Page 5301 - Week 14 - Thursday, 19 November 2009
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have no defence whatsoever. What about Mr Doszpot going to his electors in Tuggeranong only last year and saying, “I stand strong with the policy of the Canberra Liberals on this issue that the retail sale of shop-bought fireworks should be banned in the ACT”? They went to the last election with a policy of banning shop-bought fireworks in the territory.
It has always been Labor’s position, in contrast, to make sure that the response responds to the circumstances most effectively. That is why, over time, we have increasingly restricted and further controlled the use of shop-bought fireworks in response to the concerns of a large number of people in our community. But we have reached the conclusion that further regulation is not going to achieve any further improvement in public and community safety and amenity, and there is only one option available to the government now—that is, to ban the sale of shop-bought good fireworks.
It is something that personally I am disappointed about as well, as my colleagues are. I have young children; they enjoy fireworks. They will not have that opportunity in the territory in terms of shop-bought fireworks. But I recognise that there is a broader public interest. That interest needs to be had regard to, and issues around community safety and amenity are important for tens of thousands of Canberrans, and those views are also important.
So that is why the government have taken the action they have. It is a reasonable and consistent evolution of the approach we have adopted ever since we were first elected to government. In contrast, we have the embarrassment of the Liberal Party, after years and years of consistent opposition to the sale of shop-bought fireworks, now hiding behind this puny and diminishing fig leaf of a defence about why they should change their position six months after they went to an election saying that shop-bought fireworks should be banned.
MR COE (Ginninderra) (12.01): I, like so many other Canberrans, have very fond memories of spending time with family and friends congregated on the Queen’s Birthday long weekend to enjoy cracker nights. For a place that really only grew to a city of critical size in the 1950s and 1960s, the place has a very distinct culture and proud heritage. Whilst the city cops more than its fair share of criticism, those of us that have been here for a while love the city and all that it has to offer. I think the acceptance and recreational use of fireworks has been one of the defining components of perception of the ACT interstate. Let us not deny that Canberra is said to be a boring and stale place by the city’s critics. However, the fireworks helped rebuff that perception. Firstly, I do not agree with the critics of Canberra, and nor do I think they necessarily deserve a response. But the fact is that Canberra is synonymous with fireworks, and this banning is a shame and a turning point for Canberra.
I believe governments tinkering with culture is a very risky business. It is my opinion that the hasty ban imposed by the government is doing just that. We in this place should be cautious about orchestrating such changes to the culture of Canberra without going through due process. I know there are some that will refute this argument and say that fireworks are a very small part of our culture. The debate about culture will always be had, and culture can be different things to different people. But
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