❓ Mr. Healy asks how the upcoming ban on high-powered firearms will improve community safety. The Minister responds by detailing the firearm law overhaul, focusing on police safety and a buyback program for legally acquired firearms.
AnsweredQoN 12Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIREARMS ACT —
REFORM
12. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Minister for Police:
Thank
you very much, Speaker. If you will indulge me, I would also like to
acknowledge that it is Valentine's Day , and say happy Valentine's
Day to my wife who is watching at home. I will be home soon! If I can also say
happy Valentine's Day to my new minister, the Minister for Police, as
well.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Okay. I think there is enough love in the
room! If you can get on with your question.
Mr T.J. HEALY : I refer to
the McGowan Labor government's commitment to overhauling Western Australia's
50-year-old firearm laws to ensure community safety comes first. Can the
minister please advise the house how the upcoming ban on very high powered
firearms will keep the community safe?
REFORM
12. Mr T.J. HEALY to the Minister for Police:
Thank
you very much, Speaker. If you will indulge me, I would also like to
acknowledge that it is Valentine's Day , and say happy Valentine's
Day to my wife who is watching at home. I will be home soon! If I can also say
happy Valentine's Day to my new minister, the Minister for Police, as
well.
Several members interjected.
The SPEAKER : Okay. I think there is enough love in the
room! If you can get on with your question.
Mr T.J. HEALY : I refer to
the McGowan Labor government's commitment to overhauling Western Australia's
50-year-old firearm laws to ensure community safety comes first. Can the
minister please advise the house how the upcoming ban on very high powered
firearms will keep the community safe?
AnswerView source ↗
Madam
Speaker, I was going to congratulate the member on his appointment as my
parliamentary secretary. I will, anyway.
Mr T.J. Healy : Thank you,
sir!
Mr P. PAPALIA : It is
wonderful to have someone who is so supportive of police, who cares so much
about road safety, who wants to advocate for our defence industry, and who is
determined to make life better for our veterans as my parliamentary secretary.
Thank you, member, for the question.
We are, as members know, embarking
upon the biggest rewrite of the Firearms Act in 50 years. It will be completely
upgraded and improved for the current era. As part of that, we last week announced
the implementation of a health check with a mental health component as part of
the application for firearms licences, with a recurrent obligation. The details
of this will be worked out in the coming months by a working group, including
the Minister for Mental Health, the Mental Health Commission, the Royal
Australian College of General Practitioners and others as necessary. The
details will be clear before we introduce the legislation to Parliament.
We today use the current law, which
is lacking in a lot of ways, but we use it nevertheless, to improve safety for Western
Australians, but this rewrite is particularly for our police. The police
requested us to address a problem that they have been confronting in recent
years, which is the increasing numbers of very high powered firearms being
brought into the state, quite legally under the current lax laws, that often
utilise very powerful ammunition cartridges
and can deliver a round very precisely at a great range with a significant
amount of energy at the point of impact, representing a direct threat to
our police officers. These firearms have the capacity to deliver a round that
can penetrate body armour worn by police officers, go through the skin of
police vehicles, and, potentially, with the right firearm and the right
ammunition, even penetrate parts of our armoured vehicles. This is not
acceptable. The police have been dealing with this through the very close
assessment of firearms licence applications in recent times, but because the
law enables these things, their decisions are subject to an appeal to the State
Administrative Tribunal, and there has been some 118 applications before the
SAT since 2019 with regard to these types of firearms. This chews up a lot of
time and energy in that location for police, so we are going to deal with it.
On 1 July this year, some 56
individual firearm types and 19 ammunition types will become illegal. From
today, police will be corresponding with all those owners. These firearms were
legally acquired, so police will correspond with the owners to tell them that
their firearms and ammunition will become illegal on 1 July and that they must
be disposed of lawfully between now and then. Because the firearms were
purchased in a legal fashion—these people are not criminals—they
will be offered a market value buyback, estimated by the government to be about
$1.5 million. So, people who bought these items legally will be able to return
them to police and have the money reimbursed for the cost of those firearms. It
will mean that there will be 248 fewer individual firearms in the state. About
70 of them are owned by dealers, but the rest are owned by people out there in
the community.
These firearms have no purpose in Western
Australia. They are designed and marketed by their manufacturers as being for the purpose of shooting large animals
like bears or rhinoceroses, which we do not have in WA. Professional shooters who cull large animals like camels and feral horses and the like use a
different calibre firearm; they do not use these things. Therefore, the only
reason, under the current law, someone would have one is if they are an
enthusiast who likes a powerful firearm. But in Western Australia, from 1 July,
community safety and the safety of our police officers will trump that, so they
will become illegal.
Speaker, I was going to congratulate the member on his appointment as my
parliamentary secretary. I will, anyway.
Mr T.J. Healy : Thank you,
sir!
Mr P. PAPALIA : It is
wonderful to have someone who is so supportive of police, who cares so much
about road safety, who wants to advocate for our defence industry, and who is
determined to make life better for our veterans as my parliamentary secretary.
Thank you, member, for the question.
We are, as members know, embarking
upon the biggest rewrite of the Firearms Act in 50 years. It will be completely
upgraded and improved for the current era. As part of that, we last week announced
the implementation of a health check with a mental health component as part of
the application for firearms licences, with a recurrent obligation. The details
of this will be worked out in the coming months by a working group, including
the Minister for Mental Health, the Mental Health Commission, the Royal
Australian College of General Practitioners and others as necessary. The
details will be clear before we introduce the legislation to Parliament.
We today use the current law, which
is lacking in a lot of ways, but we use it nevertheless, to improve safety for Western
Australians, but this rewrite is particularly for our police. The police
requested us to address a problem that they have been confronting in recent
years, which is the increasing numbers of very high powered firearms being
brought into the state, quite legally under the current lax laws, that often
utilise very powerful ammunition cartridges
and can deliver a round very precisely at a great range with a significant
amount of energy at the point of impact, representing a direct threat to
our police officers. These firearms have the capacity to deliver a round that
can penetrate body armour worn by police officers, go through the skin of
police vehicles, and, potentially, with the right firearm and the right
ammunition, even penetrate parts of our armoured vehicles. This is not
acceptable. The police have been dealing with this through the very close
assessment of firearms licence applications in recent times, but because the
law enables these things, their decisions are subject to an appeal to the State
Administrative Tribunal, and there has been some 118 applications before the
SAT since 2019 with regard to these types of firearms. This chews up a lot of
time and energy in that location for police, so we are going to deal with it.
On 1 July this year, some 56
individual firearm types and 19 ammunition types will become illegal. From
today, police will be corresponding with all those owners. These firearms were
legally acquired, so police will correspond with the owners to tell them that
their firearms and ammunition will become illegal on 1 July and that they must
be disposed of lawfully between now and then. Because the firearms were
purchased in a legal fashion—these people are not criminals—they
will be offered a market value buyback, estimated by the government to be about
$1.5 million. So, people who bought these items legally will be able to return
them to police and have the money reimbursed for the cost of those firearms. It
will mean that there will be 248 fewer individual firearms in the state. About
70 of them are owned by dealers, but the rest are owned by people out there in
the community.
These firearms have no purpose in Western
Australia. They are designed and marketed by their manufacturers as being for the purpose of shooting large animals
like bears or rhinoceroses, which we do not have in WA. Professional shooters who cull large animals like camels and feral horses and the like use a
different calibre firearm; they do not use these things. Therefore, the only
reason, under the current law, someone would have one is if they are an
enthusiast who likes a powerful firearm. But in Western Australia, from 1 July,
community safety and the safety of our police officers will trump that, so they
will become illegal.
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