IT sounds like the start of a bad joke, but it’s anything but. What word connects the New Zealand Defence Force, an English saboteur, the perilous state of burning Europe and New Zealand First leader Winston Peters? Answer – incendiary. It might seem a bit of a long bow to draw to try to link all four. But each has had an explosive effect on the week just gone. On Tuesday, the government decided in its wisdom not to ban the public sale and private use of fireworks, rejecting a cross-party recommendation and the ongoing concerns from many around the country about their safety. This was the first time the Petitions commitee had recommended a ban, after several previous efforts by taxpayers to get rid of public firework sales. Those anxieties had been reflected in three recent petitions which gathered almost 100,000 signatures – a decent chunk of eligible voters. Guy Fawkes would be rubbing his hands with glee at the government’s decision, no doubt heavily swayed by Act New Zealand leader and Deputy Prime Minister David Seymour. Mr Seymour’s view was, as you’d expect, on the side of not interfering with personal freedoms. While he acknowledged fireworks can be harmful, he pleaded ``for a few days a year, at the start of the summer, let’s just keep something of the Kiwi childhood, please?’’. It’s worth reminding him that getting strapped or caned at school, risking broken bones by playing bullrush and driving in a car without seatbelts in the back were also part of growing up in New Zealand. The significant injuries fireworks cause when mishandled and the severe suffering they bring to animals have been ignored by the government in favour of maintaining ``access to a long-standing and widely used lawful activity’’. The ban was supported by Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the Royal New Zealand Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals and the New Zealand Veterinarian Association, among others. The government’s decision shows it is not serious or concerned about animal welfare. The SPCA is rightly aghast, accusing ministers of flouting public safety and scientific evidence. While Parliament had recommended action, the government had instead chosen indolence, the organisation said. Mr Peters says NZ First will campaign on the firework ban and promises to fix the matter up straight after the election, which unfortunately is two days after November 5. Green Party co-leader Chloe Swarbrick called a ban common sense and one which would not prohibit professionally organised public fireworks displays. Fireworks and the likely dry El Nino spring and summer on the way are a worrying combination. Wildfires have been recognised as one of the biggest threats in New Zealand from the warming climate, and are another reason why the private use of fireworks needs to be banned. Huge parts of Europe are on fire after a scorching couple of months, with firefighters in France, Spain, Portugal and Greece battling massive blazes that have so far burnt close to 500,000ha. With the fourth heatwave of the summer now on them, the outlook is scary. We’re already doing a pretty good job of polishing each other off, and everything we hold dear, through wrecking the climate. But just in case any unfriendly country should decide to attack, the government has begun searching for long-range, one-way, strike drones, hoping for a Kiwi-made cheaper option to missiles. Defence Minister Chris Penk said this week the drones would ``deliver an explosive to a target’’, something we might need to do to defend our security in an increasingly unpredictable geopolitical environment. He’s right. It would be hard to imagine a scenario in which we would want to use them, but we need to expect the unexpected these days and have some kind of credible defence if the worst happens. Which leaves us with the final incendiary – Mr Peters. A different sort of drone. His antics in Parliament on Wednesday, telling Green Party MP Lawrence Xu-Nan to ``go back to your own country’’, reminded us of the worst dog-whistling excesses of NZ First and were totally unbecoming for our foreign minister. We wholeheartedly agree with what Chinese ambassador Wang Xiaolong said, that such a statement says more about who makes it than anything else.
