South West and Great Southern WA local news briefing, November 13, 2026 - ABC News & Headlines – Australian Broadcasting Corporation

Here's what's making news in the South West and Great Southern WA regions today.

South West builders say they are turning to concrete blocks instead of traditional bricks amid a nationwide brick shortage.

The shortage followed the closure of Austral's Cardup brickworks in 2023, which left Midland Brick struggling to meet surging demand for houses.

The state government has announced a $7.5 million support package, including a 50-cent-per-brick freight subsidy to help builders import bricks from interstate and overseas.

Master Builders WA chief executive Matt Moran welcomed the programs, but said the subsidy was a long time coming.

"We needed supply now, and this will have to deliver it in the short term," he said.

Generation Steel, the company behind the proposed steel mill in Collie, has struck a deal with mining giant Rio Tinto to help develop its green iron technology.

Generation Steel will trial small amounts of low-emissions iron from Rio Tinto's Kwinana pilot plant in steel manufacturing.

The pilot plant is trialling low-emission ways to process raw iron ore from the Pilbara instead of using high-emitting blast furnaces.

Generation Steel's Rajan Aggarwal said the collaboration could help prove the technology's potential to produce greener iron that could be fed through an electric arc furnace to make steel.

Albany MP Scott Leary says complaints continue to flow about noisy grain trains in the state's Great Southern.

A forum will be held in Mount Barker on November 30, when residents from affected towns can voice their concerns directly with grain handler CBH.

Mr Leary said many in the community had voiced frustration about upgraded locomotives.

"These locomotives are a different beast; they're different powered. What's coming off them as regards noise and the radio waves is completely different," he said.

Albany Agricultural Society president Erika Henderson says rising running costs are behind an increase in ticket prices for this weekend's show.

The annual event starts at 9am today, with tickets costing $25 per person, up from $20 last year.

Ms Henderson said increasing the price was not an easy decision, but it was unanimous.

"With costs, including the fee that you pay for a credit card … we have to wear all that, so we have put it up," she said.

The Margaret River Wildlife Hospital officially opens for patient admissions today, with all nine places already booked.

Its first patients include a ringtail possum, joey kangaroos and several birds of prey.

Members of the public are being urged to call ahead before bringing in injured animals so staff can explain safe handling.

WA Wildlife chief executive Dean Huxley said the hospital's reach extended across the South West, with patients from Margaret River, Augusta and possibly closer to Busselton.

He said the hospital anticipated seeing animals from across the region, from Busselton to Nannup and Augusta.

Regional medical practice manager Latrice Porter says the increasing cost of flights is putting country clinics at risk.

The Great Southern Specialist Centre relies on metro specialists travelling to Albany for work, but flight costs and frequent delays have left them stranded in Perth.

The practice said it had been forced to cancel appointments or set up online consultations.

Ms Porter said expensive and unreliable flights were affecting the quality of regional health care.

"It just places more strain on already stretched healthcare resources," she said.

A rescued baby turtle is recovering in Bunbury after a volunteer drove nearly 700 kilometres from Esperance to save its life.

The juvenile loggerhead, nicknamed Shaggy after the thick green algae covering its shell, was spotted floating in seaweed by a local boater.

It is the second tropical loggerhead to wash up in Esperance in recent times and is expected to stay in care until April next year.

Dolphin Discovery Centre representative Emily Ehlers urged the Esperance community to look out for stranded turtles among seaweed and contact the centre or Esperance Wildlife Hospital if they found one.