{"id":414784,"date":"2026-05-06T15:58:12","date_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:58:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414784\/"},"modified":"2026-05-06T15:58:12","modified_gmt":"2026-05-06T15:58:12","slug":"fireworks-ban-select-committee-backs-end-to-public-sales-and-use","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/414784\/","title":{"rendered":"Fireworks ban: Select committee backs end to public sales and use"},"content":{"rendered":"

The four-member committee was unanimous in its recommendation, but Fleming said he didn\u2019t expect any change before this year\u2019s election.<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019d love to see it [be] something that\u2019s given serious consideration in the next term of Parliament.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe sound of fireworks can be terrifying for animals. Photo \/ Getty Images<\/p>\n

As someone who grew up using fireworks, and later bought them for his own family backyard displays, he\u2019d initially leaned against a ban, the National MP said.<\/p>\n

But after hearing about the damage to animals, wider hazards and ongoing noise nuisance<\/a> \u2013 especially to those living in built-up areas \u2013 he realised the use of fireworks by the public needed to be restricted to a few days a year, or banned altogether.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe came to the conclusion the halfway measure is probably not the best one.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe sale of fireworks to the public has been the subject of multiple petitions calling for its end in recent years. Photo \/ 123rf<\/p>\n

Fear of fireworks was widespread among cats, dogs and horses \u2013 more than a quarter of horse owners had reported their animal being injured because of fireworks-induced panic, SPCA senior scientific officer Dr Alison Vaughan said.<\/p>\n

There was \u201chuge\u201d public backing for a ban, with 95,000 signatures in support across the three petitions, and a recent SPCA<\/a> survey found the majority of Kiwis also wanted public sales and use of fireworks to end, Vaughan told Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany people over the years have signed petitions and it has felt like Groundhog Day as each year we go through this process. But \u2026 being relentless can pay off. So thank you to petitioners, and everyone who signed.\u201d<\/p>\n

They were \u201cabsolutely thrilled\u201d that \u201cpet parents\u201d and the wider community had been heard, petitioner and Animates\u2019 manager Nathalie Moolenschot told Newstalk ZB.<\/p>\n

As well as support from Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the SPCA, NZ Veterinary Association and Veterinarians for Animal Welfare, Animates collected more than 90,000 human signatures and 75,000 pet paw or hoof prints for the petition, the pet supplies retailer\u2019s general manager of marketing and e-commerce said.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re really looking forward to the next steps in the Government\u2019s response,\u201d Moolenschot said.<\/p>\n

\"FireFire and Emergency New Zealand have expressed support for the ban, an Animates manager says. Photo \/ Alyse Wright <\/p>\n

Environment Minister Nicola Grigg said she received the committee\u2019s report yesterday.<\/p>\n

A formal process, including Cabinet consideration, would follow.<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t appropriate for her to pre-empt the Government\u2019s response, Grigg said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The four-member committee was unanimous in its recommendation, but Fleming said he didn\u2019t expect any change before this…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":414785,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[74,95,3648,34609,32319,1060,3043,104686,10001,29136,124,8127,33841,42,9851,43,3109,667,92144,21694,61,40,38,41,39,6306,2443],"class_list":["post-414784","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-after","tag-and","tag-animal","tag-backed","tag-backs","tag-ban","tag-call","tag-campaigners","tag-closer","tag-committee","tag-could","tag-end","tag-fireworks","tag-headlines","tag-longtime","tag-news","tag-public","tag-sales","tag-select","tag-step","tag-to","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-use","tag-welfare"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414784","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=414784"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/414784\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/414785"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=414784"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=414784"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=414784"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}