Addition of explosives to Dangerous Substances Act

The Tasmanian government recently passed legislation scheduling certain explosives as 'security- sensitive dangerous substances' under the Security-sensitive Dangerous Substances Act 2005 (SSDS).

All parts of industry using security-sensitive ammonium nitrate (SSAN) and security-sensitive explosives (SSE) will now be managed under the one security framework. Under the proposed arrangements, any person who has unrestricted access to explosives will either require an SSDS Permit or be a 'responsible worker' under an SSDS Permit. This will include anyone who uses, stores, transports, manufactures, imports or exports explosives.

The new laws take effect from 30 March 2009. From this date, shot-firer permits alone will no longer provide an authority to purchase, possess or use explosives.

In June 2004, the Commonwealth, state and territory governments agreed to a set of National Principles for the Regulation and Control of Ammonium Nitrate. These principles are reflected in Tasmania in the SSDS Act.

The principles include a requirement that, in light of the measures introduced for SSAN, states and territories should review their explosives regulations and, in particular, states and territories should implement security checking for all persons having unsupervised access to explosives.