❓ The McGowan government is undertaking a major overhaul of WA's firearms laws, aiming to modernise legislation, prioritise community safety, and address non-compliance with the National Firearms Agreement. The reforms will involve extensive consultation and are expected to be completed by the end of next year.
AnsweredQoN 160Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
FIREARMS — LEGISLATIVE REFORM
160. Mr M.J. FOLKARD to the Minister for Police:
I commend the officers'
actions on the weekend.
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to enhancing
community safety through the biggest overhaul of our firearms laws in half a century.
Can the minister please update the house on why the government is undertaking
this work to update the state's firearms laws and outline what the
government is seeking to achieve from these reforms?
160. Mr M.J. FOLKARD to the Minister for Police:
I commend the officers'
actions on the weekend.
I
refer to the McGowan Labor government's commitment to enhancing
community safety through the biggest overhaul of our firearms laws in half a century.
Can the minister please update the house on why the government is undertaking
this work to update the state's firearms laws and outline what the
government is seeking to achieve from these reforms?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for his
question, his service to the state as a police officer over many years and his
interest in this matter.
The answer to the question of why
we are doing it is that obviously the law is almost 50 years old and is not fit
for purpose. It was written and came into force in the 1970s and it reflects
that. It is not efficient and it does not enable good service to responsible
and legitimate firearms owners. Most importantly, the legislation does not
elevate community safety to primacy. The objective of our rewriting the act is
to update it—to engage with people who have an interest in this matter
and craft a new law that reflects modern times but, above all else, elevates
community safety to primacy. We only have to ask the Commissioner of Police to
know that that is currently not the case. He has been challenged in front of
the State Administrative Tribunal over criminals who have been allowed to
retain their firearms licences after he removed them because they were not fit
and proper people. We are going to change the law to elevate community safety.
If the member wants a steer on where we are going, he only has to look at the 2016 Law Reform Commission report. The Law
Reform Commission did an inquiry into this act from 2014 to 2016 and
came up with some 143 recommendations, of which only five or so have been
addressed, and those were in the bill that we put through the house last week.
That bill will go before the upper house shortly. That is the only response to those 143 recommendations
that has been undertaken. We intend to look at that inquiry and its findings and take them on board. Also, in the last
term of office, the Speaker, in her role as the minister, created an advisory or working group, which had
representatives from the Sporting Shooters Association of W estern Australia, the Western Australian Firearm Traders
Association, police and people from her office. They did a lot more work on it and we will take their work into account.
Ultimately, there is an important need to address some of the undertakings that everyone made in the National Firearms
Agreement, with which Western Australia is not complying. Principally amongst the lack of compliance is the need for people to undertake training
prior to getting a firearms licence. That is
not acceptable and it is one of the things that we will be addressing. We will
be working across the community with people who have an interest in this
area. The police have commenced a range of consultations and they will be going
to every region in the state and across the metropolitan area to talk to
people, gun clubs, firearms owners, people in the industry and other people in
the community with an interest, and everyone will be able to make a submission until the end of April. There will be
a consultative drafting process over the next 12 months with a view to
getting the legislation through Parliament by the end of next year.
question, his service to the state as a police officer over many years and his
interest in this matter.
The answer to the question of why
we are doing it is that obviously the law is almost 50 years old and is not fit
for purpose. It was written and came into force in the 1970s and it reflects
that. It is not efficient and it does not enable good service to responsible
and legitimate firearms owners. Most importantly, the legislation does not
elevate community safety to primacy. The objective of our rewriting the act is
to update it—to engage with people who have an interest in this matter
and craft a new law that reflects modern times but, above all else, elevates
community safety to primacy. We only have to ask the Commissioner of Police to
know that that is currently not the case. He has been challenged in front of
the State Administrative Tribunal over criminals who have been allowed to
retain their firearms licences after he removed them because they were not fit
and proper people. We are going to change the law to elevate community safety.
If the member wants a steer on where we are going, he only has to look at the 2016 Law Reform Commission report. The Law
Reform Commission did an inquiry into this act from 2014 to 2016 and
came up with some 143 recommendations, of which only five or so have been
addressed, and those were in the bill that we put through the house last week.
That bill will go before the upper house shortly. That is the only response to those 143 recommendations
that has been undertaken. We intend to look at that inquiry and its findings and take them on board. Also, in the last
term of office, the Speaker, in her role as the minister, created an advisory or working group, which had
representatives from the Sporting Shooters Association of W estern Australia, the Western Australian Firearm Traders
Association, police and people from her office. They did a lot more work on it and we will take their work into account.
Ultimately, there is an important need to address some of the undertakings that everyone made in the National Firearms
Agreement, with which Western Australia is not complying. Principally amongst the lack of compliance is the need for people to undertake training
prior to getting a firearms licence. That is
not acceptable and it is one of the things that we will be addressing. We will
be working across the community with people who have an interest in this
area. The police have commenced a range of consultations and they will be going
to every region in the state and across the metropolitan area to talk to
people, gun clubs, firearms owners, people in the industry and other people in
the community with an interest, and everyone will be able to make a submission until the end of April. There will be
a consultative drafting process over the next 12 months with a view to
getting the legislation through Parliament by the end of next year.
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