Franco Varone: Jilakin farmer fined $11,500 for using carriage service to harrass police minister, Labor MLC

A Wheatbelt farmer who threatened to kill Police Minister Paul Papalia “in two seconds flat” after police confiscated his firearms under new reforms has received an $11,500 fine. Franco Varone was sentenced at Narrogin Magistrates Court on Tuesday after he pleaded guilty to two counts of using a carriage service to menace, harass or cause offence. The 54-year-old made threatening phone calls to the offices of Mr Papalia and Labor MLC for the Agricultural Region Darren West earlier this month after police confiscated his firearms. Under new amendments to the Firearms Act — drafted in the wake of the Floreat murder of Jennifer and Gretl Petelczyc — police automatically confiscate weapons from any gun owner accused of threatening domestic violence. Franco was charged with assaulting his partner and obstructing police in November 2022 in what Magistrate Erin O’Donnell described as “a cluster of offences”, and has been the subject of a five-year restraining order since he was sentenced in April 2023. Three weeks after the new measures were introduced to Parliament, police seized Varone’s firearms from his Jilakin property on August 2, with Varone making an aggressive call to Mr West’s research office later that day in which he said “I want my f...ing guns back”. Days later, on August 5, Varone called Mr Papalia’s electorate office and said “You can tell Paul I don’t need a gun to kill him. I can kill him in two seconds flat”. On August 6, Varone attended Kulin police station at police’s request, and was arrested and questioned before being released on protective bail on the grounds he would not contact the parties involved. Varone’s defence lawyer Michael Tudori told the court his client was “upset and agitated”, having spent $20,000 on firearms including legal fees in the six months before the new amendments, and had threatened the two victims “out of sheer frustration”. Mr Tudori said his client needed firearms for his work and had been forced to euthanise his livestock with a knife despite firearms being considered more humane. Ms O’Donnell told the court she was prepared to deal with Varone by way of a fine but characterised his behaviour as “relatively serious” and “an inadvisable way to put out frustration”. She reduced the sentence by 25 per cent in recognition of Varone’s early guilty plea and his evident remorse for his actions.