Source: Radio New Zealand
Remi, a 14-year-old retired race horse, had to be put down because of the injuries she sustained when fireworks were let off near her. Supplied
The days of yahooing, serious injury accidents, fires, and tragic animal deaths around 5 November may be numbered.
For decades, petitioners have been asking Parliament to ban the public sale of fireworks, and restrict them to official displays.
In all that time, politicians have said ‘thanks for your petition’ and recommended the status quo remain – reluctant to break the kiwi tradition of lighting crackers in our back yards.
But last week there may have been a tipping point in those attitudes, with the Petitions Committee recommending the government overhaul the law.
Three separate petitions had landed on its door, carrying a total of nearly 100,000 human signatures and several thousand paw prints. The paws, hooves and animal scrawls didn’t count, but the committee did think about it.
“We definitely discussed it,” says National MP Greg Fleming, the deputy chair of the committee.
“Their voice – their barks and neighing – were definitely heard in the committee.”
Fleming went into these hearings a fireworks fan, but has changed his mind.
“I reluctantly concluded that there was just no other place that I could land really – I would have had to just ignore the evidence to have concluded anything different.”
He tells The Detail about some of his firework-related exploits as a farm boy in the Wairarapa, exploits he now shudders at.
“Thankfully fire crackers have become a lot safer since then … but the issue is in part about public safety now. Actually what it’s more about is the incredible trauma that it causes to animals.
“There were two things that persuaded me. One was the increasing cost on ACC of the accidents that are happening, and related to that, the reports from FENZ. Whilst there was a drop-off there for a couple of years, the increase that we’ve been seeing for a long time is now back in play, so we are seeing more public damage and fire and the like.
“But the other one, and the one that really swung me, was just the stories from all of the animal welfare agencies – just the trauma.”
Fleming says there is another issue in the distress to families, particularly in cities, of fireworks going off all hours, and well past the four days they’re on public sale for.
“There’s no regulation around when firecrackers can be used,” he says.
And he points out that where once we could let off a few crackers in our back lawn, intensification of housing means there’s less space and less leeway when things go astray.
There’s an argument that fireworks night should be moved to Matariki, in the middle of winter, and that celebrating Guy Fawkes is about a random note in history connected to our colonial past.
Fleming says he has some sympathy for people defending the use of private fireworks who suggest we move the date.
“I’ve sort of steered away from that – from having a problem with fireworks because it’s associated with an odd thing that we’re celebrating.”
But in the end, “no matter how we looked at it, all the evidence to us fell squarely on one side of the debate and led us to the conclusion that we made.”
New Zealand First has a member’s bill in the ballot on a fireworks ban for private use – Leader Winston Peters saying the issue will be a bottom line in any coalition negotiations. But the issue is unlikely to surface before the election.
In today’s podcast Fleming runs through the entire petitions process, from someone raising an issue to how it ends up in Parliament.
We also talk to the SPCA’s Dr Alison Vaughan, who appeared before the Petitions Committee to push for change.
“We told them, to be honest, that a lot of the information has been shared before – so in terms of the level of harm to our companion animals, a lot of people are only too aware of this.
“But another angle the committee might not have considered is the impact on wildlife, especially given the time of year.”
She says that while in the UK Guy Fawkes is in winter and tends to be wet, here it’s often very dry and coincides with the time birds are nesting.
Vaughan says the SPCA was hugely encouraged by the committee’s response.
“Many people will have signed petitions over the years – there’s actually been 14 petitions, including the three that were considered by the committee, and this is the first time ever the committee has come out in favour of recommending the government take action.”
She thinks there’s been a real shift in public opinion.
“We just don’t need to be doing this.”
The government has 60 working days to respond to the committee’s recommendation.
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– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand