Three days after Port Arthur, Walpole and fellow gun control advocate Roland Browne were called into the Tasmanian premier’s office.
As a former Australian Medical Association state president, Walpole had been lobbying for gun law reform for more than a decade before the Port Arthur massacre brought the victims into his hospital.
Opponents of the film, including Port Arthur survivor and writer Justin Woolley, have condemned the project as insensitive to those still healing from the trauma of the shootings.
A Royal Hobart hospital doctor who dealt first-hand with the grim aftermath of the Port Arthur massacre – and played a pivotal role in Australia’s gun law reform – has said he has no problem with a controversial upcoming film that will delve into the psyche of the perpetrator.