❓ Mr. Love questions the Minister for Police regarding the Firearms Act 2024, focusing on the treatment of submissions and the capacity of GPs to conduct firearm assessments. The Minister defends the legislation, citing public safety and support for the reforms.
AnsweredQoN 522Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
Gun laws—Doctors concerns
522. Mr Shane Love to
the Minister for Police:
Thank you, Mr
Speaker.
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
Mr Shane Love: When the Leader of the Opposition is
ready, I will—
Mr Basil Zempilas: Sorry.
Mr Shane Love: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Basil Zempilas: Sorry, Leader of the Nats—former
opposition leader!
Mr Shane Love: It might come back—one
defection!
My question, Mr
Speaker, such as it is—
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Ms Rita Saffioti: Those two are getting on very
well. Are you being excluded from the club?
The Speaker: Treasurer!
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Members of the government! Thank you.
Mr Shane Love: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The lack of
discipline on that side—
Several members
interjected.
Mr Shane Love: My
question is to the Minister for Police.
(1) Does the minister agree that the thousands of
Western Australians who made submissions to the Standing Committee on
Legislation's inquiry into the Firearms Act 2024, most of them law-abiding
firearm owners, regional residents and industry experts, deserve to have their
evidence treated with respect rather than being dismissed as supposition or
misinformation?
(2) Considering those legitimate concerns, will
the minister support the immediate recall of the health assessment working
group given that Western Australia is struggling with the lowest number of GPs
in the nation and that most of them are already overwhelmed and unwilling to
take on the flawed firearm assessment scheme?
522. Mr Shane Love to
the Minister for Police:
Thank you, Mr
Speaker.
Mr Basil Zempilas interjected.
Mr Shane Love: When the Leader of the Opposition is
ready, I will—
Mr Basil Zempilas: Sorry.
Mr Shane Love: Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Basil Zempilas: Sorry, Leader of the Nats—former
opposition leader!
Mr Shane Love: It might come back—one
defection!
My question, Mr
Speaker, such as it is—
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Ms Rita Saffioti: Those two are getting on very
well. Are you being excluded from the club?
The Speaker: Treasurer!
Several members
interjected.
The Speaker: Members!
Members of the government! Thank you.
Mr Shane Love: Thank you, Mr Speaker. The lack of
discipline on that side—
Several members
interjected.
Mr Shane Love: My
question is to the Minister for Police.
(1) Does the minister agree that the thousands of
Western Australians who made submissions to the Standing Committee on
Legislation's inquiry into the Firearms Act 2024, most of them law-abiding
firearm owners, regional residents and industry experts, deserve to have their
evidence treated with respect rather than being dismissed as supposition or
misinformation?
(2) Considering those legitimate concerns, will
the minister support the immediate recall of the health assessment working
group given that Western Australia is struggling with the lowest number of GPs
in the nation and that most of them are already overwhelmed and unwilling to
take on the flawed firearm assessment scheme?
AnswerView source ↗
(1)–(2) A short time ago, a young woman
stood outside our Parliament House. Her name was Ariel Bombara, and, according
to my notes, she said the following: "Gun ownership is a privilege not a
right."
She said:
I strongly support the WA
Government in the complete implementation of its firearm reforms.
She said:
The privilege of owning a
firearm should not outrank the public's right not to be threatened,
intimidated, coerced or brutally murdered by them.
Members, now is the time to heed
her words. Now is the time we come together and we unite behind these safer gun
laws.
Today a parliamentary committee
found that these laws—the legislation and the regulations that support
them—are reasonable and justified. The committee found that there is an
overriding need to ensure public safety in connection with the possession and
use of firearms in the community. This committee also found that the possession
and use of firearms is a privilege—again—that is always
conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety.
Members, we can be proud that in
this state we have created the nation's safest gun laws. This is something that
the vast majority of Western Australians want. They want to feel safer. They
want to be protected. I am not going to catalogue the tragedies we have seen
before now, but these are the safest gun laws in the country. We should be
proud. We should be working together. Let us use this moment to unite and
combine to support them.
