One of Canberra's only licensed explosives dealers believes a popular propellant powder used to fire a bullet from a gun will be forced on to the black market.
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Bruce Brown, of shooters.com.au and wholesale warehouse, said in the last three years the fee for a licence to import, store and supply explosives had increased so substantially his small business in Mitchell wouldn't be able to handle another fee hike.
Mr Brown paid $485 for three-year licenses in 2012, however when he applied for the same licenses last week, the fee was up to $7350.
Although the fees did "substantially increase" in 2013, up by almost $2000, Mr Brown's fees jumped by an extraordinary amount due to an ACT government administration error.
In 2012, Mr Brown was issued a three-year licence at a one-year cost.
Despite the error, Mr Brown, who believed he was the only small business supplier of the powder in the ACT, said the cost of licensing would increase the cost passed on to the customer and be a disincentive for people to purchase the product over the counter.
"If I bow out and no longer have a commercial supply here, where a person can come in and get safe handling advice and safe storage advice, they just buy it wherever they want," Mr Brown said.
"You can understand the black market aspect of it. If a guy is driving interstate and buying it and bringing it back in, who is watching? Who is controlling?"
Mr Brown said he was required by law to keep a record of everyone who buys the substance.
He supplies the powder to licensed shootings, including recreational hunters and target shooters, who wish to recycle their ammunition.
Over the last 12 months, his small business has sold more than 500 half-kilogram canisters of propellant powder.
"The dangers of not having a regulated market in the ACT where registers are kept of the sale ... is that you don't have that control," Mr Brown said.
"Anybody could use it for any purpose that they chose."
"You're not going to be blown apart with it in the form that we sell it, but suitably modified into an appropriate container, it might," he said.
While Mr Brown said he wasn't asking to be given a licence for nothing, he was concerned by the unsustainable jump in fees.
ACT Worksafe Commissioner Mark McCabe said the cost increase was due to the nature of the field.
"While there are only a small number of operators in this area, the field is a high risk one which must be regulated appropriately," Mr McCabe said.
"Investigations into possible breaches of legislation in this field are, by their nature, costly as they must be conducted with the utmost rigour."
Shadow minister for small business Andrew Wall said it was shame to see small businesses impacted by government fee hikes.
"There seems to be no understanding of the pressure [a hike in licensing fees] puts on the business," Mr Wall said.
"The ACT is a small city state and we need to be conscious of the policy settings across the border in NSW ... There needs to be a competitive advantage to doing business in the ACT," he said.
