❓ Mr Love questions the practicality of mandatory GP health checks for firearm owners due to WA's low GP per capita, particularly in rural areas. Premier Cook defends the requirement as essential for public safety, accusing Mr Love of prioritizing convenience over lives.

Firearms Act—Mandatory health assessments78.Mr Shane Loveto thePremier:I refer to the government's response to the Standing Committee on Legislation's report on the Firearms Act inquiry, including recommendation 6, which relates to the government's mandated general practitioner–conducted health assessments.Given that Western Australia has the lowest number of GPs per capita in the nation, with regional and rural communities particularly affected, will the Premier concede that requiring mandatory GP-based health checks for firearm owners is impractical and will he commit to revising or removing this requirement?

Mr Roger Cook replied:I thank the member for the question. I take it from his question that he would find going to a doctor more inconvenient than saving the lives of Western Australians. The nub of the member's argument is that he is prepared to compromise the safety of Western Australians because of the inconvenience of going to a GP.Several members interjected.The Speaker:Members!Mr Roger Cook:The parliamentary committee's report has reaffirmed that our laws are about keeping Western Australians safe. What do the Nationals stand for, apart from the last grab of Barnaby Joyce and Pauline Hanson? This is about keeping Western Australians safe. The committee made 11 recommendations, and we have agreed to all of them. The Western Australia Police Force has seized over 4,300 firearms, including from family and domestic violence perpetrators and other criminals. Over 83,700 firearms were surrendered as part of our voluntary buyback. Western Australia is a safer place today because of the WA Labor government's commitment to bringing these decades of reform to light. As the interjection from the minister indicates, 50,000 people have already done what the Leader of the National Party is incapable of doing—that is, making an appointment with his GP.This is an important piece of legislation. Like fishing, it is the sort of thing that you should not play populist vote-catching activities with because lives matter. Lives matter and, because of that, we have brought in this legislation. A whole range of licences require people to have checks with their local medical practitioner to maintain the currency of that licence. That is a very sensible approach to ensure that firearms do not fall into the wrong hands. But the one thing that we can say is that if there are fewer firearms in the community, there is less chance of them getting into the wrong hands and, as a result of our reforms and gun buyback, more than 83,700 fewer reasons why someone will come to danger or harm from firearms. Firearms Act—Mandatory health assessments