Sydney’s New Years Eve family fireworks show has been cancelled for the second year in a row, despite plans to reopen the city in coming weeks.
The city’s midnight display will go ahead, with discussions on potential crowd limits continuing.
A spokeswoman for the City of Sydney on Tuesday evening confirmed the earlier fireworks show had been cancelled again, to ensure the celebrations meet pandemic public health orders.
“The fireworks always generate very large crowds and the two separate displays result in the cross over of large numbers of people leaving for one show and arriving for the next,” she said in a statement.
“In the current climate, limiting this mixing of crowds will ensure the event can be managed in the most COVID-safe way for all attendees and staff.
“We are advised that it is likely the delta virus will still be circulating in the community to some extent come the end of the year, so our plans will allow the event to remain resilient in the face of the changing health situation and Public Health Orders.”
It comes as Sydney and a number of regional communities prepare to be released from lockdown, with 54 per cent of the state’s residents now fully vaccinated against COVID-19.
The state is likely to reach the 70 per cent double vaccination milestone that will allow more freedoms in the first fortnight of October.
Treasurer Dominic Perrottet told Nine Newspapers the decision to cancel the 9pm show was made too early.
“New Year’s Eve is 100 days away, and it would seem a bit pre-emptive to be pulling the plug on an iconic event enjoyed by so many people,” he said.
“While safety has to be a priority, this is something that deserves to be examined closely to see what the options are.
“COVID-19 has cast a long shadow across all our lives and I would hope there is a way we can end the year with a bang and some spark rather than a whimper.”
AAP
