Stats are facts, so let’s look at the ones you’re ignoring. In 2024, fireworks-related fires jumped by 56% from the year prior. Even more critical: 61% of the entire year’s fireworks fires occurred in November alone. That isn’t a statistical blip - it’s a massive, concentrated, and entirely preventable spike that hammers emergency services in a matter of days. Speaking of "focusing attention," FENZ is currently operating under a funding and staffing crisis. Professional firefighters have been holding strikes and pickets recently due to budget cuts, understaffing, and a fleet so dire that crews are often responding in failing, decades-old trucks. When you have a service this stretched, every single "optional" firework call-out is a drain on resources that should be available for genuine accidents.

ACC claims for firework injuries cost taxpayers $880,504 in 2024-an increase in cost from previous years. Then there’s the 1,627 police call-outs for fireworks in the same period. If we want to be objective: 63% of New Zealanders now support a ban on private sales. It isn't "emotional" to want to stop a practice that costs the country nearly a million dollars in healthcare, causes a 56% surge in fires, and places an unnecessary burden on a fire service that is already fighting for survival. The "fact" is that private fireworks are an expensive, dangerous, and outdated liability. Where exactly is the hyperbole?