Last week, the public hearings into Labor’s new Firearms Act wrapped up, and what they revealed should concern every Western Australian.
Instead of delivering fair and workable reform, the Cook Labor Government has rammed through laws riddled with flaws, rushed into effect without proper consultation, turning the lives of law-abiding West Australians upside down.
The Nationals WA are the only Party that has stood shoulder-to-shoulder with WA’s 90,000 law-abiding firearms owners since day one. We followed every minute of the hearings, listening carefully to evidence from across the State and the nation.
Much of what we heard confirmed what firearms owners already know – arbitrary limits on firearms, a bungled online licensing portal, and inconsistent, often contradictory, advice from WA Police.
But we also heard troubling new evidence about the unintended consequences now unfolding – problems which could have been avoided if Labor had bothered to listen in the first place.
The elephant in the room, however, was the Police Minister’s refusal to front up. From the outset, Labor has dodged scrutiny on these laws — gagging debate in Parliament, blocking proper consultation, and now avoiding accountability at the inquiry.
When it was announced that the new Police Minister, Reece Whitby MLA, would give evidence, many hoped it would finally provide answers, or at the very least, accountability.
Farmers, conservation groups, traditional owners, health professionals, and regional communities all wanted to hear how the Minister planned to fix the mess he helped create.
But instead, at the eleventh hour, the Minister pulled out, blaming an “administrative error” by the Committee.
That excuse leaves us with only two possibilities. Either a Labor-led Committee somehow failed to follow the most basic process despite being staffed by experienced Parliamentary officers, or, more likely, the Minister deliberately avoided facing the heat.
Either way, it’s unacceptable. These laws are already impacting thousands of families, businesses and communities, yet the Minister responsible couldn’t even show up.
And if the Committee really had made a mistake, they could have easily corrected it by recalling the Minister for another hearing. That didn’t happen, and the pattern is becoming impossible to ignore.
Labor has been ducking accountability on these laws from day one, and the public can see straight through it.
The Committee hearings laid bare the real-world damage these rushed laws are already causing.
One of the most troubling examples came from the Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association (KPCA). CEO Bron Christensen gave powerful evidence about how the new laws are stigmatising mental health across the north.
Farmers told her they no longer feel safe speaking openly about their struggles.
At this year’s KPCA conference, organisers could not find enough participants for their usual mental health panel, not because the issues have gone away, but because farmers feared admitting to stress or depression might cost them their firearms licence.
This is a chilling outcome. One in five Australians experience mental illness during their lifetime. In regional WA, where mental health services are already scarce and suicide rates higher, it is often your local GP who becomes the first point of support.
But under Labor’s new laws, that same GP is now also the gatekeeper for your firearms licence. Instead of encouraging people to seek help, these laws risk driving them further into silence.
The hearings also exposed serious consequences for animal welfare. Farmers may be able to euthanise stock on their own land, but not if their truck rolls on the highway.
Vets and even government rangers face impossible choices when dealing with injured wildlife – act quickly and humanely, but risk losing their firearms licence for doing so.
Traditional owners, pastoralists and conversation shooters told similar stories. Longstanding pest management programs are under threat because of new restrictions on firearms use on crown land.
Others are losing licences over old, non-violent traffic offences that have no bearing on their fitness to own a firearm.
Sporting shooters are being saddled with unrealistic requirements like having a first aid officer on site just to open their ranges – yet another example of Labor’s fundamental mistrust of the shooting community.
The Nationals WA raised all of these concerns in Parliament. Labor ignored them, determined to ram through its laws before the next election. Now the damage is plain for all to see.
It should never have come to this. Proper consultation, proper scrutiny, and a willingness to listen could have avoided these mistakes. Instead, the heavy-handed approach of the Cook Labor Government has created fear, confusion, and unintended harm right across WA.
The Parliamentary Committee now has nearly 3,000 submissions and two weeks of public evidence to consider before reporting on 16 October.
It is a mammoth task, and the people of WA will be watching closely to see if this Labor-led Committee truly listens.
Because the truth is clear – these laws are rushed, they are flawed, and they are already failing the communities they claim to protect.
