The Nationals WA have confirmed they will oppose the Cook Labor Government’s contentious new Firearms Act 2024.
Leader Shane Love MLA said The Nationals WA team had spent the past two weeks scrutinising the legislation and consulting with stakeholders following the Bill’s long-awaited introduction to Parliament in February.
“The Firearms Act 2024 represents yet another assault on the private property rights of Western Australians by the Cook Labor Government without proper justification or evidence,” Mr Love said.
“Contrary to the rhetoric spouted by the Police Minister, these laws will do nothing to reduce gun crime yet Labor’s attacks and fearmongering over many months have left law-abiding firearms owners feeling like criminals.”
Mr Love said while The Nationals WA supported some aspects of the Bill, the Firearms Act 2024 contained many areas of concern for regional stakeholders and sporting and recreational shooters.
“For almost a decade, The Nationals WA have been supportive of the reforms to streamline WA’s firearms laws, in line with the significant body of work undertaken by the Law Reform Commission (LRC) in 2016.
“Whilst some of the measures recommended by the LRC have been met with Labor’s new laws, there are also significant departures, including arbitrary caps on firearm ownership, which lacked evidence.
The 2016 LRC review of the Firearms Act recommended there should be no upper limit on the number of firearms a single licence holder may possess, a view also supported by WA Police at the time.
“The review found existing firearms act has significant safeguards to ensure firearms owners have a genuine reason to own each firearm licensed to them.”
Mr Love said the retrospective overhaul of the property letter scheme was also of concern and would remove a genuine reason for many to possess firearms.
“This system has allowed landowners to limit who can access their property and has been highly beneficial for controlling pests and managing biosecurity, whilst permitting ethical hunting and recreational shooting for decades,” he said.
“Despite Labor’s own consultation paper claiming it is reasonable for landowners to have control over who can use a firearm on their property and when, the Bill limits this ability.”
Mr Love said the Government had failed to explain how the ‘firearm authority health examination’ would be applied, particularly in regional areas where health services were already stretched thin.
“The Bill introduces a health assessment as part of an application for a firearm licence, which includes both physical and mental health components to satisfy if they are ‘fit and proper’ to hold a firearm.”
