Mercanti admits bashing former partner

Troy Mercanti, a former member of the Coffin Cheaters and now a Fink bikie sensationally admits beating his former partner Tammy Kingdon. Source: PerthNow

VICTIMN: Tammy Kingdon, who was repeatedly bashed by former partner, bikie Troy Mercanti. Picture: Kerris Berrington Source: PerthNow

NOTORIOUS Perth bikie Troy Mercanti has dramatically admitted beating his former partner over a span of 15 years, after changing his pleas midway through his trial.

Mercanti, a former senior Coffin Cheater who defected to the Finks, had denied five charges of assaulting Tammy Kingdon, the mother of his two children, during the relationship which began in 1997.

Ms Kingdon had been cross-examined by Mr Mercanti's lawyer Colin Lovitt for almost six days over her allegations that he had beaten her so badly she needed a plate in her face to fix a broken eye socket, had suffered two sets of broken ribs and had her tooth knocked out on Christmas Day 2006.

But after Mercanti's brother Michael, and then his mother Sybil, both testified the assault did take place, the West Australian District Court was told the 45 year-old had been ``shaken'' and was pleading guilty to four of the five assaults.

The last charge was dropped by the prosecution after a trial lasting two weeks.

Mr Lovitt requested a sentencing hearing be held on Wednesday.

The trial had been told that Mercanti's physical violence towards Ms Kingdon had started just days after they had first became involved.

He was accused of punching her in the face outside a hotel in Bunbury, leaving her with black eyes and a fractured eye socket that required a metal plate to heal.

The pair continued their relationship, and Ms Kingdon gave birth to two boys by Mercanti in the following four years.

Prosecutor Justin Whalley said Mercanti punched her again in 2002, leaving a facial cut that needed stitches, and launched a prolonged assault on Christmas Day 2006 which left her missing a tooth.

In 2011, he allegedly punched and kicked her and made her stand naked in front of their Duncraig house after an argument following a sex party involving a friend of Mercanti's.

Following an alleged beating in January 2012, when with broken ribs, she was left naked and cowering outside a neighbour's home, Ms Kingdon went to police and made a statement that stretched to 104 pages.

He had also urinated on Ms Kingdon, threatened to tie her with gaffer tape to a tree to stop her attending her sister's wedding and ordered her to lie on a dog bed and bark, the court was told.

Mr Lovitt in his cross examination, accused Ms Kingdon of being a ``liar and an actress'', that she was out for revenge, and also claiming she was accident prone.

Mercanti's mother, however, said she had witnessed the Christmas Day assault.

``He is my son and I know that he is not the perfect son but I love him and I can't take that feeling away ... I really don't want to be here today,'' Mrs Mercanti told the court.

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Sally Ayhan's latest weather update

GET the latest on what the weather's been doing today, plus the forecast for the next 24 hours and week ahead, with Channel 9's weather presenter Sally Ayhan.

Channel Nine's new weather presenter Sally Ayhan gives PerthNow readers a unique insight into what's been happening with the local weather and a sneak peek into what temperatures to expect over the next 24 hours.
 
For Sally's full weather report, including the 7-day forecast, make sure you tune in to Nine News at 6pm tonight.
 

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Counting to take days in knife-edge seats

CLOSE CALL: Counting will continue this week in five knife-edge seats. Source: PerthNow

THE final make-up of the WA parliament will not be known for days, as counting continues in five knife-edge seats and Premier Colin Barnett ponders the composition of his new cabinet.

While the decision to endorse four more years of Liberal rule was known shortly after polling booths closed on Saturday, results from the last of the 59 lower house seats may not be known until next weekend. The four-way race in the Kimberley is tipped to run until Saturday.

WA's electoral commissioner Warwick Gately said with postal votes expected to come in until Thursday, and 79 early voting locations both interstate and overseas to consider, the work of counters and scrutineers would continue for days.

"Some of these close seats will not be resolved until Saturday at the earliest," Mr Gately said.

The seats of Belmont, Collie-Preston, Midland, Eyre and Kimberley were all still up for grabs on Monday afternoon, with less than 100 votes separating three of those electorates.