There are issues raised in this
report, and I have said all along, right from the very beginning of this
process, that I am prepared to consider commonsense, constructive, reasonable
suggestions that make things easier for law-abiding firearm owners. I will
continue to do that work. In fact, some of the recommendations that have come
out of the report today are things that I am already working on with
stakeholders—already engaged in. There have been many changes. There
have been many improvements in terms of IT issues. The report found that there
were IT issues in the implementation or the practice of the online portal. It
is not surprising. This is 50-year-old legislation we are updating that relied
on bits of paper and stapled invoices—not good enough in the current
environment. We deserve something that is modern and contemporary and keeps us
all safer.
When we convert people, who have
had a system that has existed for virtually all their lives as gun owners, to a
new system, there are inevitably glitches. There are inevitably things that we
could improve. That has been happening since the introduction. Almost on a
daily basis, our police find and resolve issues. These are IT issues. Let us
think of the bigger picture: legislation and regulation that is justified, reasonable,
nation-leading and keeps us all safe—that is the main game. That is
what this government is about. Virtually every IT system known to man has
issues. Everyone knows this. If someone gets a new computer at home or an
iPhone, they have problems. They have technical issues, frustrations, anxiety—I
get it. But do not forget the bigger picture. Do not forget the legacy we can
all leave this community: safer gun laws that I think are already making the
community safer. In fact, I know they are.
Operation Larkman has seized
3,089 firearms—handguns, rifles, shotguns—from the hands of
criminals and bad people, from the hands of members of outlaw gangs, from
criminals and from people who perpetrate family and domestic violence. These
laws are working. They are helping keep us safe. Please, let us come together
and heed Ariel's words today.
stood outside our Parliament House. Her name was Ariel Bombara, and, according
to my notes, she said the following: "Gun ownership is a privilege not a
right."
She said:
I strongly support the WA
Government in the complete implementation of its firearm reforms.
She said:
The privilege of owning a
firearm should not outrank the public's right not to be threatened,
intimidated, coerced or brutally murdered by them.
Members, now is the time to heed
her words. Now is the time we come together and we unite behind these safer gun
laws.
Today a parliamentary committee
found that these laws—the legislation and the regulations that support
them—are reasonable and justified. The committee found that there is an
overriding need to ensure public safety in connection with the possession and
use of firearms in the community. This committee also found that the possession
and use of firearms is a privilege—again—that is always
conditional on the overriding need to ensure public safety.
Members, we can be proud that in
this state we have created the nation's safest gun laws. This is something that
the vast majority of Western Australians want. They want to feel safer. They
want to be protected. I am not going to catalogue the tragedies we have seen
before now, but these are the safest gun laws in the country. We should be
proud. We should be working together. Let us use this moment to unite and
combine to support them.
There are issues raised in this
report, and I have said all along, right from the very beginning of this
process, that I am prepared to consider commonsense, constructive, reasonable
suggestions that make things easier for law-abiding firearm owners. I will
continue to do that work. In fact, some of the recommendations that have come
out of the report today are things that I am already working on with
stakeholders—already engaged in. There have been many changes. There
have been many improvements in terms of IT issues. The report found that there
were IT issues in the implementation or the practice of the online portal. It
is not surprising. This is 50-year-old legislation we are updating that relied
on bits of paper and stapled invoices—not good enough in the current
environment. We deserve something that is modern and contemporary and keeps us
all safer.
When we convert people, who have
had a system that has existed for virtually all their lives as gun owners, to a
new system, there are inevitably glitches. There are inevitably things that we
could improve. That has been happening since the introduction. Almost on a
daily basis, our police find and resolve issues. These are IT issues. Let us
think of the bigger picture: legislation and regulation that is justified, reasonable,
nation-leading and keeps us all safe—that is the main game. That is
what this government is about. Virtually every IT system known to man has
issues. Everyone knows this. If someone gets a new computer at home or an
iPhone, they have problems. They have technical issues, frustrations, anxiety—I
get it. But do not forget the bigger picture. Do not forget the legacy we can
all leave this community: safer gun laws that I think are already making the
community safer. In fact, I know they are.
Operation Larkman has seized
3,089 firearms—handguns, rifles, shotguns—from the hands of
criminals and bad people, from the hands of members of outlaw gangs, from
criminals and from people who perpetrate family and domestic violence. These
laws are working. They are helping keep us safe. Please, let us come together
and heed Ariel's words today.
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