Labor joins rest of Upper House to refer gun laws to committee in major concession on firearm rules

Labor has made a major concession on its firearm laws, joining all non-Government parties in referring the regime to a parliamentary inquiry. The non-government parties united to back a motion by shadow attorney general Nick Goiran to refer the laws — which the Opposition claimed the Government had rammed through the Parliament last year — to the Legislation committee for a three month inquiry. Among the considerations of the committee will be rollout problems of the new laws and regulations, and recommend amendments to the Act. The tough firearm regime — which capped the number of guns and increased licence compliance requirements — has drawn concerns in implementation since March, including a clunky computer system, and concerns from GPs about their roles in reviewing owners’ capacity to hold a firearm. “I can’t be the only member in this place who has been inundated with emails and submissions and phone calls from law abiding firearm owners, from doctors, from police officers saying this is a shambles,” Mr Goiran said. “Of course, it’s going to be a shambles when you try and ram through a gigantic piece of legislation like this true and then expect it all to run smoothly afterwards. “What the Cook Labor Government did was reckless and this issue of regulating firearms, is not an issue where we can afford any recklessness, but that’s what happened.” Mr Goiran’s motion was amended by Greens leader Brad Pettitt to clarify. But Mr Pettitt said the party would not support the “nuclear option” of tearing up the regulations altogether. “In supporting this, this is not us pushing back against stronger regulations around firearms. The Greens really strongly support stronger restrictions around firearms,” he said. “We want them to be workable. We want them to be effective, and we want them to be strong.” After four years of Labor’s majority in the Upper House, including the passage of the Firearms Act, the vote marks the first pushback under the new make-up of the Council. Labor does not have a majority on the Legislation committee. Any amendments would need to be passed by the Council and the Assembly, where the Government holds a substantial majority. Labor minister Matthew Swinbourn said while the party still backed the laws, the Government was open to hearing concerns about the legislation. “West Australians have endorsed our leadership on gun control. We stand by our firearms legislation. However, as the Premier said many times, this is also a government that listens,” he said. “The will of the house today is that this legislation be sent to committee under the terms set out in the amended motion, the government will respect the will of the house “While these changes are significant, I want to assure all West Australian gun owners and the Parliament that we are committed to working with the firearms owners to make sure our laws, regulations and the wider reforms work to keep the West Australian community safe.” Police Minister Reece Whitby backed in the laws. “Our laws are keeping Western Australians safer and already WA Police have used their new powers to take 2300 firearms from the hands of convicted FDV offenders and people with links to bikies,” he said. “We respect the parliamentary process and will continue to listen and work with the firearms license holders to understand concerns around implementation.”

Labor joins rest of Upper House to refer gun laws to committee in major concession on firearm rules

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