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Last Wednesday night, at the Tom Hughes Oration, a public speaking Liberal party fundraiser for the Federal seat of Berowra, held at the Sydney Opera House’s Studio, the Opposition Leader of Australia, Peter Dutton, compared the social significance of the crime that occurred at pro-Arab protests at the Sydney Opera House on the 9th of October last year during an Israeli Solidarity Opera House Western Sails Illumination after the attack on that state by Hamas to that of the 1996 Port Arthur massacre in Tasmania, describing both event’s social significance as “akin” to one another:

While no one was killed during the October 9 protests, the events at the Sydney Opera House were akin to a Port Arthur moment in terms of their social significance.

In my judgement, Prime Minister Albanese has not risen to that moment.

Peter Dutton, Opposition Leader Of Australia

On 28th of April 1996, 35 people were killed & 23 others were wounded in a mass shooting at Port Arthur, Tasmania, prompting then-Prime Minister John Howard, who was only elected to office just over a month prior, to significantly amend Australia’s gun laws.

Tom Hughes, a Liberal politician, was Australia’s Attorney-General from 1967 to 1971.

The next morning, Peter Dutton made a press conference where he was questioned on his statement by an Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) journalist:

Do you stand by comparing the pro-Palestinian rally on the steps of the Opera House last year to the Port Arthur massacre? How is the social significance of these 2 events in any way comparable?

Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC) Journalist

The Opposition Leader responded saying he would not have tolerated antisemitic protests, just as he would not tolerate any other minority-directed hatred:

I, I, I made the very important point last night that in 1996 when we saw a tragic loss of life, uh, in Port Arthur with that massacre there that John Howard, the Prime Minister at the time stood up & was strong as a leader, not weak.

He stood up for what was right, not what was wrong & he led the Australian public on a path that we still benefit from today. That is, gun law reform & we had a chance, I think, for the Prime Minister to see the controversy that was created, uh, after October 7 in our country, those dreadful scenes on the steps of the Opera House.

Uh, fortunately there’s no loss of life in our country, uh, as a result of that protest, of course, no one is suggesting there is but what we saw was a rise in antisemitism where we’ve got armed guards outside schools, at the moment, in our country. There are people of Jewish faith who are worried about going to a synagogue or worried about going to a Jewish supermarket or gathering in communities. We’ve got Holocaust survivors who sought refuge in our country & have felt safe for decades under Liberal and Labor Governments, are now talking about wanting to leave Australia because they feel unsafe so, yes, did I think John Howard stood up in ’96 when he needed to in our country’s interests?

Absolutely & did Anthony Albanese stand up and show the strength John Howard demonstrated and change the course of our country’s history? No, he didn’t. He was weak. He’s been trying to walk both sides of the street when it comes to this issue. He’s trying to tell people in Western Sydney 1 story and people in Dover Heights a completely different story & Australians are seeing through it.

Peter Dutton, Opposition Leader Of Australia

John Howard, who comes from the same Liberal-Nationals Coalition as Peter Dutton, was Prime Minister (PM) of Australia from 1996 before being replaced by Labor’s Kevin Rudd in 2007. Party in-fighting saw a leadership spill in 2010. Australia’s Deputy PM, Julia Gillard, replace Kevin Rudd. in June 2010, who was 3 years later, replaced by Kevin Rudd after more party in-fighting resulted in another leadership spill. Kevin Rudd and his Labor party lost the Federal election & thus, the Prime Ministership less than 3 months later in September 2013.

Dover Heights is a suburb in eastern Sydney, where just about half (49.9%) of the population follows the religion of Judaism while western Sydney has a significant Arab minority with at least 8% following the religion of Islam.

I think the point of that question though is the events that were compared are very different.

Unknown ABC Journalist

But, but, hang on, look, look at the comments that I made, uh & you can’t, the basis of that question that has come out of Canberra, uh, is obviously a Canberra-based question from the ABC. If you look at the facts of what I said, I don’t think you can have the, the, the, the, presumption in that question that you asked so I would say to whoever it is from the Canberra bureau, uh, to look at what I had to say last night because I think they’ve set you up with that question if I’ve might say.

Peter Dutton, Opposition Leader Of Australia

Canberra is the capital city of Australia and thus, the home of Australian Federal political news bureaus.

Well, Mike Burgess last year said ‘words matter’ when maintaining social cohesion in Australia. Did you breach that advice in your speech last night?

Unknown ABC Journalist

Mike Burgess is Director-General of Security at the Australian Security Intelligence Organisation.

As Mike Burgess said, no. Again, the Labor Party were running this line through the ABC last year and Mike Burgess came out to say he was making no reference to comments that I made whatsoever so, I’m not going to be tarnished by the ABC. I’m not going to cower because of the ABC and other left wing media organisations in our country. My job is to stand up for what is best in our country’s interests. My job is to share our vision with the Australian people about what we want for the future of our country.

