccessful.

The offenders are all Caucasian men aged between 20 and 30 years of age.

One offender has dark cropped hair and was wearing three-quarter length denim shorts, a grey hooded jacket with a motif and white shoes.

Another offender was wearing grey track pants, a dark blue jumper and black shoes.

A third offender was wearing a yellow beanie with ear flaps, ski goggles, a black jacket and black track pants with white markings on the side.

Anyone with any information should Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.

Assault victim, 18, dies in hospital

Forensic officers at the Beckenham home where an aggresive assault took place. The 18-year-old victim later died in hospital. Picture: Fakos Theo Source: PerthNow

A WA teenager has died in hospital after she was allegedly strangled at a house in Beckenham.

It is understood the 18-year-old suffered a severe brain injury during an assault which took place during the early hours of Friday.

Major Crime Squad detectives and forensic officers were yesterday scouring the scene for evidence as a 28-year-old man appeared at Northbridge Magistrate's Court charged in connection with the attack.

Rodney Corbett is accused of causing the teenager grievous bodily harm.

During the hearing, the court was told paramedics arrived just after 8am where they found the victim lying in a "rigid state'' on a couch at the property and believed she had suffered a severe brain injury.

Prosecutors said she was then rushed to Royal Perth Hospital where doctors found she had multiple bites, lacerations and bruises across her body and described her brain injury as being consistent with a "strangulation event''.

While no plea or application for bail was made, a lawyer acting on behalf of Mr Corbett questioned the strength of the state's case saying there was no independent witness adding it was his client who called emergency services to attend.

He also said there was no forensic evidence linking his client to the assault.

Magistrate Ed DeVries said yesterday because of the seriousness of the teenager's injuries he was not inclined to grant bail and also told the court that he understood the victim might not survive.

"As I understand the situation the victim has sustained brain injuries and that the likelihood of her survival is not good,'' he said.

Police said on Sunday morning that the victim died in hospital overnight.

The Magistrate said it was likely the charges could be upgraded.

He remanded Corbett into custody and adjourned to hearing until October 25.

WA electro-shock laws going ahead

A briefing for Mental Health Minister Helen Morton, pictured, conceded new laws allowing electroconvulsive therapy and psychosurgery to be performed on children without their parents' consent, subject to approval by a special medical tribunal, will polarise West Australians. Source: PerthNow

CONTROVERSIAL laws that will allow teenagers to consent to electro-shock therapy and brain surgery will go ahead, a leaked WA Government memo reveals.

A briefing for Mental Health Minister Helen Morton ahead of the Bill's introduction to parliament this week concedes new laws allowing electroconvulsive therapy (ECT) and psychosurgery to be performed on children without their parents' consent, subject to approval by a special medical tribunal, will polarise West Australians.

"Some stakeholders such as the Citizens' Commission on Human Rights (an organisation of the Church of Scientology) strongly oppose use of ECT and argue that it should be severely limited," the memo says.

"Others, including clinicians and a number of consumers and families with direct experience of it, believe it is a life-saving treatment. It is particularly effective in training major depression and bipolar disorder."

ECT  a procedure in which seizures are electrically induced in anaesthetised patients  would be banned for anyone under 14 but could be performed on children aged 14-17 without parental consent. The new law would also permit psychosurgery  which involves removing parts of the brain  for the first time in WA since the 1970s. It could be performed on children as young as 16.

A child with "capacity" could consent to these treatments, but their parents must be informed and it must be approved by a special tribunal.

"The Bill imposes very strict parameters around the use of psychotherapy," the memo says.

"It always requires the informed consent of a patient himself or herself and even then must be approved by a specially constituted tribunal which includes a neurosurgeon."

A draft Bill released last year attracted more than 600 written comments, with a majority of them taking aim at the ECT and psychosurgery proposals.

The briefing note says some doctors are likely to argue that the new law would create extra paperwork for an already over-stretched profession. And it says some families will feel the Bill does not go far enough to empower them to influence the treatment of loved ones.

It notes that a recent wide-ranging review of mental health services in WA recommended that the Chief Psychiatrist be made more independent from the Government.