Labor powerbroker Michelle Roberts was still desperately hanging on to her Midland seat, with just 0.41 per cent separating her and Liberal challenger Daniel Parasiliti.

Agriculture Minister Terry Redman is expected to hold on to his seat in Warren-Blackwood, after looking like being dumped by the electorate as counting began.

Mr Barnett and Nationals leader Brendon Grylls are due to hold a meeting on Wednesday, but it is believed no speedy decision on the shape and style of the new cabinet would be made.

"I will not make any decision or any overtures about the composition of cabinet until the final result is known," Mr Barnett told ABC Radio.

"Obviously I've got to have a discussion with Brendon Grylls which we're planning to do a little later in the week."

"He and I have a terrific working relationship. We've never had a serious argument, we always find a solution and that will continue."

As the Liberals' landslide continued to sink in locally and nationally, the little-known Shooters and Fishers party - set up in WA as "politically incorrect, a voice of reason, science and conservation" - looked set to win an upper house seat in the Agricultural region.

"Most people who recreate in the outdoors, the last thing on their mind is politics, but a lot of restrictions have been put on them and I suppose the silent majority has become quite political," WA leader Rick Mazza said.

Federal finance minister Penny Wong said the message from the West should be clear for the Gillard government ahead of the September 14 federal election.

"The message from Western Australians is they want us to do better. And we don't do better by talking about ourselves - we do better by doing the right thing by Australians and their families," Senator Wong said.

LEGISLATIVE ASSEMBLY - SEATS WON

Liberal
29
Labor
18
Nationals
7
Greens
0
Others
0
Undecided:
Belmont
Held by Labor, Liberals ahead

Eyre
Held by Liberal, Nationals ahead

Kimberley
Held by Labor, Liberals ahead

Collie-Preston
Held by Labor, Labor ahead

Midland
Held by Labor, Labor ahead

LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL PREDICTIONS (provided by ABC/WA Electoral Commission)

Liberal - 17

Labor - 11

Nationals - 5

Greens - 2

Shooters and Fishers - 1

 

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Shocking Transperth bus brawl caught on camera

Two women got into a physical altercation on a TransPerth bus. Warning: Strong language

Footage has emerged of a violent brawl on board a Transperth bus. Picture: Richard Hatherly Source: PerthNow

VIDEO footage has emerged of a violent brawl involving two women that took place on board a Transperth bus last week .

The video was captured on a smartphone by a passenger and uploaded to YouTube.

The Public Transport Authority has confirmed that the incident took place last Tuesday night, about 7:45pm, on board a 99 Circle Route bus near Hilton.

The fight started when one of the women takes offence at the other woman making racist comments to another passenger.

The two women verbally abused and threatened each other using explicit language for several minutes before the fight turned physical.

Other passengers were forced to duck for safety as the women push and pull at each other in the widest part of the bus. The video ends with one of the women pinning the other to the ground. It is understood they both left the bus soon after.

Public Transport Authority spokesman David Hynes said the bus driver did the right thing by using a distress button located inside his cabin to call for help from security staff.

"Security staff arrived at the scene within three minutes, but the bus had moved on to another stop. They located the bus within a further seven minutes but the two women could not be found.

"The incident and the circumstances leading to it are both unacceptable.

"Our passengers are entitled to undertake their journeys without being confronted by intimidating or offensive behaviour and certainly without being exposed to this sort of violence which is unfortunately increasingly common across society as a whole."

None of the passengers on board filed a complaint with police.

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Barnett: No new Cabinet till votes counted

HOME AND HOSED: Premier Colin Barnett and wife Lyn at Cottesloe Beach. Picture: Colin Murty Source: PerthNow

VICTORIOUS: Colin Barnett salutes the party faithful, claiming victory just after 9pm Saturday night.  Source: PerthNow

WESTERN Australia's re-elected Premier Colin Barnett says he will not think about his new cabinet line-up until after all votes from the state election are counted.

The Liberals won Saturday's election with a landslide victory over Labor, which lost several seats.

Mr Barnett no longer needs the Nationals to form government, after what he called a ``slight shift in the balance of power''.

But he says they will again be part of a coalition and he will discuss the situation with Nationals Leader Brendon Grylls ``a little later in the week''.