Peter Dutton, Opposition Leader Of Australia

We understand Mike Burgess has not responded to Peter Dutton’s recent social significance comparison. Port Arthur’s Federal Parliament member, the Member For Lyons, Brian Williams, responded to Mr Dutton’s comments though:

From the unspeakable tragedy & horror of what occurred at Port Arthur in 1996, the Australian people put politics aside and came together in common purpose.

As the local member here, I would ask Peter Dutton to reflect on that & refrain from making such divisive and inflammatory comments using the tragedy in our community.

Brian Williams, Member For Lyons.

The Sydney Opera House featured a projection of a black ribbon on its western sails last night in tribute to the 6 victims who succumbed to their injuries from the stabbings at Westfield Bondi Junction shopping centre on Saturday afternoon.

Due to how this projection came about, this projection is not considered a Sydney Spectacular.

The western sails of the Sydney Opera House were lit up themed to Dame Edna Everage last night in tribute to the life of iconic comedic star, Barry Humphries.

The sails were lit between 8:30pm & Midnight.

Barry Humphries played many comedic characters over his career but his most iconic included Dame Edna Everage & Sir Les Patterson. He also voiced Bruce the Great White Shark in the iconic Pixar computer animated film, Finding Nemo. Barry Humphries passed away on the 22nd of April this year, aged 89.

At today’s State Memorial for Barry Humphries at the Sydney Opera House, the Master of Ceremonies, Richard Wilkins, revealed the western sails of the Sydney Opera House will be lit up tonight in tribute to the comedy star.

A photo from a rehearsal of the projection was shown at the State Memorial, which can be found above. It reveals the projection is themed to his iconic character, Dame Edna Everage.

The sails will be lit from 8:30pm.

Richard Wilkins was host of the Sydney New Year’s Eve television broadcast in 1996, 1997 &from 2000-2005.

Barry Humphries played many comedic characters over his career but his most iconic included Dame Edna Everage & Sir Les Patterson.

UPDATE: Feedback will now close on the 19th of January.

Sydney Spectaculars has begun trialling a new newsletter as part of a wider review into the website.

In the menu, you will find a subscription block. Sometimes, it may also appear while browsing the site like towards the end of an article (see picture above). Enter your e-mail address and then you can choose what articles get sent to you based on your interest.

You can choose everything or what just interests you (see picture above). For example:

• ‘Flagship’ Sydney Spectaculars refer to major events of Sydney that are held annually or biannually &have a ‘wow’ factor. There are currently 5 such events – Sydney New Year’s Eve, Vivid Sydney, Australia Day In Sydney, Airshows Downunder Shellharbour & State Of Origin.
• ‘Extraordinary’ Sydney Spectaculars refer to major events of Sydney that are held less frequently than annually but also have a ‘wow’ factor. Currently, the most well-known type of event this category involves are the Navy reviews – the last of which was held a decade ago.
• ‘Other’ Sydney Spectaculars refer to events of Sydney that are more frequent than being held on an annual basis or are annual but do not have a ‘wow’ factor currently. The most well-known event of the former would be ‘Badu Gili: Wonder Woman‘, a near-nightly projection show on the Bennelong Sail of the Sydney Opera House while the latter would include events like Sydney Lunar Festival.

You can also choose a specific event if you are only interested in a certain event too.

We will change our home page in the next week to a static home page where you can click on the events you are most interested in and you can see the latest updates there.

All of this is so we can provide more event news to you more frequently. The current home page set-up only allows a focus of 1 story and so publication of new stories has been limited to a maximum 1 per day to give each story at least 24 hours for our readers to read.

The menu on the left has also been simplified regarding Sydney New Year’s Eve particularly given the ‘revolutions’ now evolve through Vivid Sydney rather than Sydney New Year’s Eve. To find the Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks soundtracks, just click ‘History’.

We are also happy to take on any ideas that will help improve the site. If you have an idea, submit it here! Feedback closes on 19th January 2024. If you miss the deadline, you can always e-mail us.

All these changes & the larger review is due to the major changes coming to these events in the short-term. We started back in 2011 initially with Sydney New Year’s Eve – everyone’s favourite – then Vivid Sydney became popular in the mid-2010’s & now 3 extra major events have been added as ‘flagship’ Sydney Spectaculars in the past 5 years. We never expected Sydney’s events to grow so much more spectacular since we started what was an archival YouTube channel & is now this site dedicated to these iconic events. The interest from around the world on these events is extraordinary. We hope these changes will make finding information on these jaw-dropping events easier for all.