"Some community stakeholders are likely to argue that the Bill does not go far enough in this regard," it says.

"(But) the Bill removes the existing power of direction and control of the CEO of the Department of Health."
 

Ban on R-rated material in WA prisons

Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis has ordered a review and banned porn in WA prisons. File image. Source: Supplied

PRISONERS have been ordered to remove pictures of naked women from their cells in a crackdown on sexually explicit material in WA jails.

Corrective Services Minister Joe Francis ordered a review of the prison mailing system, after being "tipped off" earlier this year that unacceptable material was ending up in the hands of sex offenders and other violent prisoners.

Mr Francis has banned publications such as Penthouse and Playboy from prisons, and ordered posters of naked women to be ripped down.

 Mr Francis said he was also going through the list of what video games, magazines and CDs were being sold at the prison canteen to ensure inmates were not buying anything above an MA15+ rating.

"You don't get to look at porn while you are in prison - not under my watch," Mr Francis said.

Prisoners are paid $10 a day for their work, which they can use to buy TVs, computer games, consoles and magazines.

Nothing above an MA15+ classification is supposed to be sold in prisons.

But Mr Francis said R-rated material was still finding its way into jails, mainly through the mail system.

"There were guidelines but they were not being applied. No material should be above MA15+," Mr Francis said.

"There was some R-rated material found in our prisons, and I don't want that. It is totally inappropriate for sex offenders or violent offenders to have access to material which is of a sexual or violent nature.

"My understanding is that materials such as Penthouse and Playboy were previously allowed into the prison. There may have been some ambiguity as to what is acceptable. There is no ambiguity now."
 

Buswell cracks down on e-licences

Transport Minister Troy Buswell is cracking down on extraordinary licences, urging prosecutors to be better "advocates for public safety". File image

PROSECUTORS have been told to make it harder for banned drivers to get extraordinary licences.

Transport Minister Troy Buswell has urged them to be better "advocates for public safety" as part of moves to resist applications from individuals who pose a threat to other road users.

And magistrates would have to make public safety the overriding consideration when determining applications, under law changes Mr Buswell has flagged.

The moves follow a review into how the Department of Transport handles extraordinary licence applications. Almost 200 are approved every month.

"I want to ensure that wider public safety is the main consideration of the courts when granting these licences, not driver convenience," Mr Buswell said.

Mr Buswell ordered the review after an investigation by The Sunday Times found the department didn't oppose an e-licence application by serial drink-driver Mitchell Walsh-McDonald last year.

Walsh-McDonald was granted the licence despite a history that included knocking down and killing schoolgirl Jess Meehan 10 years ago.

The department initially claimed it opposed his application last year. But an investigation by The Sunday Times found the department did not oppose his application and gave the court reasons why it should be granted.

As a result Walsh-McDonald was able to get back behind the wheel  until he was caught drink-driving again, his seventh offence.

Two months ago he pleaded guilty to drink-driving, talking on his mobile phone while driving and breaching two conditions of his licence.

A spokeswoman for Mr Buswell said: "The Department of Transport has already provided clearer direction to its prosecutors that their role in extraordinary driver's licence hearings is to be the advocate for public safety."

Death risk for WA miners

New figures show almost half of the 52 mining deaths recorded since 2000 were workers in their first year on site.File image. Source: Supplied

ALMOST half of the workers killed in WA's resources industry since 2000 were in their first year at a mine site.

The Department of Mines and Petroleum has analysed the 52 mining deaths between 2000 to 2012, when the industry workforce increased by 60,000.

"Forty nine per cent of these deaths involved workers who were in the first year at their mine sites or fulfilling new roles," safety director Simon Ridge said this week.

He said the findings reinforced the importance of inductions, training and familiarisation with new environments. The study found 62 per cent of the cases involved onsite procedures not being followed.

"This drives the point home that we must always apply known precautions to known hazards and, where new tasks, machines or processes are being introduced, detailed hazard analysis and risk assessment should be carried out," he said.

The research also showed 44 per cent of deaths involved supervisors in their first year on the job, highlighting the need for supervisors to be fully aware of the hazards and risks, so workers are monitored.

