Page 3583 - Week 10 - Tuesday, 25 August 2009

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fireworks revealed that 56 per cent of those surveyed agreed that the Canberra public should be able to buy and use fireworks; 41 per cent disagreed. Minister, what conclusion did you draw from this survey result?

MR HARGREAVES: Thank you very much, Mr Speaker. Mrs Dunne asked me that question and I answered it.

Mr Hanson: I raise a point of order, Mr Speaker. My question was different from Mrs Dunne’s. Mrs Dunne’s question—

MR SPEAKER: Yes, it was. I am sorry, Mr Hanson. I recall.

Mr Hanson: was different. It was about 98 per cent not making complaints.

MR SPEAKER: Minister, it was a different question. Do you want to further your answer at all?

MR HARGREAVES: I do not think I need to expand on the answer, Mr Speaker.

MR SPEAKER: You have not answered it. Mr Hanson, a supplementary question?

MR HANSON: Minister, what assurance can you give the people of the ACT that your decision to ban consumer fireworks was not one based on personal obsession, but rather one based on the outcomes of community consultation?

MR HARGREAVES: I can give the community in Canberra every assurance that that is so. In fact, I refer Mr Hansen and your good self, of course, Mr Speaker, to the documents that I provided to you supporting the argument that I gave.

The ban is all about stopping the illegal sale of these articles and the illegal use of these articles. It is to stop deliberate criminal damage to property like school ovals, mail boxes, vehicles, homes and buildings. It is about distress and injury to animals, as I have said publicly, not only to domestic animals but also to wildlife and stock, particularly horses, on the fringes of Canberra, and also the associated risk of injury to innocent people.

The one thing about this particular process that the opposition are not, I think, respecting terribly is that I gave them a dossier that thick. The case is laid out in the document, and there is ample case in that document for the decisions that I make in bringing forward a recommendation to my colleagues.

Unlike the opposition, I do not hang my case off one particular survey which happens to give them the information that they particularly want. For example, they did not take any notice of a survey which said, “Please do not make a public event out of imploding the hospital.” They did not take a blind bit of notice of that. But we do not do that.

An examination of the document will reveal, in fact, a number of surveys which have informed us what the community attitude actually is. Mr Speaker, this is typical—


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