[Paul Hatchman]

Originally Posted by ngcles

I'm not defending the decision by the government -- I believe it sucks so bad it blows. But as I understand it, those are the facts.

G'day Les,

Everything you wrote is correct as far as I understand. One small point, the Australian standard (AS2211.1:2004) for laser classification is not exactly the same as used in the US. But for practical purposes a 5mw Class IIIa (US Standard) collimator would probably be equivalent to a class 3R (Australian Standard) and sadly still a prohibited weapon. Class 3R "Radiation in this class is considered low risk, but potentially hazardous."

Just my opinion below:

At this stage there is no draft legislation to review, and until then we don't really know what is going to be controlled or not. If people actually want to do something, I'd suggest writing to the premier, police minister and your local member about the legitimate uses of laser products in astronomy (preferably in conjunction with your astronomical club/society). Remember the legislation has not been written yet, let alone gone through parliament and so far the government has indicated that they are sympathetic to legitimate laser use by amateur astronomers.

I know that certain members of the ASNSW are planning to participate in this process as much as we can to try and make the final legislation workable for amateur astronomers.

I'd also suggest that arguing for allowing anything greater than a class 3R laser is going to be futile as the Australian Standard requires that operators of these products receive comprehensive safety training and be used within strict safety guidelines.

I'd be interested to hear people's comments on the following http://www.pangolin.com/faa/laser-aircraft-animation-and-explanation.htm.
This is supposedly the effects of a 5mw laser on the pilot / cockpit of an outbound plane (admittedly on a simulator). It certainly gave me some food for thought.