NYE fireworks: Where you can watch the displays and where they’ve been scrapped after Sydney Harbour was given the green light as other councils cancelled
- The Sydney Harbour New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been approved
- A petition signed by 250,000 people called for the display to be cancelled
- Parramatta, Armidale and Huskisson councils have all cancelled their fireworks
- Sydney is set to experience record temperatures of up to 44C on New Year’s Eve
Sydney’s world-famous New Year’s Eve fireworks display has been given the green light after calls to scrap the event were rejected, but other councils cancelled amid the bushfire crisis.
The Rural Fire Service approved the pyrotechnics display at Sydney Harbour on December 31 despite a total fire ban across New South Wales with blazes still ravaging the state.
The decision comes after a petition calling for the fireworks to be scrapped was signed by 250,000 people demanding funding be redirected to NSW drought and bushfire relief.
Councils which cancelled fireworks displays include Parramatta and Cambelltown in Sydney’s west, Wollongong in the south, and Maitland on the mid-north coast.
Fireworks explode over the Sydney Harbour Bridge during the midnight display on New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour on January 1, 2019
‘The safety of our community and general public is important to us and it was decided that the event could not proceed without compromising this safety,’ the City of Parramatta said on Facebook on Monday afternoon.
Parramatta Mayor Bob Dwyer said the council would make a $10,000 donation to the NW RFS, The Daily Telegraph reported.
Cambelltown City Council General Manager Lindy Deitz said the decision to scrap the display wasn’t taken lightly.
‘The weather forecast tomorrow will only worsen conditions for our firefighters and we felt this decision was a necessary one,’ she said.
The Green Wattle Creek fire has burnt through 226,000ha near the Macarthur region and is still out of control.
North Sydney Council will not allow the forested headland Balls Head Point to be used as a vantage point for the famed display on the capital’s harbour.
he 12am fireworks over the Sydney Opera House during New Year’s Eve celebrations on December 31, 2018
Crowds gather at McMahons Point on New Year’s Eve on Sydney Harbour in 2016
The NSW National Parks and Wildlife Service also announced on Monday evening the popular Bradleys Head and North Head viewing points would be closed during the Sydney fireworks due to ‘extreme bushfire risk’.
Deputy Premier of NSW John Barilaro argued that if regional areas had their fireworks banned, so should metropolitan areas.
‘Sydney’s New Years Eve Fireworks should just be cancelled, very easy decision. The risk is too high and we must respect our exhausted RFS volunteers,’ he tweeted.
‘If regional areas have had fireworks banned, then let’s not have two classes of citizens. We’re all in this crisis together.’
Crowds around the Sydney opera House forecourt start camping out hours before the midnight fireworks on New Year’s Eve on December 31, 2017
The city’s famous celebrations are expected to attract one million people to the harbour foreshore and generate $130 million for the NSW economy.
Premier Gladys Berejiklian has said if the RFS and experts say it’s safe for fireworks to go ahead, then they should.
The temperature in Sydney is predicted to reach 33C on December 31 – the hottest New Year’s Eve in Sydney since 1985.
Penrith in the west will be one of the hottest places in the country if it hits the forecast 44C.