 During the 13-year period, clusters of accidents occurred at the end of day shift (between 3pm and 6pm), five hours into both day and night shift (at 11am and 11pm) as well as at 3am.

"Although the sample size in our study is relatively small, these incident times seem to align with the very times when employees may be fatigued and more prone to making errors," Mr Ridge said.

"That's why it's crucial for employers and employees to understand the importance of meal and rest breaks in improving energy and concentration, particularly every four hours during the common 12-hour shift."

While the study did not show any evidence that longer rosters resulted in increased fatalities, more than half of the incidents involved employees working on the most commonly used FIFO roster, the two-on one-off.

The most prevalent occupations included fitters (nine fatalities) and haul truck operators (five fatalities), and technicians, drivers and jumbo operators (4 fatalities each).

The main causes of all incidents included incorrect use of fall arrest equipment; procedures not being followed; run-away vehicles, vehicles over edges and collisions; electrocution; rock falls and pit wall failures; water in-rush; and tyre handling.

Fifty six per cent of incidents were at gold and nickel mines in the Goldfields, while Pilbara iron ore sites accounted for 33 per cent with 35 incidents on the surface and 17 underground.
 

Teen dies after stolen car crash

A 15-YEAR-OLD boy has died in hospital after a stolen car crashed in WA's North-West yesterday.

About 12.30pm, officers were patrolling Boundary Road, Carnarvon, when they saw a blue Ford Falcon panel van that allegedly matched the description of one stolen earlier in the week.

Officers attempted to stop the vehicle but the driver allegedly failed to stop. The vehicle was later found on Harbour Rd where it is thought to have crashed and rolled.

Four people were found at the scene, including the 15-year-old Brockman boy who suffered serious injuries and later died in hospital.

The other three passengers were uninjured.

A 16-year-old Morgantown boy has been charged with a number of offences including stealing a motor vehicle, no authority to drive and aggravated dangerous driving causing death.

The two other passengers, a 14-year-old boy and 16-year-old boy, have been released without charge, pending further investigation.

Double fatality near Geraldton

Huntington hit-run investigation

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Bushhaven working wonders

Dr. Matt Appleby, Bush Heritage Australia's ecologist for the Charles Darwin Reserve, near Wubin in the wheatbelt, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: The Sunday Times

TUCKED away in the northern wheatbelt, about 355km northeast of Perth, is a former sheep station turned environmental sanctuary that is now a safe haven to about half of the region's most endangered flora and fauna.

Yesterday the private Charles Darwin Reserve - run by Bush Heritage and located within a bioregion that was 93 per cent cleared for agriculture - celebrated its 10th anniversary.

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To mark the occasion, Bush Heritage released a report on its decade of work, which found the reserve protects up to 61 per cent of the area's birds, mammals, reptiles and frogs and 35 per cent of its plants.

This is despite the reserve covering just 68,481ha  only 1 per cent of the entire Avon-Wheatbelt Merredin sub-region.
 

Tanami Bayley-Stewart (9) with a variety of flowers from the Charles Darwin Reserve, near Wubin in the wheatbelt, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: The Sunday Times

Among the rare animals that call the reserve home are the Major Mitchell cockatoo, known for its bright red and yellow crest; the mallee fowl; a small, nocturnal marsupial called the white-tailed dunnart; sandalwood, a tree valued for its aromatic oil; and a rare, wiry wattle known as acacia cerastes.

It was established in 2003 with the help of a $300,000 donation from Charles Darwin's great-great-grandson, Chris, out of his inheritance.

When Bush Heritage took over the lease, the old station was degraded, riddled with weeds and teeming with feral goats, cats and foxes. Bush Heritage ecologist Matt Appleby said the team had worked hard to eradicate the pests and let the natural flora and fauna return.

Dr Appleby, who has worked at the reserve for six years, said the reserve was "absolutely important".

"This property is located within the most cleared bioregion within the South West Botanic Hotspot and anything that's left in it is a treasure," he said.

