Opinion: Rubber stamp democracy leads to gun laws but 42nd Parliament gives glimpse of what is possible

After four long years of rubber-stamp democracy in the WA Parliament’s Upper House, this month we got a brief glimpse of what might be possible in the 42nd Parliament. A Liberal motion, supported by the Nationals and the entire crossbench, was successful in sending the Firearms Act 2024 to a review committee. While the March State election did return Labor to power with a substantial majority in the Assembly, Labor lost control of the Legislative Council which they had used to brutal effect, cutting short debate and ramming through laws without the scrutiny that the house of review, the Legislative Council, is supposed to provide. With overwhelming numbers in the Legislative Council in the 41st Parliament, Labor had been able to pass any piece of legislation they wanted — whenever they wanted. Despite this power they also declared 11 Bills urgent, cutting short debate. The era of Labor arrogantly ignoring the purpose of the Parliament and hiding Bills from proper interrogation came to an end last week just three days after newly elected MLCs took their seats in the chamber. Last week Liberal MLC Nick Goiran moved a motion to refer the Firearms Act 2024 to the Standing Committee on Legislation. The motion directed the committee to report on: · problems that have emerged from the implementation and operation of the legislation; · whether all provisions are consistent with fundamental legislative principles; · recommended amendments that will ensure the legislation’s workability and effectiveness. It would be difficult to argue with any of those sensible suggestions. In my opportunity to speak on the motion I said: “We have an opportunity, members — not just the Opposition and the crossbench, but also Labor members — to put right the mistake that was made in the last Parliament by not scrutinising this piece of legislation appropriately. I urge members to give that some consideration — some serious consideration. Let the Standing Committee on Legislation do what it does best in this, the 42nd Parliament.” Why did this referral need to happen? Well, despite Labor promising that “the law will be subject to the full scrutiny of Upper House debate, as is normal practice”, they allowed consideration and examination of only 11 clauses of a Firearms Bill that contained 492 clauses. Not exactly gold standard transparency, which was another Labor broken promise. What did some of those 481 unexamined clauses contain? Just a very brief sample from the hundreds of important clauses that Labor didn’t think worthy of examination: Section 150, “General matters for consideration” states: Without limiting the matters to which the Commissioner may have regard for the purpose of forming an opinion as to whether a person is a fit and proper person, the Commissioner may have regard to any of the following — (a) the person’s conduct and behaviour; (b) the person’s physical and mental health; (c) the person’s views, opinions and attitudes; (d) the person’s way of living or domestic circumstances. I would have welcomed the opportunity to discover how the Commissioner might determine my attitudes or views when considering if I am a fit and proper person to hold a firearm licence. There are also clauses relating to the storage of firearms, health checks for firearm owners and what defines a farm or a farmer where discussion and explanation from the government could have been useful. Labor chose not to bother. They chose to push the Bill through the last Parliament and ignore genuine concerns. The Liberal motion received support from across the political spectrum because it is sensible and allows the Parliament to do its job. Greens MLC Brad Pettitt, a supporter of reform to the Firearms Act, added his support for the referral noting concerns from the Royal Australian College of General Practitioners regarding the impact on RACGP members having to deal with the health checks. The Legislation Committee now can recommend changes that will improve the workability of this Act for all stakeholders and achieve the goals of community safety. Even the Labor Party supported the referral to the committee. Possibly because they realised the error of their ways, or more probably because they didn’t want the embarrassment of losing a vote so early in the life of the new Parliament. Either way, democracy is the winner. The newly-elected Legislative Council might have fewer regional members because of Labor’s electoral law changes before the last election, but it now has an opportunity to hold the Government to account. Steve Martin is a WA Liberal member for the Agricultural Region and a farmer at Wickepin