Page 5294 - Week 14 - Thursday, 19 November 2009
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In conclusion, I would like to acknowledge the work of a former Minister for Industrial Relations, John Hargreaves, on this. It has been a passion of his. He is not here to close the circle today, but I know that he will be listening in some way. I certainly support the work that he has done and will be not supporting this motion today.
MS BRESNAN (Brindabella) (11.33): The ACT Greens will not be supporting the disallowance motion by the Liberal Party. The Greens arrived at a position on the issue of the sale of consumer fireworks after much consideration. This included considering the results of the ACT government’s consultation process which included an online survey which anyone in the general public could respond to, a telephone survey, community focus group discussions and interviews with the industry. We also looked at the views of key stakeholders, including the police and the RSPCA, and consulted with the membership of our party. We also received many representations from constituents, which I am sure all members here did, and the overwhelming majority were in favour of a ban on consumer fireworks.
We took the issue very seriously and recognised that it is an issue which people in the community are very passionate about, both for and against the ban. After going through this process, the Greens arrived at the position to support a ban on the sale of consumer fireworks.
I would like to briefly note some of the results from the quantitative surveys. On the question “To what extent do you agree or disagree that the Canberra public should be able to buy and use fireworks?” 15 per cent agreed strongly and 35 per cent agreed moderately, which accounts for 50 per cent, and 15 per cent disagreed moderately and 35 per cent disagreed strongly, again which accounts for 50 per cent. With the internet survey the results were somewhat different: 36 per cent agreed strongly, 10 per cent agreed moderately, which is 46 per cent, and four per cent disagreed moderately with 50 per cent disagreeing strongly, which is 54 per cent. So this almost equal split, with a slightly higher number in the internet survey disagreeing with the sale of fireworks, I think is representative of the feelings in the community. It is an issue which splits the community.
I also met with the person behind the establishment of the Facebook fireworks supporters group, which Mrs Dunne referred to, Clare Hogan. She acknowledged that the government consultation process was thorough and that the group also had access to the results from the survey. I do acknowledge and admire the determination behind their campaign. While a significant number of people have joined this group, it has not actually translated into direct action in terms of contact that has been made with members here or other organisations, at least in relation to correspondence which my office has received, which was about three emails from members of that group.
I note the issues the Facebook group has raised. However, I would point out that the many public firework displays will continue unhindered under the legislation, and there are provisions for registered community groups running activities such as Chinese new year. Again I would note that the vast majority of correspondence the Greens have received supported the ban. There have been strong representations from the RSPCA and other wildlife groups, but I do not think anyone could argue that
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