CHIEF Minister Katy Gallagher will urgently discuss reversing her barbecue regulations with the ACT's top doctor on Monday, but sporting clubs are taking aim at another barbecue-blocking edict from her government.
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Clubs say they have been handed a dangerous and labour-intensive decree not to store gas bottles at sports grounds and many volunteers have the task of transporting the bottles to and from games.
The decision was made in May after a government worker found a leaking gas bottle inside a sports ground. The government quoted the Australian standard, which said storing of gas bottles indoors should be avoided wherever practicable.
Opposition sports spokesman Steve Doszpot said the edict put gas bottles in an extra 100-plus cars each weekend while Eastlake Cricket Club president Phil Winter said it was regulatory overkill and that clubs were being crushed under the cumulative weight of many fiddly demands.
''It's the nanny state gone mad and part of an ever-expanding overload of requirements,'' Mr Winter said.
''We've had to pay to get people trained in the responsible service of alcohol because I've wanted to give the guys a couple of slabs of beer. And this week I received a letter saying our mower, driven by a volunteer, was too loud at 6.30am.''
An ACT government spokesman said the gas bottle decision was all about safety. ''After a potentially catastrophic incident back in early May caused by a gas bottle stored inside, Sport and Recreation Services wrote to clubs, using advice from ACT Fire and Rescue and the relevant Australian standard, to inform them cylinders could no longer be stored indoors,'' the spokesman said.
''This is a common-sense approach. You wouldn't store a gas bottle inside your home.''
North Canberra Gungahlin Cricket Club president Phil Coe, brother of Liberal MLA Alistair Coe, and Gungahlin Jets AFL club president Joe Cortese are also against the gas bottle regulation.
Last year a territory woman left burned and traumatised after an exploding barbecue cylinder blew her across a backyard deck was awarded more than $110,000.
Ms Gallagher meets ACT Chief Health Officer Paul Kelly on Monday about regulations requiring clubs and charities holding more than five barbecues or food stalls a year to train a food safety supervisor, even if the food is free.
The government received a flood of criticism following last week's story in the Sunday Canberra Times.
ACT Health last week failed to provide any evidence of food poisonings caused by community barbecues or food stalls.
Western District & UC Cricket Club president Jeff Clark hoped the food safety supervisor rule would be overturned to reduce the regulatory burden on his club's canteen. ''It's a very tough one for our organisation, particularly because we've just had to get people trained in responsible service of alcohol,'' Mr Clark said.