``I will not make any decision or any overtures about the composition of cabinet until the final result is known,'' Mr Barnett told ABC radio on Monday.

The premier said Mr Grylls had been a fantastic member of cabinet who had supported him on some policies that were not as popular among his fellow cabinet members.

``He and I have a terrific working relationship,'' he said.

``We've never had a serious argument.

``We always find a solution, and that will continue.''

With several seats still undetermined and postal votes not closing until Thursday, the cabinet line-up might not be known until well into next week.

But Mr Barnett said his government would be making a fresh start and he would not continue with legislation that had been half-debated before the election so new members of parliament could be involved.

The premier also said he would take a personal interest in agriculture issues in the Wheatbelt and wanted to reduce unnecessary regulation to allow farmers to get on with their jobs.

``I'll probably be more involved with ministers in a number of portfolios,'' he said.

Mr Barnett said the successful Royalties for Regions initiative would continue but with a shift from local projects to more basic infrastructure and road projects.

The premier said he did not think it was a problem to see the parliament dominated by the two major political parties.

He said Australia as a whole had been governed well since federation by the two major parties.

Mr Barnett hinted strongly there would a more Liberal imprint on where the Royalties for Regions money would flow.

"The focus will be more on basic services, country roads, rail upgrades, power distribution - those fundamental services, I think there is a need,'' Mr Barnett said.

"No decisions will be made about any portfolio until we sit down and work out how many Liberal ministers and Nationals ministers there will be and who they will be.''

National leader Brendan Grylls, a big winner in the seat of Pilbara, still anticipated a big role in the government.

"I hope to have a strong influence in any future Liberal/National government,'' Mr Grylls said.

"We've had a great working relationship.''

Mr Barnett's major election promises of a new airport rail line, a tram line from Perth's north to the city and a highway from Perth to Darwin are all dependent on billions of dollars of federal money.

But the premier preferred to reiterate his personal commitment to take up the plight of WA's farmers, rather than focus on the big election promises.

And he said he was also expecting knocks on the door from several new Liberal MPs.

"I hope I have got a lot of ambitious backbenchers. There will be competition and that is good for the long-term future of the Liberal Party,'' Mr Barnett said.

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Carles in hiding, may run for mayor

Adele Carles is considered to have little chance of retaining her seat of Fremantle. Source: The Sunday Times

ADELE Carles was snubbed by almost 95 per cent of voters in her seat of Fremantle yesterday.

Ms Carles went into hiding as she came to grips with being thrown out of Parliament.

Labor candidate Simone McGurk won the seat with 39% of the vote.

Attempts by The Sunday Times to contact Ms Carles were ignored, and her staff wouldn't reveal where she was planning to spend possibly her last night as a state politician.

PerthNow understands Ms Carles is considering running for Fremantle mayor.

Ms Carles, a Greens-turned-independent, made headlines in 2010 when she revealed she was having an affair with Treasurer Troy Buswell.

The relationship soured and Ms Carles is now being sued by Mr Buswell over comments she made last December about an incident in 2011 involving the then housing and transport minister and businessman Nicholas Kailis at the home of property developer Nigel Satterley. Mr Buswell has disputed the claims.

A win by Ms McGurk, who is secretary of UnionsWA, would reclaim for Labor a seat it had held from 1924-2009.

"I got to doorknock or phone about 80 per cent of the electorate, so I hoped that our campaign demonstrated to voters here that Labor absolutely did not take the seat for granted,'' Ms McGurk said.

"There are some matters that need urgent attention it's difficult being a city right on top of a working port. We've got to get more freight on to rail. I also want to help lift Fremantle to maintain its rightful place as Perth's second city.''

Before the election of Ms Carles, Fremantle had been the territory of former Labor attorney-general Jim McGinty, who held the seat for nearly 20 years before he retired in 2009.

The Liberal Party chose not to run a candidate for the resulting by-election and Ms Carles won easily.

This time around, the Liberals put up IT consultant Matthew Hanssen as their candidate.

Liberal preferences were directed to the Greens and Ms Carles ahead of Labor.

The Liberals preferenced Labor over the Greens in every other seat except Fremantle.

Ms Carles resigned from the Greens to run as an independent in 2010, a month after her affair with Mr Buswell was revealed by The Sunday Times.

