Updated 19/12/2019

The City Of Sydney have today issued a statement on their official Sydney New Year’s Eve website defiantly titled as a whole webpage, Why We’re Not Cancelling The Fireworks.

It comes after a bushfire emergency in various locations along the Great Dividing Range started in early September as well as a drought that started in winter. Both weather events haven’t stopped since, resulting in petitions starting up in mid-November calling for the cancellation of Sydney NYE2019 and shifting the funds to bushfire/drought relief.

A fireworks display held on Sydney Harbour on the 14th November during a total fire ban (but legally exempted from said ban), a state of emergency & during a time of high fire danger caused controversy.

The subsequent media coverage of the controversy & the petitions, a megafire the size of Sydney forming north-west of that city & one of the worst air quality days ever on record (2200 index) caused the petitions to accelerate to 150,000 signatures.

The main petitions, as of the time of this post’s publication, had around 199,000 signatures.

On the 19th of November, the Lord Mayor of Sydney, Clover Moore, announced a bushfire appeal fund as part of Sydney NYE2019, which later was revealed on the 3rd of December to be a promotion of the Australian Red Cross’s Disaster Recovery & Relief Fund. Clover Moore also responded to the petitions two more times – at Sydney NYE2019’s media launch (3rd of December) & on the 10th of December when the petitions hit 150,000 signatures (after being only 80,000 signatures 13 hours prior).

This Why We’re Not Cancelling The Fireworks webpage  replaces the previous section Bushfire Recovery Fund and mostly expands the wording found in that previous section.

The statement’s wording also is similar to previous responses by the City Of Sydney & it’s Lord Mayor, Clover Moore. However, there are some new details – most notably, about the City Of Sydney & Sydney NYE2019’s carbon offsets & that weather/safety management of Sydney NYE2019 will be addressed closer to the event.

Also yesterday on their website, they also issued the official event guides for Sydney NYE2019, which are in multiple languages & formats.

The Why We’re Not Cancelling The Fireworks statement can be found below:

Why we’re not cancelling the fireworks

We appreciate the concerns people have around holding the event while large parts of Australia are dealing with bushfires and drought. And we’ve heard the calls from people to cancel the event and donate the budget to relief efforts.

We appreciate the concerns people have around holding the event while large parts of Australia are dealing with bushfires and drought. And we’ve heard the calls from people to cancel the event and donate the budget to relief efforts.

But we cannot cancel the New Year’s Eve celebrations. Even if we could, it would have little practical benefit for affected communities.

We began preparations and planning for the New Year’s Eve celebrations 15 months ago. This means most of the budget – largely used for crowd safety and cleaning measures – has already been spent.

Cancelling the event would seriously hurt Sydney businesses. It would also ruin plans for tens of thousands of people from across the country and overseas who have booked flights, hotels and restaurants to be here for New Year’s Eve.

Watched by millions

The display is watched by a billion people worldwide, showcasing Sydney to the world as a safe, inclusive and attractive place to visit.

Sydney New Year’s Eve generates $130 million for the NSW economy and super charges our tourism industry, creating jobs and supporting countless small businesses.

The City of Sydney works closely with NSW Government agencies such as the Department of Premier and Cabinet, NSW Health, NSW Police and Fire and Rescue NSW in the lead up to the event.

We will continue to discuss weather and safety issues such as smoke haze, and how we will manage them, as we get closer to the event date.

Fundraising

Rather than cancelling the event, we’ve donated $620,000 to support communities and wildlife impacted by bushfire and drought, and offered our trucks and staff to help emergency services with clean-up and recovery efforts.

We are also promoting an online fundraiser for the Red Cross Disaster Recovery and Relief Fund in the lead up to and on New Year’s Eve.

During the broadcast and on the night, we will be encouraging those gathered around the harbour and watching at home to give generously.

Donate

The event will also support our official charity partner, the Refugee Council of Australia, as we begin 2020: The Year of Welcome.

Carbon offset

The City of Sydney’s fireworks will be carbon offset. They are also biodegradable to reduce waste and environmental impact.

The event will also be greener this year, with our sites and operations using 100 per cent accredited GreenPower.

This year we will buy GreenPower certificates to the equivalent of our energy use.

These will cover 10 sites across the city, including Bicentennial and Pirrama parks and the Sydney Harbour Bridge.

The certificates will support the production of renewable energy at Sapphire Wind Farm in northern NSW.

All City of Sydney-owned properties will use energy bought with GreenPower certificates from 1 July 2020, supporting energy generated by Sapphire Wind Farm and two other renewable energy projects.

This post updates.