• Crime is out of control under WA Labor and WA Police has seen the biggest exodus in its history.
• Labor has been soft on criminals, slow to act on reform and has not provided victims the support they deserve.
• Only the WA Liberals have a comprehensive plan to be tough on crime when it occurs, and to invest in prevention early to break the cycle.
Every Western Australian deserves to feel safe in their home, their workplace, and their community.
But under WA Labor, crime has spiralled out of control, police resources are stretched thin, and support services for victims of crime and family and domestic violence are failing those who need them most.
Under Labor, the total number of crimes committed has risen to nearly 293,000 last year, up from less than 278,000 when they first came to power. Assault is up 63 per cent, threatening behaviour is up 147 per cent, and WA is the most dangerous state to be a woman.
Communities across Western Australia are demanding stronger action on crime, better support for our police officers, and real investment in child protection and family violence prevention.
Instead of addressing these concerns, Labor has been soft on criminals, slow to act on critical reforms, and negligent in providing the necessary support to victims.
A Mettam Liberal Government would be committed to restoring law and order by delivering stronger laws, better protections, and real support for victims.
We are committed to being tough on crime, ensuring our police officers have the resources they need, strengthening penalties for offenders, and improving protections for the most vulnerable.
1. Backing our police to protect our communities
Western Australians deserve a government that takes crime seriously and supports the police officers who put their lives on the line to protect our communities.
Under WA Labor, police officers are under more pressure than ever before, crime has surged to record levels and officer resignations have reached an all-time high.
Since WA Labor took office, Western Australia has fewer police officers per capita, with over a thousand throwing in the towel in just three years.
A Mettam Liberal Government would be committed to restoring law and order by strengthening police resources, supporting officers' wellbeing, and ensuring criminals face real consequences, by:
• Adding 10 police dogs, reversing Labor’s cuts
• Recruiting 500 police officers over four years
• Putting 300 additional police on the beat from day one through overtime
• Investing $40 million in a comprehensive police wellbeing program, including increasing the number of police psychologists, expanding chaplaincy services, and introducing presumptive PTSD legislation to ensure officers can access workers’ compensation without unnecessary delays
• Increasing superannuation to long serving officers to recognise their contributions and increase retention.
• Introducing Workplace Protection Orders, while investing to break the cycle of recidivism.
2. Addressing Disengaged Youth
Western Australia is facing a growing crisis of disengaged youth, with increasing numbers of young people falling through the cracks of the education system and entering the juvenile justice system.
Under WA Labor, juvenile crime has skyrocketed, particularly in regional areas, and there has been little to no investment in rehabilitation or prevention programs.
A Mettam Liberal Government will take a tough but rehabilitative approach, including:
• Undertake preparatory work for two new Disengagement and Behaviour Centres, providing specialist education to troubled students outside mainstream schools
• Introducing a School Policing Program that will place 20 retiring police officers in public schools three days a week to work with disengaged students
• Undertake preparatory work to establish on-country Juvenile Justice Centres, with a preference for locations in the Kimberley and Goldfields
3. Bail and Parole Reform
Western Australian families deserve a justice system that puts their safety first and ensures violent offenders face real consequences for their crimes. Under the WA Labor, the bail and parole system has failed, allowing dangerous criminals back into the community where they have reoffended time and time again.
Cases like Danny Hodgson’s, who suffered a brutal, unprovoked attack at the hands of a teenage offender who was already facing 23 charges, expose the tragic consequences of weak laws that prioritise offenders over victims.
Even after being sentenced, Hodgson’s attacker was granted parole, reoffended, and was later released on bail for other offenses.
This is completely unacceptable.
A Mettam Liberal Government will introduce the toughest bail and parole laws in WA’s history, ensuring violent repeat offenders serve their full sentences without the option of early release.
Parole should be a privilege, not a loophole for criminals who repeatedly break the law.
Under our reforms, violent offenders who commit further crimes while out on bail will not be granted bail again, and breaching bail conditions will result in immediate revocation.