"If we had been clever about things when we first started clearing for agriculture, we would have left examples and good intact landscapes there and not left tiny little remnants that have no hope in hell in 50 years, 100 years of surviving."

Ecologist Angela Sanders with a Sandy Inland Mouse caught in a pitfall trap at the Charles Darwin Reserve, near Wubin in the wheatbelt, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: The Sunday Times

Dr Appleby said their work was fuelled mostly by donations.

However, Healthy Landscape manager Luke Bayley, who lives on the reserve with his wife and two children, said such reserves could become a new economy.

"There's a lot of similar work (to be done here) as there is on a pastoral property, except we're farming biodiversity, not sheep or beef," he said.

"It's a product and people are prepared to pay for it and whether that's through the open market  carbon trading is one element of that  and there could be other biodiversity, environmental economic mechanisms, but our economy is not set up for that at the moment."

He said the mission for Charles Darwin Reserve was not to necessarily recreate what was once there, but allow the environment to stabilise itself.

Phd student Tim Doherty with a Western Saddle Ground Gecko at the Charles Darwin Reserve, near Wubin in the wheatbelt, which has just celebrated its 10th anniversary. Picture: Stewart Allen Source: The Sunday Times

Fleeing China for Perth freedom

Dr Albert Lin (foreground) with Frank and Sam who fled China Picture: Theo Fakos Source: The Sunday Times

FOR most West Australians there is nothing special about the name "Frank".

But for one new citizen it is a badge of honour in his fight against oppression.

"I found in the dictionary that freedom has Frank behind it and I came to Australia for freedom, so, it's heaven to me," the 40-year-old told The Sunday Times.

In 2008, Frank and countryman Sam fled China after they had been detained, beaten and subjected to forced labour.

Their crime was practising a peaceful meditation ritual known as Falun Gong.

Both changed their names when they became Australian citizens and since coming to Perth - Frank as a refugee and Sam as a skilled migrant - they have been campaigning with fellow Falun Gong practitioner Albert Lin to raise awareness of the human rights abuses inside WA's biggest economic partner.

Part of raising awareness is telling their story of abuse.

But they are so afraid that loved ones still living in China could be persecuted for their actions they have asked to have only their new first names printed. They also asked to be partly obscured in their photo.

Falun Gong gained popularity in China in the early 1990s and by 1999 had tens of millions of followers.

But the ruling Communist Party saw it as a threat because of its size and independence.

By mid-1999 the Chinese officialdom started suppressing the movement and ordered a nationwide crackdown on the practice.

Frank was detained in 2001 for two years. He was forced to make cheap products, such as Christmas decorations and suits.

"To be sent to a labour camp, it does not need any judge or lawyers, they just have to say you are breaking these rules, you are damaging to society, you need to stay in labour camp," Frank said.

When he was not in a sweat shop, Frank said he was tortured. In one instance, police tied him to a chair and subjected him to electric shocks for hours.

One night fellow prisoners tied him to a bed and beat him until his arms were black and swollen.

Sam, a chemical engineer, and his wife, an accountant, went from living a comfortable life to becoming targets for persecution.

In 2001, Sam was babysitting a friend's children when he was arrested.

At the police station, Sam was hung from a window frame, beaten and had ice poured down his pants.

He was then put in detention for the next nine months where he made plastic flowers.

Sam said he was never sent to a labour camp because the government wanted him to spy on his friends.

After he was released, Sam and his wife tried to not meet their friends to keep them out of danger.

The men say Falun Gong practitioners are still abused.

Dr Lin said he felt forced to speak out after it was revealed in 2006 that practitioners were being rounded up for organ harvesting.

"There are about two million people in forced labour camps in China at this time ... and that's how China has caught up so quickly economically," Dr Lin said.

To raise awareness of about the oppression of Falun Gong in China, Dr Lin has organised free screenings of two documentaries Free China and Transcending Fear at the State Library. The next screenings will be on Thursday from 6.30pm.

WA fires risk to grow

Fire Commissioner Wayne Gregson has written to Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis pleading cuts to be reduced. Picture: Daniel Wilkins Source: The Sunday Times

CUTS to the state's firefighting budget could put frontline services at risk and hold back major reforms, the Government has been warned.

