❓ Mr Folkard asks about the Cook Labor government's firearms reforms and attempts to undermine community safety. Mr Whitby responds with statistics on firearm transitions, buybacks, and criticises the opposition for disallowing firearms regulations.
AnsweredQoN 347Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Firearms Act—Reform347.Mr Mark Folkardto
theMinister for Police:I refer the minister
to the Cook Labor government's commitment to keeping the community safe.(1) Can the minister update the house as to the
state of this government's firearms reforms, including the latest firearms
buyback scheme?(2) Can the minister advise the house of any
attempts to undermine or compromise the safety of the Western Australian
community?
theMinister for Police:I refer the minister
to the Cook Labor government's commitment to keeping the community safe.(1) Can the minister update the house as to the
state of this government's firearms reforms, including the latest firearms
buyback scheme?(2) Can the minister advise the house of any
attempts to undermine or compromise the safety of the Western Australian
community?
AnswerView source ↗
Answered
19 August 2025
Response time
0 days
Mr Reece Whitby replied:(1)–(2) I thank
the member for that question, and I note his decorated police career of over 27
years, so he has avested interest in this issue.Before I continue to speak
further, I just want to acknowledge the condolences of the house for the very
young infant whose body was found in Alexander Heights yesterday. It was incredibly
distressing for the people, the workers, who discovered that little baby. Of
course, it is incredibly distressing, too, for the first responders—the
police officers. We know that they have a tough job, but that would have been a
very tough day on the job. I know the police are asking for public information,
and we are particularly concerned for the welfare and safety of the mother. We
are hoping that that information can come forward.Back to the member's question,
for which I thank him. It is true that these are big changes. These are
substantial changes to an act that was in excess of 50 years old, so of course
there are going to be issues and challenges in transitioning to a new system
and a new act. I can update the house on the latest statistics, which show that
many thousands of law-abiding gun owners are actually participating and working
with police and the government to transition to the new system—the new
act. There have been 41,865 letters sent to commence firearm transition
activities. As members would know, on the date that licences fall due to be
renewed, those people are brought into the system and invited to get involved
in the transition. As a result of that, 24,130 accounts have been created on
the firearms portal—24,130. I was here a couple of days ago, and that
number is a couple of thousand more than it was at the time just last week when
I mentioned it. All day, every day—Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:All day, every day, people are
joining the system and getting involved. There have been 16,172 properties
registered for hunting purposes—again, that is an increase, a boost, on
the number I mentioned the other day—and 15,822 hunting permissions
issued. Well over 1,000 individuals have had their firearms removed as part of
Operation Larkman. These are people who threaten family and domestic violence.
These are criminals; these are outlaws. These are people who should not have
guns.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt, if you
would like to ask a question, please stand up at the next opportunity. In the
meantime, do not keep interjecting.Mr Reece Whitby:Over 61,000 firearms have now been
purchased as part of the state government firearms buyback. We are making
progress, and it is impressive.This is just another
piece of information I can draw to the house's attention: just last week alone—this
gives members a snapshot of what is happening on the ground with our
legislation, which is working—35 handguns were surrendered under Voluntary
Buyback Scheme 5.0. There were 35 handguns in one week; that alone is a
significant achievement. There were 129 shotguns and 490 rifles, for a total of
654 firearms, last week alone under the buyback scheme. We are making
significant and substantial progress. The laws are working. Yes, there are
challenges. Yes, there are occasions when things do not go right, and we are
working to correct those things.The member asked me whether
there have been any attempts to undermine community safety, and I regret to
inform him that actually there have been. We know that last week, the
opposition again voted to disallow the firearms regulations. First it was the Leader
of the Nationals WA, back in May, and then last week it was Hon Dr Steve Thomas
in the upper house. This is concerning. We have an opposition that wants it
both ways—and we have heard that phrase, "both ways", before,
have we not? We have an opposition that wants to disallow the regulations, but
at the same time it wants to ignore the dire consequences of its own actions to
disallow those regulations.The Leader of the
Opposition refused on the weekend to say what his position was. I think he had
to be cornered by an ABC crew, and even then they could not get it out of him.
No courage—no strong, clear message. We have to wonder: Whatever
happened to the strong Liberal leader? Where have they gone, members? He is no
John Howard, is he? John Howard stood up for safer gun laws in Australia. He is
no John Howard. Of course, the opposition, through its lack of courage, is
opening the door to a very worrying group of people—a group of
extremists, the small but dangerous minority, who were there last week, out the
front. They were not the only people out the front.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.Mr Reece Whitby:You are a lightweight, mate. Can you
just listen?Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member
for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:Get this right, mate. Don't verbal me!Mr Lachlan Hunter:You apologise!Mr Reece Whitby:You are a mug.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:I will start again, Mr Speaker. What I
said was very clear and precise.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Cease. No.Mr Reece Whitby:The opposition is opening the door to
a small but very dangerous minority who were sprinkled amongst the crowd there
last week. The opposition is feeding them. The opposition is feeding them, and
if members do not believe me, they should listen to the Chief Justice of
Western Australia, who warned about this very issue this morning. This group of
people do not support our gun laws because they do not support any laws. These
are people who do not support any laws.As I have always
said, I work with a vast majority of responsible people who are gun owners who
want to do the right thing, but we should keep in mind that there is a small
group of people who are given energy by the opposition's actions in this place.
