Emily JB Smith
Emily Smith is a journalist and breakfast radio host for the ABC in Esperance, WA. Tune in on 837 AM at 6:35am weekdays. Before that, she worked as an online producer and journalist at ABC News Darwin. She formerly worked as a journalist in Queensland, at Mackay's Daily Mercury and at the Central and North Burnett Times, based in Monto.
Follow her on Twitter at: @Emily_SmithDM
Latest by Emily JB Smith
The extraordinary deal that kept this port exporting iron ore in 2018 has ended. So what's next?
Esperance is bracing for a "significant impact" after a mine that accounts for more than half the export trade through the town's port announced it would close.
Police investigating after 12-year-old boy allegedly threatened student with knife at WA school
The mother of a 14-year-old boy who was allegedly threatened with a knife at his school says the WA Education Department has failed to support traumatised students.
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This new marine park has been compared to the Great Barrier Reef and Ningaloo. But will it bring tourists?
The West Australian government says its planned new marine park will be world-class. But among locals, opinion is split on whether it will deliver a promised tourism windfall.
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Leslie got the call just after midnight. He drove eight hours alone to receive a life-changing kidney transplant
Australia's organ donation and transplantation rates are among the lowest in the developed world, and only 36 per cent of eligible adults are on the register. Leslie Schultz thinks changes are needed to turn that around.
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Jonathan was hooked on meth in 'seconds', but now he's helping others reclaim their lives
Jonathan Bolwell's life is back on track thanks to a regional rehabilitation facility. Now there are calls for more rehab centres across regional WA, which has the highest average meth consumption rate in Australia.
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The first time Jaimen broke his neck he became quadriplegic. Then he broke it again
Only 1 per cent of Australia's beaches are accessible to those who live with disabilities. Jaimen Hudson, who broke his neck trying to get to the beach, says that needs to change.
How a wild coastal upbringing is shaping the careers of these creative West Australian brothers
For many, being alone in some of the world's scariest surf before dawn is a scene from a nightmare. But for Jarvis and Cooper Smallman, it's all part of a family tradition of finding inspiration in the rugged beauty all around them.
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Windsurfer describes harrowing moment a 3m shark mauled his sail before circling him
An Esperance resident would happily never see a shark again after being circled for five minutes on a broken windsurfer by the ocean's apex predator earlier this week.
With 330 jobs on the chopping block, what will this country town do to survive?
With the closure of the Ravensthorpe Nickel Project set to wipe out 330 jobs, locals in the southern WA town of Hopetoun say the community has the inherent strength to keep going.
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Leaders urged to call out racism, false claims in heated WA marine park debate
Debate around the proposed South Coast Marine Park has sparked a swell of negative attitudes towards Indigenous people, with local leaders urged to do more to call it out.
Eyre Highway death gives cyclist second thoughts about crossing the Nullarbor for charity
It has been described as one of the world's most epic cycling crossings, but Charissa Hanrahan found the high number of road trains and news of cyclist being fatally hit by a truck enough for her to redirect her journey.
Eight-year-old Liesel has just published her first book and safely managed screen time made it possible
Screen time is a big issue for many parents and educators, but when safely managed it can help children develop creativity, according to an expert.
'Staggered, delighted': Conservationists pop champagne after win for critical bird habitat at proposed mine site
A community group is celebrating after the state government refused to let an exploration company clear habitat vital to the endangered Carnaby's black cockatoo. But the company has vowed to appeal.
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'We're the sacrificial lambs': Angry Esperance protesters question fisheries minister on marine park
West Australian Fisheries Minister Don Punch acknowledges the South Coast Marine Park "does bring out some pretty passionate views", after climbing onto a brick wall to address hundreds of Esperance locals demanding answers.
'It's real': Study suggests thousands of West Australians are suffering long-term COVID symptoms
By Emily JB Smith, Rebecca Trigger, and Phoebe Pin
While most have moved on from the coronavirus pandemic, a large cohort of people in Western Australia are still caught in its grip.
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Police recovering body believed to be missing fisherman off WA's southern coast
Esperance Police say the body is in "an extremely difficult position" within a rock formation off the coast of Cape Arid.
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Pay rise alone unlikely to change the way society values female-dominated aged care industry, expert says
A lecturer from the University of WA says a recently secured pay rise for aged care workers is unlikely to change the way the sector is valued, and that more work to address unconscious bias is required.
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Aged care workers will soon get a massive pay rise, but can providers afford it?
With 69 per cent of residential aged care homes running at a loss, many hope the federal government will fully fund a recent pay rise awarded to the sector's workers.
As Australian sea lion populations plummet, a war of words about a solution never ends
Environmental groups are calling for the architects of a new West Australian marine park to expand protections for the country's most endangered seal species.
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Son pays tribute to long-distance cyclist killed on Eyre Highway during endurance race
The son of a 62-year-old cyclist killed on the Nullarbor yesterday says his father died "doing something that he loved".
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Cyclist killed, another seriously injured in crashes on Eyre Highway in outback Western Australia
A 62-year-old cyclist has died, and another has been flown to Perth with serious injuries, after separate crashes in WA's remote eastern Goldfields.
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Truckies forced to drive more than 2,000km extra to resupply flooded outback WA
Water has inundated a key road through WA's outback, forcing supply trucks to take a massive detour from Perth to Port Augusta, up to Yulara, and west along the northern section of the Great Central Road.
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Truck carrying crucial supplies bogs in outback, but luck is on hungry community's side
Kassey Murray was contemplating how to stretch four loaves of bread between more than 60 people, when help arrived in the form of a truck struck in the mud.
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Les watched a space station crash on his country in the 70s. Now, another satellite is helping him protect it
Ngadju elder Les Schultz remembers the day America's first space station crashed near WA's south coast. Now he has another reason to look skywards, as a plan to mitigate the impacts of climate change takes flight.
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Helicopter flies to remote WA community as flood-hit residents call for medical help, food supplies
Food is running out at a remote Goldfields community and an emergency helicopter is the only way relief can get in after dramatic flooding over the past few days.
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