Good morning and welcome to another edition of our live blog, covering all things Perth and Western Australia on this cold Monday.
First, WA small business owners caught in the chaos of a delivery shortage are asking consumers to spread their Christmas shopping this year.
The call comes after warnings that US tariffs on Chinese imports would soon affect the availability of containers and ships and increase congestion at major ports such as Fremantle.
Containers ready to be shipped from Taicang Port, north of Shanghai during similar delays in August 2023.Credit: Bloomberg
While the delays at the docks in China may seem distant, Joondalup equipment store Trojan Fitness owner Luis Bastos said Perth's small businesses were seeing the impacts first-hand.
And Perth's housing crisis is so bad that those on priority accommodation lists are waiting an average of 1.5 years, while crisis services send more people to hotels or motels as shelters burst .
The state government is spending more than ever to fund homelessness services due to unprecedented growth in demand.
Finally, Chinese Premier Li Qiang ended his visit to Australia last Tuesday at a lithium processing plant in our resource-rich state, marking China's push to maintain control of critical minerals and land rare in the world
Around the same time, the head of $2.7 billion Perth-based Iluka Resources, Tom O'Leary, warned participants at a global mining conference in Japan about the “uncomfortable reality” behind the superiority from China
Stay with us as we bring you the news you care about throughout the day.