The Sunday Times understands that Fire Commissioner Wayne Gregson has written to Emergency Services Minister Joe Francis pleading for the Government's planned $59.46 million cuts over four years to be significantly reduced.

Mr Gregson has warned that the cuts will affect key reforms that are yet to be implemented in the aftermath of the 2011 Perth Hills bushfires, which destroyed 71 homes.

The Commissioner's frustration is made clear in the recently released Department of Fire and Emergency Services 2012-13 annual report.

Mr Gregson says the department "expects to face significant challenges" delivering reform projects in addition to frontline services "as a consequence of a decrease in salary resourcing of $59.46 million over four years introduced in the 2013-14 Budget".

The budget cuts come as WA prepares for a potentially catastrophic bushfire season fuelled by late winter rains and a big shortfall in prescribed burning.

The Department of Environment and Conservation has only done 10 per cent of its targeted control burns in the South-West in the lead-up to summer.

And last month was the wettest September in 40 years, with the late rains meaning there will be a bigger build-up of dry grass during summer.

Prominent bushfire expert Roger Underwood this week warned that WA was facing the worst build-up of fuel loads since 1961, which saw devastating fires across the South-West.

Mr Gregson last night said the agency was involved in "ongoing discussions" with the minister regarding the DFES budget. He would not comment further.

Mr Francis said DFES funding was still being considered by the Economic and Expenditure Reform Committee ahead of the midyear review, which must be released before December 31.

"The State Government remains committed to the implementation of the Keelty reforms, with over 80 per cent of the 55 recommendations already adopted," Mr Francis said.

Opposition emergency services spokeswoman Margaret Quirk said a "dodgy" State Budget meant the Barnett Government was trying to play catch-up by finding savings anywhere it could.

She said there had been only a minimal increase in the number of career firefighters protecting WA in the past five years, despite a "massive" population rise.

"Firefighters are being expected to do more with less," Ms Quirk said. "You only get one chance when you're combatting a fire  you need to get it right."

Court metal detector call

Shadow attorney-general John Quigley has called for metal detectors to be installed into WA court buildings. Picture: Richard Hatherly Source: PerthNow

AN incident where a man slit his arm with one of three fishing knives he smuggled into a regional courtroom has prompted a call for metal detectors to be placed in every WA court building.

The call comes as the Barnett Government revealed it was seeking legal advice over the security blunder at Bunbury Courthouse.

Attorney-General Michael Mischin said he had referred the matter to the State's Solicitors Office to investigate whether Serco, the private firm that provides security at many of WA courts, had breached its contract.

Serco provides security guards for Bunbury and seven other regional courts in WA.

The Opposition said the Bunbury security breach, which occurred on September 2, was an "appalling lapse".

Shadow attorney-general John Quigley said Mr Mischin should explain why there was "insufficient security" in WA courts and called on the Government to issue every courthouse in the state with hand-held metal detectors.

"Every court should have these hand-held metal detectors to wave over people entering the court," Mr Quigley said.

"It's a basic requirement. The wands don't cost that much and they should be issued to the courts. You have got dangerous people coming to court."

He also said Mr Mischin should serve Serco with a notice stating it would lose its contract if another security breach occurred.

"The Attorney-General has got to get real with public safety and the safety of the judiciary," Mr Quigley said.

A spokesman for the Department of Corrective Services said an investigation into the incident was being carried out.

A Serco spokesman said an operational review of the incident found the officers acted "expeditiously and appropriately after the duress signal was raised".

He said Serco had a 99.5 per cent success rate in transporting prisoners as well as other activities around the state since it was awarded the Court Security and Custodial Services contract two years ago.

A WA Police spokesman said a 29-year-old man has been charged in connection with the incident and is due to face court later this month.

It has been alleged the man smuggled in the weapons, as well as a pair of scissors, after returning to the courtroom following a family law hearing that morning.

Mr Mischin confirmed physical security screening was not in place in regional courts, but said other "measures" were and, if required, were implemented with police assistance.