WA farming industry leaders not positive of gun reform change following Parliamentary inquiry hearing

WA agriculture leaders that have travelled from around the state to Perth for the firearms inquiry say they are not optimistic of any change to the controversial and “flawed” gun reforms. The bipartisan inquiry into the 2024 Firearms Act heard from representatives from Pastoralists and Graziers Association, WAFarmers Federation, Kimberley Pilbara Cattlemen’s Association, Australian Veterinary Association, and WA Firearm Traders Association on Wednesday. The hearing was one of eight to be heard by the inquiry — chaired by Labor MLC Katrina Sutton — which was announced in May. KPCA chief executive Bron Christensen said the gun reforms had undermined work made to destigmatise mental health in regional WA. She said many pastoralists are erring on the side of caution to retain their firearms licence on the chance a general practitioner finds them unsuitable to hold a licence. “People don’t want to talk on mental health panels because they don’t want their firearms licence declined,” Ms Christensen said. WAFarmers president Steve McGuire supported a change to the regulations that would allow for an appeal to the Police Commissioner for people who had been barred from having a firearms licence or renewing an existing one. He called the regulations a “failure of governance” and said the hearing that occurred on Wednesday “should have occurred a year ago”. “The reason we have this committee now, is because the government lost the balance of power in the upper house, and that’s why all these things got rammed through,” Mr McGuire told Countryman. “We just got guillotined and just rammed right through by the government because they had the numbers to do so.” Mr McGuire echoed Ms Christensen’s concerns around the mandatory health assessments, describing them as “counterproductive” for farmers and regional residents who are often faced with hurdles such as distance, culture, and language. PGA president Tony Seabrook told Countryman that not enough time was given for the agricultural sector to be heard at the inquiry given the impact of the reforms on farmers and stakeholders — that a full day should have been allowed for the farming industry. Critcising the reforms as flawed and rushed, Mr Seabrook argued the need to reduce violent shootings was a policing issue, referencing the murder of Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyz in 2024 by licenced firearms owner Mark Bombara. His daughter Ariel Bombara had tried to warn police of the danger posed by her father for weeks prior to the double murder. “That’s not a firearms issue — that’s a policing issue because they failed to do what should have been done,” Mr Seabrook said. Mr Seabrook questioned why there was a large focus on “hammering in the daylights out of decent, law abiding citizens” when there is believed to be 230,000 illegal firearms in WA. “If there’s that many illegal firearms out there, why aren’t we concentrating on getting the illegal firearms out of the system,” he said. At the drafting of the legislation PGA was invited to provide input for the WA agricultural sector — input Mr Seabrook said was not “taken on board”. “Towards the end of the consultation period, we were just not that involved,” he said. “With the drawing up of the regulations, they clearly show that nobody with any real world experience was involved in those regulations, and that was highlighted by the number of people putting submissions in today, that this is very flawed legislation. “The best thing that the government could do is to withdraw it, start again, and rewrite the regulations with the right people in the room, and take on board our recommendations from PGA and other farming groups.” Yanrey Station owner operator Kimberley ‘Cob’ De Pledge drove from the Pilbara to tell the inquiry of his personal experience as a pastoralist unable to attain a firearms licence due to his criminal conviction. Mr De Pledge was jailed in 2019 for nearly four years for his role in the June 2017 collision on Great Northern Highway that killed Tom Price couple Mark and Lara Dawson, and orphaned their children. As a result of his conviction he is unable to own a firearm licence for 22 years — a significant hurdle for Mr De Pledge who said the legislation restricts him from adhering to the Animal Welfare Act. Hearings into the Act will continue on September 22 where submissions from WA Police and the Police Minister Reece Whitby are expected to be heard.