The NSW Government has not given the Summary Offences (Display of Spray Paint Cans) Act 2006 sufficient opportunity or time for the legislation to work and has gone against its promise to review the legislation after two years from the date of royal assent on November 2006.
Unfortunately, there are a number of major government agencies who are sick of cleaning up graffiti and believe a total ban would fix the problem. The NSW Government has issued a public notice to advise it is reviewing all graffiti legislation including Aerosol paint ban in NSW to stop graffiti consideration of a complete ban on the sale of aerosol paint.
The review will assess and examine the operation, effectiveness and implications of the legislation and it will also assess and examine the feasibility, effectiveness and potential implications of a complete ban on the sale of aerosol paint in NSW, including its usage, points of purchase and any impacts on business and employment, such as loss of sales, loss of jobs and costs to date.
The NSW Attorney General’s Department invites interested individuals and organisations to make written submissions to the review. Submissions should be sent to the Manager, Policy and Analysis, Crime Prevention Division, NSW Attorney General’s Department, GPO Box 6, Sydney NSW 2001 or emailed to: graffiti_submissions@agd.nsw.gov.au. The closing date for submission is 31st October 2007.
The Hardware Association of NSW and the ARA is proactively working with industry to mount a substantive submission that will be put forward to the NSW Government at the end of October 2007. The industry has successfully pulled together and has set up a fighting fund in order to challenge the government vigorously to ensure a ban of aerosol paint does not happen.
We encourage as many retailers and suppliers to send a letter to the Attorney General conveying your dissatisfaction about the proposed consideration of banning aerosol paint and what the implications will be to your business should the NSW Government seriously consider a ban on the product. We also encourage as many retailers to complete the aerosol paint survey, which is located on the ARA website www.ara.com.au. Please complete this as soon as possible.
The results of the survey will be conveyed in our submission. The ARA will keep members fully informed of further developments. Please contact Yvonne Anderson or Neil Bassett on (02) 9290 3766.