At a Fremantle candidates debate last month, her pitch to voters included her claim that she knew "how the Liberal Government works''.

She told the forum: 'I have a track record in working with the Liberal Government. I have a track record in exposing the Liberal Government.''

The Fremantle electorate takes in the suburbs of Fremantle, East Fremantle, Palmyra, White Gum Valley, South Fremantle, Beaconsfield, North Coogee, and parts of Hamilton Hill and Spearwood, as well as Rottnest Island.

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McGowan takes blame for Labor wipeout

Leader of the Opposition Mark McGowan at the Rockingham Foreshore the morning after WA Labour was defeated. Picture: Kerris Berrington Source: PerthNow

LABOR leader Mark McGowan refuses to link his election defeat to the federal party yet hopes his diminishing pool of parliamentary colleagues will give him another shot.

"I take responsibility for the outcome and I'm not going to blame anyone else,'' Mr McGowan said.

He said Saturday had been a brutal night for state Labor, which would spend coming days reflecting on its caning at the polls, but he couldn't yet pinpoint what had gone wrong.

It was always difficult to defeat a first-term government, he said, and wouldn't be drawn on the many comments from both sides of politics - including defence minister Stephen Smith - that the party's federal woes had dented WA Labor's chances.

"I'm not going to blame any other level of government,'' Mr McGowan said.

"I know over the coming week, people will try to make me do it.

"I'm the leader - I said it was a state campaign, I was repetitive in saying that.''

When pressed on the role the federal party may have played, he said: ``I'm not going to get into all of those issues today''.

Prime minister Julia Gillard issued a brief, terse statement congratulating Mr Barnett and saying she acknowledged Mr McGowan's hard-fought campaign.

After licking its wounds, WA Labor will hold a caucus meeting later this week, when Mr McGowan will stand for the leadership again.

But he said it was up to his colleagues.

"I've tried to do the best I can and make sure that we're a positive alternative,'' he said.

"I hope my colleagues agree with me.''

His second in charge, opposition treasury spokesman Ben Wyatt, said Mr McGowan was the right man to rebuild the party in the state.

Mr Wyatt said he hoped and expected the former Navy lieutenant and lawyer - who only took over from Eric Ripper just over a year ago - would stay on as leader and contest the 2017 election.

Meanwhile, Mr McGowan said the interim was an opportunity for rebuilding and he hoped the party would win more than 20 seats when counting was finalised.

"If we obtain that, that makes us into a significant opposition,'' he said.

He said he was very sad about his colleagues who lost, but no-one could deny the party had run a good campaign.

"I'm proud of the campaign we ran, it was hard work, but we went out there with so many policies and so many ideas,'' he said.

Mr McGowan was surprisingly non-committal as to whether WA Labor's main election promise, the Metronet rail network, would remain part of its policy in its current form.

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Greens battered in WA election

Federal Greens leader Christine Milne. Picture: Mark Griffin Source: PerthNow

If LABOR'S performance in the West Australian election was bad, the Greens was worse - and the party's federal leader Christine Milne says it's a clear warning that Tony Abbott and last century conservatism looms large.

As Colin Barnett's minority Liberal government was returned with a huge majority, the four per cent swing away from the Greens was even more violent than those that turned away from Labor.

The Greens only hope of representation in WA's lower house is in the Kimberley, where local candidate Chris Maher and his opposition to the James Price Point gas project mobilised support.

But across the rest of the state, the Greens vote plummeted, with the party predicted to hold just two seats in the Upper House as counting concludes.

Ms Milne said rather than take her party's savaging in WA as a sign of decline, she said voters should see it as a warning as what could happen at the federal polling booths in September.

"I think the message out of WA is that is essential that we keep the Greens holding the balance of power in the federal parliament,'' Ms Milne said.

"Because what is very clear is that(Opposition Leader) Tony Abbott and the conservatives are coming and you are going to need people that have policies and will stand up and defend them.

"It is absolutely critical people see the march of the conservatives across the country and see it for what it is - a retreat to the past, to the last century.

"We need to stand up against everything that Tony Abbott would tear down.''