We will also tighten parole laws to ensure that dangerous criminals serve their full sentences, eliminating early release for those convicted of serious violent offenses.
A WA Liberal Government will put victims first, restore confidence in the justice system, and ensure that serious criminals stay behind bars where they belong.
4. Addressing Family and Domestic Violence
Families deserve to feel safe in their homes, but under WA Labor, Western Australia is the most dangerous state in Australia for women.
Despite years of promises, Labor has failed to take meaningful action, leaving victims vulnerable to ongoing violence, manipulation, intimidation, and abuse.
A Mettam Liberal Government would make addressing FDV a priority by:
• Introducing legislation to criminalise coercive control as a priority
• Doubling the number of GPS tracking bracelets available to 300 to monitor offenders who deliberately breach a violence restraining order
• Establishing a specialised Family Violence Unit within the Department of Justice, providing a centralised hub of expertise, resources, and coordinated services
• Investing $1 million per year in mandatory FDV training for police officers, equipping them with the skills to identify, respond to, and investigate cases of domestic violence with compassion and effectiveness
• Investing $20 million to expand refuge capacity across the state, ensuring every family fleeing domestic violence has access to safe and secure accommodation
• Introducing the Domestic Violence Disclosure Scheme ensuring individuals have access to critical information that could protect them from harm
Family and domestic violence is a crisis that demands urgent action.
The WA Liberal Party will hold perpetrators accountable, protect victims, and provide real pathways out of violence. Our approach is about prevention, intervention, and long-term support, ensuring families can rebuild their lives free from fear.
5. Addressing Elder Abuse
Western Australian families should have confidence their elderly loved ones are protected from abuse, neglect, and exploitation.
Under WA Labor, elder abuse remains a growing crisis, with at least one in twenty older Western Australians experiencing some form of mistreatment.
Despite promising to reform laws surrounding enduring powers of attorney and guardianship more than eight years ago, Labor has failed to act, leaving vulnerable seniors exposed to abuse and coercion.
A Mettam Liberal Government will take immediate action to protect elderly Western Australians by implementing long-overdue reforms to the Guardianship and Administration Act.
We will strengthen safeguards around enduring powers of attorney and guardianship, ensuring these legal instruments cannot be misused to strip seniors of their assets, independence, or decision-making rights.
Unlike WA Labor, who have repeatedly delayed critical reforms, a WA Liberal Government will prioritise the safety and wellbeing of our elderly, ensuring families have the confidence that their loved ones are respected, protected, and supported.
6. Name and shame fugitives & judicial reform
Western Australian families deserve a justice system that is transparent, accountable, and focused on protecting the community, not one that shields criminals and allows dangerous fugitives to roam free.
In 2023, it was revealed that under WA Labor, 63 fugitives were on the run, including violent sex offenders and armed robbers, some of whom had evaded capture for over 30 years. They only revealed the names of about half.
Under Labor we don’t know who they are, and they don’t know where they are.
A Mettam Liberal Government will name and shame every fugitive with an active return-to-prison warrant, ensuring Western Australians know who is on the run.
Our failing parole system has also allowed too many offenders to walk free, only to reoffend. A WA Liberal Government will review the Sentence Administration Act and overhaul the Prisoners Review Board, ensuring early release decisions are subject to greater scrutiny and violent offenders remain behind bars, where they belong.
Western Australians also deserve a judicial system that is fair, effective, and accountable.
A Mettam Liberal Government will establish an independent judicial commission, modelled on the system in NSW, to investigate complaints, ensure consistency in sentencing, and restore faith in the rule of law.
A WA Liberal Government will restore public confidence, strengthen the parole and sentencing system, and hold both criminals and judicial officers accountable. Unlike Labor, we will take real action to protect families, uphold the rule of law, and deliver the justice system Western Australians deserve.
7. Improving Child Protection Outcomes
Western Australian families deserve a government that prioritises the safety and wellbeing of their children.
