Page 277 - Week 01 - Thursday, 14 February 2008
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Leave granted.
MR BARR: The Dangerous Substances Act 2004 provides a modern statutory framework for the regulation of dangerous goods and hazardous substances, including asbestos, explosives and fireworks. The act contains a provision that requires it to be reviewed as soon as practicable after 30 June 2007 and for a report on the review to be presented to the Legislative Assembly. The review of the Dangerous Substances Act began in September 2007 with the release of a discussion paper that invited people who had an interest in or experience of the act to make a submission.
There was a three-month period to make submissions. Some 45 submissions were received. Most of the submissions were from members of the public, several were from animal welfare groups, and five were received from other stakeholders, such as the Australian Federal Police and the fireworks industry. Only two submissions addressed the general operation of the Dangerous Substances Act; the rest focused on the operation of the Dangerous Substances (Explosives) Regulation and particularly on the sale and discharge of consumer fireworks.
The community was also consulted specifically on the issues around the availability of consumer fireworks. A market research consultant was engaged to develop and deliver an appropriate community engagement strategy. The consultant developed an online survey featuring a number of questions on consumer fireworks which invited members of the community to have their say and which attracted 1,202 participants. The consultant also conducted the telephone survey involving a representative sample of 1,000 adult Canberrans. The report includes the main findings of these surveys.
In addition, two public meetings were held in November 2007. At these meetings a panel of representatives from agencies and industry led discussion on the pros and cons of the availability to the public of consumer fireworks. A range of opinions were expressed, and they were fairly evenly divided for and against. Some 58 community members attended the first meeting and 56 were at the second meeting. It would be fair to say that no clear majority view emerged from this process.
The report notes that, as a follow up, focus groups will be brought together shortly to discuss the options for future regulation of the use of fireworks by the public in the ACT. These focus groups will consist of randomly selected members of the ACT community. Importantly, though, there will also be one focus group convened of members of the fireworks industry only. The consultant will provide a final report following these focus groups. The government will then be in a better position to make a decision on the future regulation of consumer fireworks in the territory following the conclusion of the focus groups.
Depending on the outcome of the focus groups, I intend to be in a position to bring a bill to the Assembly on this matter in 2008. I have said previously that the government will attempt to make any changes on the use and sale of consumer fireworks before the 2008 Queen’s Birthday long weekend, and this may include, for example, changes to the sale period or discharge time for fireworks. However, should the government decide to ban the use of fireworks by members of the public altogether or on other changes that may affect the constitution or ordering of consumer fireworks, these will not be affected until the 2009 fireworks period.
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