According to ARPANSA (Australian Radiation Protection and Nuclear Safety Agency):
Lasers are classified according to the hazard associated with their emissions, as defined in the Australian/New Zealand Standard AS/NZS 2211.1:2004 Safety of Laser Products Part 1: Equipment classification, requirements and user's guide:
- Class 1 and 1M (magnifier) lasers are considered safe under reasonably foreseeable conditions of operation;
- Class 2 and 2M (magnifier) lasers emit visible light at higher levels than Class 1, but eye protection is provided by aversion responses such as the human blink reflex. Class 2M lasers can be hazardous if the beam is viewed directly with optical instruments;
- Class 3R (Restricted) lasers produce visible and invisible light that are hazardous under direct viewing conditions;
- Class 3B lasers produce visible or invisible light that is hazardous under direct viewing conditions; either they are powerful enough to cause eye damage in a time shorter than the human blink reflex (0.25 seconds) or the blink reflex is by-passed due to the invisibility of the beam. Laser products with power output near the upper range of Class 3B may also cause skin burns;
- Class 4 lasers are high power devices capable of causing both eye and skin burns, their diffuse reflections may also be hazardous and the beam may constitute a fire hazard.
For ALL lasers of class 3R, 3B and 4 in ALL Australian states and territories, a licence and registration is required.
This is what the law says in WA (where I am):
All lasers (including laser pointers) in Western Australia must comply with the Australian Standard AS2211; this includes both correct labelling and classification. Any laser pointer in Western Australia of power output greater than 1mW should not be used or possessed by members of the general public."
A friend who is the laser safety officer at a university wandered around the uni recently with a laser power meter and ended up confinscating about 90% of the laser pointers he came across. Most were red and a few green and most were 3 - 5 mW, although some were over 20 mW.
A 20 mW shone into someone's eye will cause instant and permanent damage to their vision.
What has happened in the past has been that, while illegal to sell or possess one of these laser pointers without the appropriate licence, the relevent State and Federal authorites have generally not worried about it. Hell! I can buy a 50 mW laser from a well-known Australian website! That will poke your eye out no problems!
However with the various knee-jerk reactions resulting from various jerks mis-using laser pointers, they are starting to enforce the laws that have been around since the 1970's.
How many times have you seen a 6 yo kid playing with a laser pointer while their parent(s) ignore them.
Unfortunately there are too many kids with impaired vision around these days...
Please note that I am also upset about all this - I have ... um quite a HeNe and diode lasers around the place - but I use them responsably and would be very upset if I am suddenly classified as a 'crim' because of my illegal lasers...
But hey, the same thing has happened lots of other times - a lot of law-abiding firearm owners became instant crims when the law changed, so did most people making biodiesel in their back yard when the excise law changed.