With counting in WA suspended until Monday, the Greens held just eight per cent of the vote in the Upper House.
Former Greens turned independent MP Adele Carles only attracted five per cent of the popular vote in Fremantle after her issues with former lover and state treasurer Troy Buswell.

Ms Milne claimed the campaign run by the Liberals and Colin Barnett had been influenced by the state's major mining and resources interests.

"Colin Barnett has run an aggressive campaign on behalf of the big mining industry,'' Ms Milne said.

"In WA you have got strong voices like Gina Rinehart and Twiggy Forrest and so on all arguing that they should not have to pay the mining tax.

"That has been resonating through WA and that is a tragedy for the rest of the country.''

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A clean slate and big in-tray for Barnett

HOME AND HOSED: Premier Colin Barnett and wife Lyn at Cottesloe Beach. Picture: Colin Murty Source: PerthNow

EBULLIENT Premier Colin Barnett says he will start his new term of office with a clean slate - but also a bulging in-tray.

The destination of billions of dollars in regional funding, the future of the state's embattled farmers, and the potential for new ministerial faces will all be immediate agenda items when Mr Barnett reforms government this week.

But with counting on several knife-edge seats to continue for days to come, Mr Barnett said he would take time to reflect on the future of his government before a party room meeting later this week to decide the make-up of his new cabinet.

"I will take some time to reflect and think about how this government will be structured, but my approach will be that it will be a clean slate,'' Mr Barnett said.

"It is not a continuation of government, it is a formation of a new government. We will go back and start again.''

With the Liberal Party given enough seats to govern in its own right, the make-up of the alliance with the Nationals will be of immediate interest to many, especially Nationals leader Brendon Grylls.

Mr Grylls won a massive personal victory in the Pilbara, securing a 16 per cent swing, but has still not been guaranteed to keep the regional development portfolio in which he steered the fundamental Royalties for Regions program.

Mr Barnett hinted strongly there would a more Liberal imprint on where the Royalties for Regions money would flow.

"The focus will be more on basic services, country roads, rail upgrades, power distribution - those fundamental services, I think there is a need,'' Mr Barnett said.

"No decisions will be made about any portfolio until we sit down and work out how many Liberal ministers and Nationals ministers there will be and who they will be.''

Mr Grylls still anticipated a big role in the government.

"I hope to have a strong influence in any future Liberal/National government,'' Mr Grylls said.

"We've had a great working relationship.''

Mr Barnett's major election promises of a new airport rail line, a tram line from Perth's north to the city and a highway from Perth to Darwin are all dependent on billions of dollars of federal money.

But the premier preferred to reiterate his personal commitment to take up the plight of WA's farmers, rather than focus on the big election promises.

And he said he was also expecting knocks on the door from several new Liberal MPs.

"I hope I have got a lot of ambitious backbenchers. There will be competition and that is good for the long-term future of the Liberal Party,'' Mr Barnett said.

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Your guide to who won what

HERE is a list of the likely seats won in WA election (after 75 per cent of votes were counted on Saturday night. Counting was suspended on Sunday)

LIBERALS

Alfred Cove (gain from Ind)

Balcatta (gain from ALP)

Bateman

Belmont (gain from ALP)

Bunbury

Carine

Churchlands (gain from Ind)

Cottesloe

Darling Range

Dawesville

Forrestfield (gain from ALP)

Geraldton

Hillarys

Jandakot

Joondalup (gain from ALP)

Kalamunda

Kingsley

Morley

Mount Lawley

Murray-Wellington

Nedlands

Ocean Reef

Riverton

Perth (gain from ALP)

Scarborough

South Perth

Southern River

Swan Hills

Wanneroo

Warren-Blackwood (gain from Nats)

Vasse

NATIONALS

Central Wheatbelt

Moore

Kalgoorlie (gain from Ind)

North West Central

Pilbara (gain from ALP)

Wagin

LABOR

Armadale

Bassendean

Butler

Cannington

Cockburn

Fremantle (gain from Ind)

Girrawheen

Gosnells

Kwinana

Mandurah

Maylands

Mirrabooka

Rockingham

Victoria Park

Warnbro

West Swan

Willagee

UNCERTAIN

Albany

Kimberley

Midland

Eyre

Collie-Preston

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