The opposition wanted to apply the nuclear option. It wanted to blow up the
place. It wanted to leave us with no law at all.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:That is exactly and precisely the
motivation of what—Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt! Minister! Member
for Central Wheatbelt, I am calling you for the first time. If you keep
interjecting, I am going to keep calling you. Minister.Mr Reece Whitby:Thank you, Speaker. I will wrap up.We can have our
debates, talk about issues and address them, but we have to be mindful. When we
try to remove all the protections that exist—what was attempted last
week would have done that—it creates anarchy. It feeds into the realm
of a small minority of individuals who the Chief Justice of this state says are
dangerous. We should not be encouraging that at all. Members opposite need to
remember that they have a responsibility in here. It is to uphold the rule of
law and not give succour to people who would have no law at all.
Firearms Act—Reform
the member for that question, and I note his decorated police career of over 27
years, so he has avested interest in this issue.Before I continue to speak
further, I just want to acknowledge the condolences of the house for the very
young infant whose body was found in Alexander Heights yesterday. It was incredibly
distressing for the people, the workers, who discovered that little baby. Of
course, it is incredibly distressing, too, for the first responders—the
police officers. We know that they have a tough job, but that would have been a
very tough day on the job. I know the police are asking for public information,
and we are particularly concerned for the welfare and safety of the mother. We
are hoping that that information can come forward.Back to the member's question,
for which I thank him. It is true that these are big changes. These are
substantial changes to an act that was in excess of 50 years old, so of course
there are going to be issues and challenges in transitioning to a new system
and a new act. I can update the house on the latest statistics, which show that
many thousands of law-abiding gun owners are actually participating and working
with police and the government to transition to the new system—the new
act. There have been 41,865 letters sent to commence firearm transition
activities. As members would know, on the date that licences fall due to be
renewed, those people are brought into the system and invited to get involved
in the transition. As a result of that, 24,130 accounts have been created on
the firearms portal—24,130. I was here a couple of days ago, and that
number is a couple of thousand more than it was at the time just last week when
I mentioned it. All day, every day—Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:All day, every day, people are
joining the system and getting involved. There have been 16,172 properties
registered for hunting purposes—again, that is an increase, a boost, on
the number I mentioned the other day—and 15,822 hunting permissions
issued. Well over 1,000 individuals have had their firearms removed as part of
Operation Larkman. These are people who threaten family and domestic violence.
These are criminals; these are outlaws. These are people who should not have
guns.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt, if you
would like to ask a question, please stand up at the next opportunity. In the
meantime, do not keep interjecting.Mr Reece Whitby:Over 61,000 firearms have now been
purchased as part of the state government firearms buyback. We are making
progress, and it is impressive.This is just another
piece of information I can draw to the house's attention: just last week alone—this
gives members a snapshot of what is happening on the ground with our
legislation, which is working—35 handguns were surrendered under Voluntary
Buyback Scheme 5.0. There were 35 handguns in one week; that alone is a
significant achievement. There were 129 shotguns and 490 rifles, for a total of
654 firearms, last week alone under the buyback scheme. We are making
significant and substantial progress. The laws are working. Yes, there are
challenges. Yes, there are occasions when things do not go right, and we are
working to correct those things.The member asked me whether
there have been any attempts to undermine community safety, and I regret to
inform him that actually there have been. We know that last week, the
opposition again voted to disallow the firearms regulations. First it was the Leader
of the Nationals WA, back in May, and then last week it was Hon Dr Steve Thomas
in the upper house. This is concerning. We have an opposition that wants it
both ways—and we have heard that phrase, "both ways", before,
have we not? We have an opposition that wants to disallow the regulations, but
at the same time it wants to ignore the dire consequences of its own actions to
disallow those regulations.The Leader of the
Opposition refused on the weekend to say what his position was. I think he had
to be cornered by an ABC crew, and even then they could not get it out of him.
No courage—no strong, clear message. We have to wonder: Whatever
happened to the strong Liberal leader? Where have they gone, members? He is no
John Howard, is he? John Howard stood up for safer gun laws in Australia. He is
no John Howard. Of course, the opposition, through its lack of courage, is
opening the door to a very worrying group of people—a group of
extremists, the small but dangerous minority, who were there last week, out the
front. They were not the only people out the front.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.Mr Reece Whitby:You are a lightweight, mate. Can you
just listen?Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member
for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:Get this right, mate. Don't verbal me!Mr Lachlan Hunter:You apologise!Mr Reece Whitby:You are a mug.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:I will start again, Mr Speaker. What I
said was very clear and precise.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Cease. No.Mr Reece Whitby:The opposition is opening the door to
a small but very dangerous minority who were sprinkled amongst the crowd there
last week. The opposition is feeding them. The opposition is feeding them, and
if members do not believe me, they should listen to the Chief Justice of
Western Australia, who warned about this very issue this morning. This group of
people do not support our gun laws because they do not support any laws. These
are people who do not support any laws.As I have always
said, I work with a vast majority of responsible people who are gun owners who
want to do the right thing, but we should keep in mind that there is a small
group of people who are given energy by the opposition's actions in this place.
The opposition wanted to apply the nuclear option. It wanted to blow up the
place. It wanted to leave us with no law at all.Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt!Mr Reece Whitby:That is exactly and precisely the
motivation of what—Mr Lachlan Hunterinterjected.The Speaker:Member for Central Wheatbelt! Minister! Member
for Central Wheatbelt, I am calling you for the first time. If you keep
interjecting, I am going to keep calling you. Minister.Mr Reece Whitby:Thank you, Speaker. I will wrap up.We can have our
debates, talk about issues and address them, but we have to be mindful. When we
try to remove all the protections that exist—what was attempted last
week would have done that—it creates anarchy. It feeds into the realm
of a small minority of individuals who the Chief Justice of this state says are
dangerous. We should not be encouraging that at all. Members opposite need to
remember that they have a responsibility in here. It is to uphold the rule of
law and not give succour to people who would have no law at all.
Firearms Act—Reform
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