Instead of ensuring children grow up in safe, nurturing environments, Labor has placed child protection in a bureaucratic mega-department, where it competes for funding and attention with ten other portfolios. The result has been devastating. Caseworkers are overloaded – more than 1,000 children lack an allocated caseworker, and families in crisis are left without the early support that could prevent children from entering state care.
A Mettam Liberal Government will restore the Department of Child Protection as a stand-alone agency, ensuring protecting children is no longer treated as an afterthought.
We will also remove the Child Advocate from the Department of Communities and place it under the independent authority of the Commissioner for Children and Young People, ensuring children in care have a truly independent voice to advocate for their needs and wellbeing.
By restoring child protection as a priority, strengthening early intervention, and ensuring accountability in care, a WA Liberal Government will put children first and ensure every Western Australian child has the opportunity to grow up in a safe, secure, and loving home
8. Addressing Antisemitism
Western Australian families should feel safe in their communities, free from fear, discrimination, and targeted attacks based on their ethnicity or religion.
Under Labor, antisemitic incidents have surged by 364 percent, reaching an unprecedented 116 incidents in 2024 alone.
This disturbing rise in hatred and intimidation has left many in WA’s Jewish community feeling vulnerable and unprotected, with little action taken by the government to address the growing threats.
A Mettam Liberal Government will:
• Commit $250,000 to fund enhanced security measures, including additional CCTV surveillance, temporary barriers, and security personnel where needed
• Seek advice from the Law Reform Commission on strengthening protections for life and property when demonstrations turn aggressive
• Prioritise the teaching of the Holocaust in WA schools, ensuring future generations understand the consequences of unchecked hatred and discrimination
• Work with WA Police to establish a Jewish community liaison officer
The rise in antisemitism is not just an issue for the Jewish community, it is a threat to the values of fairness, inclusion, and safety that all Western Australians deserve. A WA Liberal Government will ensure that Jewish families, like all families in WA, can live without fear of harassment or violence.
QUOTES ATTRIBUTABLE TO LIBBY METTAM
Western Australians deserve to feel safe in their homes, workplaces, and communities.
Under WA Labor, crime has spiralled out of control, police resources are stretched thin, and support services for victims of crime and family and domestic violence are failing those who need them most.
A Mettam Liberal Government will take decisive action to deliver safer streets, stronger laws, and better support for victims of crime.
Not only will we be tough on crime when it occurs, but we will also focus on early intervention to break the cycle of crime and violence in our communities.
We are committed to restoring law and order by delivering stronger laws, better protections for West Australians, and real support for victims.
QUOTES ATTRIBUTABLE TO PETER COLLIER
Labor’s crime crisis isn’t just in the Pilbara and Kimberley, it’s now hitting places like Bunbury, Dunsborough, Collie, and Northam.
These communities are seeing crime levels never before experienced, but Labor keeps turning a blind eye.
The WA Liberals will ensure police have the resources they need, repeat violent offenders are held accountable, and victims receive the protection they deserve.
The single best thing we can do to reduce crime is to put more police onto the beat, which is exactly what the WA Liberals will deliver
Only the WA Liberals will take action to keep our community safe with 300 additional police on the street from day one, 500 over four years, as well as commonsense initiatives to keep experienced officers in the force.
QUOTES ATTRIBUTABLE TO NICK GOIRAN
Labor’s conga line of spokesmen have been left exposed as hollow men having promised to establish a judicial commission in 2013, 2016, 2021, 2022, and again in 2024.
This is not a novel concept – NSW established its judicial commission over thirty years ago, and Victoria’s was established when WA Labor first promised theirs.
Only by finally introducing independent oversight, can we ensure our judiciary is held to the highest standards of fairness, integrity, and accountability.
The WA Liberals are determined to empower older Western Australians and provide families with confidence that their loved ones are protected.
Our reforms will include changes to enduring powers of attorney and guardianship to prevent misuse, improve transparency, and ensure we have the right safeguards.
