Dr Alison Vaughan

To be honest, a lot of the information has been shared before.

So in terms of the level of harm to our companion animals, a lot of people are only too aware of this.

But another angle that the committee might not have considered is the impact on wildlife, especially given the time of year.

I'm from the UK.

Guy Fawkes was always a very wet evening.

Here in New Zealand, it's dry, so it's very prone to fires, but it's also when our native birds are nesting.

Yeah, we were hugely encouraged.

So many people listening will have signed petitions over the years.

There's actually been 14 petitions, including the three that were considered by the committee.

And this is the first time ever the committee has come out in favour in recommending the government take action and ban the private sale and use of fireworks.

What's changed, Alison?

I think there's been a real shift in the public opinion.

We just don't need to be doing this.

What do you think comes next?

Well, the government have 60 working days to respond to the committee's recommendation and we will be following that very closely.

We also, as we do every election, we will be asking the different parties where they stand on key issues and fireworks is one of those key issues.

So that's been another big step forward in terms of slowly inching our way towards a ban.

Well, I wish I had a crystal ball, but I don't.

But I think one of the points we raised to the committee is they mentioned reaching a tipping point eventually.

And we said, well, what more evidence is needed?