Editorial: Time for a ban, a date change, or both?

Monday, 5 November 2018

The Lake Hawea Fire, which started on Friday.

EDITORIAL: At first glance, especially in the days leading up to November 5 each year, the issue can seem like the proverbial no-brainer. Of course public sales of fireworks should be banned in New Zealand, events seem to suggest.

The opening days of this month have been no different. On Monday, Fire and Emergency New Zealand (Fenz) personnel around the country were bracing for another busy evening of callouts related to the use of private fireworks on Guy Fawkes night.

With the four-day sale period having begun on Friday, and a whole weekend for them to be used ahead of Monday, there were not surprisingly widespread reports of fireworks-related fires around the country. The massive fire that broke out near Lake Hawea, in Central Otago, on Friday, engulfing some five hectares of pine forest, threatening several homes and forcing some evacuations, was caused by fireworks.

Strong northwest winds and fireworks combined to start a blaze at Timaru's Phar Lap Raceway, with dramatic footage showing huge flames, before the fire was brought under control.

* Fires caused by fireworks, including Lake Hawea blaze

* Kudos for rural supermarket refusing to sell fireworks**

Add to that the annual concerns about the wellbeing of animals and the case seems to mount. Two previous surveys by the SPCA, the second, in 2016, in conjunction with the Companion Animal Council, both saw close to nine out of 10 respondents favouring a ban on public sales.

Of course, these arguments always bring the counter-view that most people who use fireworks privately are responsible, and a ban takes away the personal choice of the responsible majority. Restricting sales to a certain period each year lessens the potential for harmful incidents, and animal owners can take precautionary measures, knowing when the period of high fireworks use falls. Though of course buyers cannot be prevented from saving them for later.

It has been argued in defence of continuing public sales that the private use of all but the most basic of fireworks could be licensed, requiring a background check and the passing of a competency test by users.

Now, though, the debate has ramped up, with Auckland Council asking locals for feedback on a possible ban, and consultation open until December 5. If the country's biggest city was to favour a ban, it would be interesting to see if that spread, though Linda Cooper, chair of the council's regulatory committee, told Newshub the council was 'probably pretty split or agnostic about it'.

Of course public sales is not the only issue in town, and arguably not even the biggest issue, when it comes to fireworks. There's also the date, and the question of whether an event on the other side of the world more than 400 years ago, the Gunpowder Plot of 1605, should still be commemorated here. November 5 is also the date, 137 years ago, that 1600 government troops invaded the western Taranaki settlement of Parihaka, a symbol of peaceful resistance to the confiscation of Māori land. Given the event undoubtedly helped shape the fledgling New Zealand, perhaps that is the real no-brainer here.

With the Crown having apologised last year for the wrongful arrests and imprisonment of Parihaka men, and rape and molestation of the women and girls left behind, perhaps it's time the rest of New Zealand followed the example of Wellington, now holding its major public fireworks display during Matariki (Māori New Year), leaving November 5 as a day to be marked with appropriate solemnity.