A fireworks importer has put his case for fireworks ahead of an Auckland Council vote on whether it asks the Government to ban their private sale and use.
Damien Grant spoke to TVNZ1’s Breakfast this morning to discuss why availability and use should continue for the general public, despite almost 90 per cent of the 8000 submissions received by the Auckland Council supporting a ban.
"When you see fireworks go off, you are looking at the culmination of over a thousand years of history," Mr Grant said.
"There is this enormous amount of work and effort that goes into this very temporal, ephemeral display, and it lifts the human spirit in a way that very few other things do."
Breakfast host Jack Tame fired back, "No one's looking at it and going, 'Think about the thousand years of history!' Maybe you, but the average punter lighting up a boombox?"
However, Mr Grant argued that a child’s "tiny moment" of "ecstatic joy" was reason enough for it to continue.
"You look at the joy on a seven-year-old kid's face as the sky lights up. He’s not thinking about the 1200 years of history, but he’s thinking, 'Wow, that’s so cool, I can't wait to go back to my YouTube,' but for that tiny moment, he is ecstatic joy," he said.
But Mr Grant said banning the use of fireworks to make animals more comfortable and safe was "sacrific[ing] my quality of life".
"We have engineered this sycophantic, emotionally-independent parasite for us to love, and now the idea that I should somehow sacrifice my quality of life because somebody has developed this emotionally dependent creature?"
When asked about the case for large public fireworks displays, Mr Grant said, "You can say the same thing, 'Why can we only have public transport and not have cars?' People like to let off their own thing – it’s satisfying".
"There is this huge hunger for people for this product – they want it," Mr Grant said.
Auckland councillors are expected to request today that central Government passes a law to ban fireworks following consultation with local residents.
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