Last month’s Western Australian state election delivered a disappointing result for the shooting sports. The Labor Party was returned to government very comfortably, while the Liberal Party didn’t do as well as either they or many observers expected. The ALP holds a strong majority in the Lower House.
Results in the Upper House were better for shooters and if there’s a bright side to the election then that’s it. The ALP lost its majority in the Upper House, meaning they won’t be able to ram through legislation the way they could during the previous term.
While this is good, we shouldn’t get carried away. There are 36 seats in the Upper House with 19 enough to control the vote and the ALP holds 16. They lose one vote because they have to provide the President of the Upper House, meaning they need another three people to vote with them to pass legislation. The Greens have four seats and normally vote with the ALP, so things still look tough for sporting shooters in the west.
The first priority of SSAA (WA) will be to work with the Nationals, Liberals and other parties to disallow the firearms regulations which were introduced just before Christmas and, while this will be tough, we will not give up the fight. The new Act came into effect on March 31 and when we’ve had a chance to assess how it’s operating, SSAA (WA) will undertake a formal review of the legal position for all shooters in Western Australia.
SSAA (WA) extends its thanks to all members who made the effort to become involved and help with the election either by donating time, money or, most importantly, by voting for those parties which support the shooting sports in WA.