Western Australia’s Liberal leader Basil Zempilas has refused to say whether he supports the state government’s strict firearms regulations, after his colleagues backed a failed motion to scrap them.
Legalise Cannabis MLC Brian Walker last week attempted to overturn the regulations, described as “the strictest in the country,” but the disallowance motion was defeated when the Greens withheld support. WA Labor labelled the motion “reckless and dangerous.”
Gun owners argue the laws overreach, making it harder to register new firearms and limiting most people to 10 guns, or five for hunting licences. More than 1000 protesters rallied outside parliament against the changes.
Zempilas sympathised with the demonstrators, acknowledging difficulties faced by “law-abiding responsible firearms owners,” particularly in farming communities.
“These are law-abiding firearms owners who want to continue to have the right to be able to use firearms where required and where necessary… and we stand in support of those people,” he said.
However, when pressed on whether he supported the failed motion, Zempilas declined to clarify.
“I stand in support of strong modern firearms laws that keep our community safe. I also stand in support of law-abiding responsible firearms owners,” he said.
Labor took aim at his refusal to state a position, branding him a “coward” on social media: “Both ways Baz says he supports tougher gun laws to keep our community safe but let’s get real here — Basil couldn’t care less about community safety.”
Despite his colleagues’ stance in the upper house, Zempilas reiterated only that the regulations remained in place.
Source: ABC.
