Ariel Bombara: Firearm reforms crucial for community safety as committee finds flaws in rollout

Ariel Bombara — the daughter of Floreat double murderer Mark Bombara — has backed in the Cook Government’s firearm reforms after a committee found “little wrong” with the laws despite a problem-plagued rollout. The Labor and Greens controlled inquiry found the new digital portal for gun licenses was not prepared for a high volume of traffic, that calls to a police helpline went unanswered and resulted in contradictory advice. But victims’ advocates, including Ms Bombara, said some “inconvenience” for law abiding gun owners was a reasonable price to pay to keep women safer. “You can’t run from a bullet,” Ms Bombara said. “You might have a fighting chance with a knife. “The privilege of owning a firearm should not outrank the public’s right not to be threatened, intimidated, coerced and brutally murdered by one. “We owe it to the women and children living in fear for everybody to get on board with these reforms.” In May 2024, Ms Bombara’s father shot and killed Jennifer Petelczyc and her 18-year-old daughter Gretl at their Floreat home while hunting down his estranged wife and daughter. Nationals Leader Shane Love accused the Government of “shamelessly” using the tragedy, to rush the nation’s toughest gun laws through Parliament without scrutiny. “What happened in Floreat was a tragedy. It could have been avoided under the existing legislation at that stage,” he said. WA Farmers President Steve McGuire blamed former Police Minister Paul Papalia for much of the backlash from license holders, but warned the rollout was still far from perfect and questioned whether there is “hard evidence” the laws have made WA safer. “Police already had the opportunity to remove guns from people before,” Mr McGuire said. But new Police Minister Reece Whitby claimed vindication, after the report declared the legislation was “reasonable and justified”. He accused the Opposition of peddling misinformation, and demanded MP’s now fall into line. “Don’t go the cheap road, the low road. Join us,” he said, during Question Time. The committee’s report was not unanimous, though, with Liberal MP Simon Ehrenfeld and One Nation MP Rod Caddies offering some dissenting views. “Where we came to differ is on some things which were more more related to potentially core values,” Mr Ehrenfeld said. “We believe innocent until proven guilty, now sometimes laws override things but you have to have a very, very good reason. “We didn’t believe that the innocent or proven guilty provision was needed in the case that it was applied.” The new Firearms Act has capped most individuals to 10 firearms and passed Parliament shortly after the Floreat shooting, but a backlash escalated when the regulations came into force in March. During the hearings, safety advocates called for even stronger measures while gun owner groups argued the reforms were heavy handed. The committee made 11 recommendations, including better education, funding to help shooting clubs comply, and a police handbook to explain the changes to all firearms owners in “clear and plain” language. Mr Whitby apologised in April for the “inconvenience and the trouble”. On Thursday, he said “teething problems” were mostly resolved. “I’m not going to stand here and say that everything is hunky dory,” he said. “We will work every day to make sure the system is better and better, and we’ll get through this. “More than 50,000 West Australians licensed to possess a firearm are either on the other side of this, or in process of being on the other side, out of 77,000. So we are making progress.”