Victoria’s Out-Of-Touch Police Minister
Our recent survey of Victorian shooters revealed how angry they were at the performance of the Minister for Police over the proposed ban on lever action rifles and shotguns. In fact they are so concerned, they want the Premier to intervene.
Nearly half of those who participated in the survey knew who the Minister was – Wade Noonan. However that’s where the good news for him stops.
When asked “How would you rate the performance of the Victorian Minister for Police?”, 65% of shooters disagreed or strongly disagreed that “He’s engaging and interested in what we do”. 71% of shooters disagreed or strongly disagreed that “He understands our issues and needs”.
When asked three more questions about how concerned shooters were that the Minister left the policy discussion on the proposed ban on lever actions up to the Victoria Police, more than two thirds of shooters selected the multiple choice answer “This is so bad, the Premier should sort it out”.
It’s not just Victorian shooters who are concerned about Minister Noonan’s performance. We have our concerns as well.
The Minister, whose electorate is the leafy inner suburb of Albert Park, was recently quoted in the Weekly Times as saying, in relation to the proposed ban:
“We are taking advice from the Chief Commissioner of Police, who is the Victorian Government’s chief adviser on this matter, and consulting with other groups.”
There are two things wrong with this. First, he is again letting Victoria Police – which has a limited knowledge of the firearms market and almost no understanding of what Victorian shooters do – take on the role of policy adviser when it also has a clear conflict of interest as the regulator.
This is inconsistent with sections 8 and 9 of the Victoria Police Act 2013 – which set out what Victoria Police does . For it to act as a policy advisor (and as the enforcement agency simultaneously) is a clear conflict of interest and outside the scope of the Police Act. It’s job is to uphold the law, and nothing more.
Secondly the Minister had the ‘after thought’ of consulting “other groups” which is an offensive reference to the 180,000 licensed shooters in Victoria and their shooting organisations. It ignores the important role of the Firearms Consultative Committee which helps his own department advise him on firearms policy, and dismisses the goodwill between government and the state’s major shooting organisations which has been built up over many years.
The FCC has representation from shooting groups, the Law Institute of Victoria, Victorian Farmers Federation, Police Association and the Minister’s own office. It was established by the previous Labor Government for the purpose of ensuring policy advice is properly tested, yet this Labor Minister chose to ignore it. Why?
The only thing you can expect from bad and unqualified policy advice, is a bad and unqualified outcome. Especially if it comes from a regulator who is distrusted, acting outside its mandate and with a clear conflict of interest.
We’ll be raising this formally with the Premier (Daniel Andrews) and the Leader of the Opposition (Matthew Guy).
If you’re wound up about this, you can email the Premier, Daniel Andrews, by clicking here and Leader of the Opposition, Matthew Guy, by clicking here.
Click here if you’d like to see what else you can do to fight the ban.