Confirmation this week that public hearings in the WA Parliament by the Standing Committee on Legislation will commence from Wednesday 10th of September and run through to until the 22nd of September.
Opening proceedings will see the Committee interrogate opinions from the Centre for Women’s Safety & Wellbeing, the Allanah and Madeline Foundation’s Stephen Bendle and the Commissioner for Victims of Crime.
Day 1 will round out with genuine representatives from the nationally respected Hunting organisation Field and Game Australia along with government spokespersons for the Dept. of Primary Industry and Regional Development (DPIRD).
Day 2 will see public submissions from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners (RACGP) the Australian Medical Association (AMA) and the Mental Health Commission. Interestingly will be the position that these organisations take given the recent announcements around the concerns that that the respected medical professionals see in implementing the health assessments required for WA firearm licence applicants.
Importantly the Committee will hear from traditional owners on Day 2 including the respected member of the WA Firearm Community Alliance – Djilba Land Management, the Aboriginal Legal Service and the Yamatji Maripa Aboriginal Corporation.
Some of the big issues noted in the now publicly available written submissions by the representatives from traditional owners and native title groups include the huge socio-economic exclusions in retaining firearm licences in remote communities as well as the costs that Not-for profit organisations will now have to manage with the ongoing complexities of issuing hunting authorities and written permissions to indigenous West Australians.
Day 3 provides the opportunity for agriculture and farming bodies to attempt to peel back the mess that they helped create with the previous Minister; however our fears of more capitulation should be allayed with a sound voice from another member of the WA Firearms Community Alliance – WA Grains Group who understand from the coalface just how symbiotic firearms and farming need to be.
On the same day the Sporting Shooters Association of Australia WA will bear witness in the hearings (albeit for only one hour) and seek to expand on our comprehensive written submission made to the Standing Committee on a raft of issues with the Act and the Regulations. Extremely disappointing is the fact that no other esteemed representatives from the major national shooting bodies that made written submission to the Standing Committee including the West Australian Pistol Association, West Australian Rifle Association, West Australian Clay Target Association or anyone from the WA Firearm Traders Association have been called to appear.
Day 4 will round out the proceedings with appearances from the Commissioner for Police and the Minister for Police, who will hopefully leave out the political rhetoric in the chamber and seek to work constructively on the repair of the issues now being enlivened in the Act and the Regulations. To date it appears the New Minister and the WA Police Commissioner have been keen to identify major flaws in the construction of the new gun laws with a more inclusive approach than their predecessors.
The reality facing the members of the Standing Committee, who do not spend every waking day on this inquiry as they perform their normal parliamentary duties, is to cut through the feelings, the emotions, the pretenders and the political ideology, to land in a place that delivers pragmatic solutions for the Government to repair the damage that has been created in the community with a heavy-handed approach to licensed firearm owners in WA.
We all want to be safe and we all want to make sure bad people don’t get guns. How we throw those simplistic goals into the complex and historical context of licensed firearm ownership in WA is the challenge.
The SSAA WA and our nationally respected counterparts from all sectors of sport, industry, traditional hunting, food production and invasive species control all need to come together with the WA Government and the Police Regulator to panel beat and re paint the WA Firearms Act and the Regulations for the next generation seeking safety and sensible gun laws.
Paul Fitzgerald
State President
SSAA WA