Ms CHARISHMA KALIYANDA (Liverpool) (12:45):
I contribute to debate on the Explosives Amendment Bill 2023. These amendments transfer long-established and critical elements of the regulatory regime into the Act, including the authorisation and prohibition of explosives, granting of security clearances, and exemption procedures. In doing so, those provisions will be entrenched within the regulatory framework and ensure that only appropriate underlying detail is contained within the regulation. Powers for the regulation to prescribe procedures for the disposal of unwanted and unusable explosives and the authorisation of New South Wales police officers to undertake certain inspector functions are also included in the bill. It is important to consider the current system of disposal of explosives. Currently, disposal of explosives is a highly hazardous activity and is historically one of the more common causes of unplanned explosion, fatality and injury associated with use of explosives, even by experienced users. In particular, the disposal of fireworks is one of the most highly hazardous disposal tasks and has the potential to lead to unplanned explosions and fatalities, including in New South Wales. I note that in December 2022 nine people, including children, were injured when a Christmas carol event went awry, directly as a result of fireworks exploding in an unplanned way.
The disposal of unwanted or unusable explosives in New South Wales occurs in different ways, depending on the circumstances. Where it is possible to do so, the regulatory authority may direct the person in possession of the explosives to return the explosives to the manufacturer or initiate the explosives as they were designed. The licensing regime also provides for limited disposal activities by the holder of a blasting explosives user licence, or more advanced disposal methods by the holder of a licence to manufacture explosives. Explosives that are abandoned or unstable to the point of posing a hazard, are treated as an emergency situation and the New South Wales Police bomb squad is tasked to destroy or make safe those explosives. That is the express function of that unit.
The amendment to section 30A does not change the licensing or the approved methods for disposing of explosives. The intent of section 30A is to ensure that the regulations may prescribe ways in which unwanted and unused explosives can be appropriately disposed of. This will better support the existing provisions within clause 97 of the regulation, as well as any future potential improvements to procedures related to the disposal of explosives, and also allows for the regulatory authority to determine the manner in which explosives can be surrendered to them. This is not currently a service that is offered by the regulatory authority and there is no imminent intent to establish such a service.
Furthermore, the bill addresses the storage of ammonium nitrate in New South Wales, which has a strong multiagency regulatory regime for the storage of explosives and explosive precursors. Ammonium nitrate is an explosive precursor which is subject to licensing and other safety and security provisions of the Explosives Act 2003 and the Explosives Regulation 2013. The New South Wales Government is reviewing its policies on the storage of ammonium nitrate to ensure that they meet global best practice to manage the associated risks. We have seen in other jurisdictions across the world the extreme risk posed to people and property when ammonium nitrate is stored inappropriately.
Currently an explosives licence is required to import, export, manufacture, store, supply, use or transport ammonium nitrate in New South Wales. To approve an explosives licence for ammonium nitrate, SafeWork NSW must be satisfied that a facility is capable of handling ammonium nitrate safely and securely. SafeWork NSW assesses compliance with the requirements of the Australian standard applicable to ammonium nitrate—that being AS 4326, the storage and handling of oxidising agents—as well as the security plan, emergency plan and the degree of separation to neighbouring sites prepared by the licence holder.
Under the Work Health and Safety Act 2011, quantities of ammonium nitrate that exceed 10,000 kilograms must be notified to SafeWork NSW. Quantities exceeding 2,500 tonnes of ammonium nitrate or 5,000 tonnes of ammonium nitrate fertilisers require a major hazard facility licence. SafeWork NSW coordinates a whole‑of‑government approval process for major hazard facilities, which involves assessments of security, waste and environmental management, emergency plans, and onsite and offsite risks. SafeWork NSW conducts periodic inspections as part of its post-licence verification programs. The New South Wales Government is currently considering further measures to mitigate the impact of a potential incident at an ammonium nitrate storage facility.
Public consultation, which included a discussion paper exhibited from 6 October 2022 to 18 November 2022, proposed regulatory amendments to strengthen the safety of ammonium nitrate in storage facilities. The proposed measures would provide additional protections for workers and communities near ammonium nitrate storage facilities. The consultation provided members of the public and industry with an opportunity to provide their valuable feedback on the proposed introduction and specification of separation distances for the different storage quantities of ammonium nitrate. Further analysis of the impacts and review of the proposal is currently underway and the analysis is to be completed before any decision is made on changes to the regulation of ammonium nitrate in New South Wales, which is expected to be completed by the end of this year.
The bill is not harmonising New South Wales explosive laws because Safe Work Australia, the national policy body, has previously led work on the harmonisation of explosives on behalf of Commonwealth, State and Territory work health and safety Ministers. Safe Work Australia developed proposals for harmonisation in four key areas. The first is the definition of "explosives". The second is authorisation processes, which are the processes by which explosive regulators determine the classification of an explosive, whether it is fit for purpose and whether it is safe for that purpose. The third is notification processes, which are the processes through which explosives users provide information to regulators about particular activities, events or incidents. The fourth is licensing.
While New South Wales has been supportive of the national harmonisation of explosive laws subject to any reforms maintaining sufficient protections of the safety and security of people in New South Wales, much of the detail of the explosives regulation relevant to those four key areas is located in explosives regulation rather than in the Act. For that reason, the proposed amendments to the Act are not considered to affect the future prospects of national harmonisation of explosives regulation.
Finally, the current regulation is valid and is lawfully made. However, the proposed amendments represent an opportunity to ensure that key established elements of the regulatory regime are embedded within the Act. Furthermore, it is an opportunity to provide specific powers for necessary regulatory details such as the disposal of explosives and police officer authorisations. Together the proposed amendments will better facilitate the remake of the regulation. The scheduled repeal of the Explosives Regulation 2013 has been postponed under the Subordinate Legislation Act 1989 until September 2024, which is sufficient time to allow for the bill's amendments to be confirmed. That will allow for a full and thorough consultation on the regulation. For those reasons, I commend the bill to the House.
