Page 5289 - Week 14 - Thursday, 19 November 2009
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The economic benefit to Canberra of cracker night tourism has not been measured and the government, as I have said, has been silent on the matter. I acknowledge the portfolio of documents that the former minister provided to members in July 2009 and I also acknowledge the briefing from the minister that I received not long afterwards. The portfolio contained a copy of a ministerial brief, or what purported to be a copy of a ministerial brief, 10 attachments, including the three telephone surveys, and a range of other documents seeking to give evidence for the proposal for a ban.
Apart from the telephone survey documents, which were buried at attachment 9, the overall assessment of the portfolio was that it was put forward to represent the minister’s known biased view. Apart from the telephone survey results, there was little in it to demonstrate any public support for retention of the availability of fireworks. Indeed, there was little of any substance in the portfolio to support the then minister’s stand on the subject.
In summary, the minister put forward a very unconvincing case for the ban. Indeed, the government’s handling of this issue could be seen as the antithesis of its handling of the Griffith library fiasco. In that case the then minister refused consultation because he knew what the answer would be. In this case we have seen successive ministers engaging in an extensive consultation process costing the taxpayers thousands of dollars and then ignoring the results because the results did not give them the answer that they wanted.
I can say again and acknowledge that in the Canberra community there is some division in relation to consumer fireworks. It has been a difficult issue to resolve because whatever the answer, there have been from time to time up to half of the community that is not satisfied. But one important thing is to ensure that the whole community is satisfied that their elected representatives have given the issue their best shot. To date the community does not hold this view in relation to this decision. This once-a-year special occasion, cracker night—the enduring tradition of many generations, the smiling faces, the squeals of delight, the family gathering, the colour, the sparkle, the community-building—cannot be ignored.
It should not be shut down because of the behaviour of a few. It should not be shut down on the grounds of ideology. The fun police should not be allowed to shut down a longstanding tradition. This is why we have moved this motion to disallow the Dangerous Substances (Explosives) Amendment Regulation 2009 (No 2) and it is why it should be supported by this house.
MS GALLAGHER (Molonglo—Deputy Chief Minister, Treasurer, Minister for Health and Minister for Industrial Relations) (11.18): Sometimes when you walk into this place you can be forgiven for thinking that you are in a parallel universe—particularly just then when listening to Mrs Dunne’s speech. Perhaps it is appropriate that I start my speech with a quote from a former member of this place:
There does come a time when we need to draw a line in the sand and say, “Enough is enough.”
That was from Bill Stefaniak in his discussion over Mr Pratt’s bill to ban fireworks. There were quite a number of contributions, including one from—
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