The WA police minister, Paul Papalia, says he believes it must be easier for police to remove guns in the case of an “acrimonious” relationship break-up, as he has flagged further changes to “inadequate” laws.
Mark Bombara, 63, on Friday shot Jenny Petelczyc, 59, and her 18-year-old daughter, Gretl, at their Floreat home, where his ex-wife was believed to have been staying, before taking his own life.
Laws currently passing through WA’s upper house would have affected Bombara in at least four different ways, including limiting the number of guns he could own, Papalia said on Wednesday.
But the minister has asked for police advice about any potential amendments to the act, particularly regarding the thresholds at which police can apply a police order – a precursor to a violence restraining order – after Bombara’s daughter, Ariel, claimed she warned police on three occasions that her father owned a number of guns.
Papalia said that while Ariel and her mother approached police, what they “reported did not meet the threshold for application of a police order”.
“My personal view is there’s a need to lower that threshold and move into the space – where there’s an acrimonious break-up and there’s known to be guns involved – move very quickly to remove those guns.
“We need to change the law because the current law is … inadequate,” he added.
Bombara owned 13 firearms, including a Glock handgun that was found at the Floreat home where the two women were murdered.
“The Floreat murderer was an innocent gun owner right up until they weren’t,” Papalia said.
“It would be an insult to Jennifer and Gretl if we do not look at what happened and then apply whatever knowledge we can ... to improve the law whilst it’s still going through parliament,” he said.
Other changes to the firearms act, in development for two years, will see 1,000 gun licences removed from serious offenders, including about 100 serious family and domestic violence offenders.
Under the reforms, Bombara would not have had the ability to have a collectors’ licence for his Glock, nor would he would have been able to own 13 firearms. Papalia had said on Monday Bombara would have been able to own up to five guns under the new laws.
The minister said on Wednesday Bombara would have been subject to the principle that the ownership of a firearm is a privilege subject to the primacy of community safety.
The commissioner of the WA police force, Col Blanch, said on Tuesday that “there will be a full investigation into what was said and what was done”.
The WA Greens senator Dorinda Cox said independent oversight of the investigation was needed because “police investigating police is not the best practice solution”.
Speaking with ABC Radio National on Wednesday, she said independent oversight would allow people “to really get into the detail to ask all the difficult questions that sometimes an agency aren’t able to do … internally”.
“It’s in everyone’s best interest that we make that quite a public space to have this conversation,” she said.
“It’s not about blame, and it’s not about criticism; it is about actually getting to improvement in the system, improvement in our responses, and saving the lives of women and children in this country.”
Kate Chaney, the federal member for Curtin, said she would be working with Ariel to help keep women safer.
• In Australia, the crisis support service Lifeline is 13 11 14. The national family violence counselling service is on 1800 737 732.
