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The sad thing with all this is someday someone will "misuse" a telescope, eg, by spying into peoples houses through windows, and the next thing is you will need to get a permit to use a telescope.
Like I once said, in a US National Park a group of observers were orded by a ranger to pack up and leave becuse they had no permit to observe there.
I can see another issue with the permit system, some lasers Ive seen on Ebay and the like have adjustable power output, some by a small pot you have to dissasemble the laser to get at. Thus a class 2 laser can become a prohibited class 3 and vice versa. They can go by the stickers that are normally found on laser pointers, but the sticker on this old red 0.8milliwatt pointer I own is worn off, so theyed have to send it to a lab for testing.
I wonder if we will see Police spot checking known astronomy observing sites for laser use, will they be issued with portable laser power meters?
Also, in Vic I believe higher powered laser pointers are only legal for astronomy use if attached to a telescope, they cannot be hand held, which is silly as thats often why they are used, to point out objects in the sky to people.
What also doesnt help is the Premier of NSW saying "they are banned" Does he mean right now, how can that be if no legslation is draughted and put through parliament. The whole things a schmozzle if you ask me, but coming from the most incompetant State government in Australias history, Im not surprised.
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