The Government has rejected calls to ban the public sale of fireworks, opting instead to manage fireworks within existing regulatory settings (RNZ).

The decision comes months after Parliament's Petitions Committee recommended a ban on both the public sale and private use of fireworks, following consideration of three petitions that collectively attracted close to 100,000 signatures. One of those petitions alone drew 93,248 signatories (Petitions Committee report). The committee's report, issued in April, acknowledged that fireworks cause significant harm, including impacts on people, animals, and property (RNZ). The three petitions appeared in the Hansard transcript for Tuesday, 12 May 2026 (Hansard).

The Government's formal response attributed the decision generically to "the Government," with no specific minister or ministry named in reporting of the response (RNZ). The SPCA, which had met with Environment Minister Hon Penny Simmonds to press the case for a ban, confirmed the rejection on 29 July 2026 (SPCA).

The list of organisations that backed a ban is notable for its breadth. Fire and Emergency New Zealand, the SPCA, the New Zealand Veterinary Association, and Veterinarians for Animal Welfare Aotearoa all supported ending public firework sales (RNZ).

SPCA chief scientific officer Dr Arnja Dale called the decision "profoundly disappointing" and said the Government had ignored public safety, animal welfare, scientific evidence, and the wishes of New Zealanders (RNZ).

The rejection also sits awkwardly alongside earlier signals from within the governing coalition. NZ First leader Winston Peters said after the election that the Government "will be" supporting a ban on public fireworks sales (RNZ). NZ First went as far as introducing a member's bill in November 2025 to ban the public sale of fireworks, but later withdrew it (RNZ).

ACT leader David Seymour was not in favour of a ban (RNZ), making the coalition-government dynamic straightforward: one partner publicly committed to a ban and introduced legislation before pulling it, another opposed a ban outright, and the collective response landed on maintaining the status quo.

Green Party co-leader Chlöe Swarbrick expressed disappointment at the decision, calling a ban on private firework sales "common sense" while supporting the continuation of organised public displays (RNZ).

The broader context here is a long-running policy debate that has now produced a sharp divergence between a parliamentary committee's cross-party recommendation and the Government's chosen course. The Petitions Committee process gave the issue a full airing, with the committee itself acknowledging the harms the petitioners raised. The Government's response does not dispute those harms; it declines to act on them through a ban, pointing to management within current settings instead.

For the welfare and emergency-services organisations that supported the ban, the gap between the committee's finding and the Government's response is the core frustration. Dr Dale's framing, that the Government ignored public safety and animal welfare evidence, signals that advocacy groups are unlikely to treat this as the final word.

The withdrawal of NZ First's member's bill is also worth noting. A party that leads its post-election rhetoric with a clear commitment to a ban, drafts legislation, and then withdraws it before a government response is issued, leaves little legislative pathway open for reform in this term. Without a government bill or a drawn member's bill, the current regulatory framework for public firework sales will remain in place.

What the Government means by "managing fireworks within current regulatory settings" was not elaborated on in the reported response. Existing settings include the Hazardous Substances regulations administered by the Environmental Protection Authority, which restrict the retail sale period for fireworks to the four days leading up to Guy Fawkes and set minimum age requirements. Whether any operational changes within those settings are being considered has not been specified.