Governor assigns Land Forces Event special powers to Police Minister

The Governor has committed the administration of the Land Forces Event (Special Powers) Act 2026 to the Minister for Police, acting under section 12(a) of the Interpretation Act 1984. The committal was made on 21 September 2026 and notified for public information in the Government Gazette of Western Australia No. 122 of Friday, 25 September 2026. The notice, numbered PR407 and headed “Committal of Administration of Act”, sits in the Premier and Cabinet section of the gazette at page 2070.

The committal is the formal step that hands a new statute to a portfolio minister for day-to-day administration, and it is published so that the public and agencies know which minister is answerable for the Act. The gazette notice records only the portfolio assignment: it sets out no powers, no event dates and no geographic boundaries. The Act behind it was passed by the Legislative Council and the Legislative Assembly during the First Session of the Forty Second Parliament and assented to by the Governor, in the name and on behalf of His Majesty the King, on 16 September 2026.

What the notice records

• Committal date: 21 September 2026.
• Statutory basis: section 12(a) of the Interpretation Act 1984.
• Portfolio: Minister for Police.
• Notice reference: PR407, “Committal of Administration of Act”.
• Signed by A. O’SULLIVAN, Clerk of the Executive Council.
• Published in the Government Gazette of Western Australia No. 122, 25 September 2026, page 2070.

The Act and its passage

The Land Forces Event (Special Powers) Act 2026 became law as Act No. 15 of 2026, with Royal Assent granted on 16 September 2026. The assent was notified for public information in the Government Gazette of Western Australia No. 120 of 22 September 2026, under notice PA401, “Royal Assent to Bills”, at page 2013, and dated 17 September 2026 by SAM HASTINGS, Clerk of the Parliaments. The committal to the police portfolio followed five days later.

Who holds the portfolio

The office of Minister for Police; Emergency Services; Great Southern is held by the Hon R. R. Whitby MLA. In the same gazette, notice PR409 records that the Governor approved the Hon S. N. Dawson MLC to act temporarily in that office in Whitby’s absence for the period 24 to 28 September 2026, both dates inclusive. That notice supersedes acting arrangements for the same office published in Government Gazette No. 108 of 25 August 2026, which had named the Hon Dr A. D. Buti MLA for the same period.

What it means

For event organisers, landholders and residents affected by the event, the practical effect is that the special powers the Act provides for now sit with the police portfolio rather than with another minister. The acting arrangements mean the portfolio is held by Dawson for the four days from 24 September, so any dealings with the Act’s requirements should be directed to the Minister for Police as administering minister, as recorded in Gazette No. 122.

Source: Government Gazette of Western Australia, No. 122, 25 September 2026, Premier and Cabinet, p. 2070 (official reference: PR407).