Slade Brockman (WA, Liberal Party) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Western Australians have a good political radar. They know a bit of political nonsense when they hear it, and we've seen that well and truly on display once again from the state Labor government in WA over the last few weeks. In this case it came out of the mouth of police minister Paul Papalia. Minister Papalia had a bit of a problem. That problem was that the Labor government's promises in policing just hadn't been fulfilled. In fact they were nowhere near being fulfilled. They promised an increase of 950 officers by the middle of this year. Where are they tracking now? The number of police officers in WA as of March—very recently—has actually dropped since December of last year. What has police minister Paul Papalia come out with? Overblown rhetoric on his favourite area, targeting law-abiding gunowners in WA. He said this: 'There is only one question around these new gun laws. It is an American-style "unlimited guns for everyone" or responsible, reasonable limits on firearms possession or use.' What a load of nonsense!

Western Australia's gun laws have been amongst the toughest in this country all my life. To compare Western Australia with the situation in the US is not only ridiculous but abandons every single one of those law-abiding Western Australia gun owners.