to have felt sick to my stomach seeing the Sydney fireworks...

[XXJingledNerves]

I wish so much they had cancelled.

unlike the outcome of supplying bloody fibre optic to some of the folks on this thread.

I am also in Aus, I thought the fireworks should be cancelled because of the fires, but, thousands of dollars have already been spent, since the planning and placement of the firework display began months ago in Sydney for example. It would not benefit any of the firefighters in the rural areas as the money spent cannot be redirected to them. Having said that many cities in the Eastern states areas did cancel their new year fireworks displays, so lets hope the hardworking rural fire service volunteers may benefit from these cancellations.

We can only wait and see.
What I would like to see is leadership from SCOMO and the prime ministers office, to be honest with you.

@mindproject

It made me cry. If you have children to buy birthday presents for, this is a nice idea.

donate.wwf.org.au/adopt/koala#gs.pe4sf9

Glad to hear that fireworks cannot be privately owned in Australia - something I wish could be introduced here in UK.

I think whiners are actually more harmful than those who are willing to celebrate life TBH. If you are the sort of snivelling idiot whose first response to any disaster (especially one miles away from you and fuck all to do with you) is to start telling other people to give up any kind of enjoyment because waa, waa, waaa, [some nonsense or other] then perhaps you should consider that you have every right to lock yourself indoors, grovelling to your imaginary friend or whatever, but that your opinion is completely unimportant

Well these ones are fucking miles from me. My brother has been out for the last week trying to put them out and they came very close to my house. It is not my first response to a disaster but it IS my response to seeing what happened yesterday and what I knew was happening at the very second those fireworks were going off. And at the same time that the bloody prime minister was saying what an amazing place to bring your kids up Australia is. It is, no doubt but pretty tasteless while there were kids floating in boats watching their town burn...

Aren’t* miles from me!

YANBU.

Christ, fireworks really are the new bogeymen aren't they. At least they bring people pleasure, unlike the outcome of supplying bloody fibre optic to some of the folks on this thread

Fireworks bring pleasure to some people, and distress to many other people and animals, quite apart from the pollution.
Many things give pleasure, but are also bad for people and for the environment. We just have to learn to do without them.

Tbf when the plane crashed into the Swan on Australia Day tyat was it, no fireworks no matter how much money had been spent. Rightly so. But fuck me you should have heard the complaining on the train from those returning home.

Yes. Why don't you start? Let's have your pets (very environmentally damaging those things), car, holidays, central heating, electricity, white goods, broadband ... you don't actually need any of those things as the vast majority of the world manages perfectly well without them and you're raping the planet. Just put them into the hat and leave.

I’m in Aus.
I’m glad we had them in the sense that they’d already been paid for. If the fires had happened before the fireworks had been bought, then I’d say no, they shouldn’t have happened and the money should have been saved and spent helping the fire effort

@kmc1111 Well said! Totally agree with your post.

I only hope no other fires have been started as a result of these fireworks - the whole of Australia is a tinder box.

The Sydney fireworks are on the harbour - hardly likely to start a fire.

the Australian president went on holiday to Hawaii in December

Which shows how much you know about Australia

I think whether the fireworks should go ahead or not is debatable and I can see both sides of the argument even though it did make me feel really uncomfortable to see everyone in Sydney cheering and laughing while their country literally burns. I don't get it. I'm sure the Aussie PM had a nice party though.

I think whiners are actually more harmful than those who are willing to celebrate life TBH. If you are the sort of snivelling idiot whose first response to any disaster (especially one miles away from you and fuck all to do with you) is to start telling other people to give up any kind of enjoyment because waa, waa, waaa, [some nonsense or other] then perhaps you should consider that you have every right to lock yourself indoors, grovelling to your imaginary friend or whatever, but that your opinion is completely unimportant.

There are people on MN whose homes are in danger. There are people on MN whose family members are risking their lives and this is your response?? You know, having compassion for a situation is not a bad thing, maybe you should try it out. There are 12 families out there who are having a really miserable New Year without their family member. Communities have been destroyed, homes lost, so many animals killed. But, yeah, sneer at the whiners if you like.

I’m in Australia. DH is a volunteer firefighter (but hasn’t been to the current ones). I just asked him and he thinks it’s fine that they went ahead.
We went to our local ones last night and they were beautiful. We live in a drought-stricken area and people need a bit of cheering up.

We went to our local ones too. They were very well done and there were a lot of people watching.

I'm an Australian.

I get it that they have been paid for etc.... but we were only a few hours away from them and it was horrible. I cannot imagine the horror that the firies and the residents felt.

I'm guessing a lot of people just couldn't get into the spirit which is why numbers were down so much.

I live in Canberra Australia and our leaders cancelled our fireworks because of the high fire danger and because it felt wrong to celebrate. I think it was a good choice to cancel them.

I’m in Australia
Wow since when did we have a president? Must of slept through that news!!!
I’m happy the fireworks went ahead last night . The money raised at these events is great.
We were evacuated from my work place yesterday because of a fire, so I do have sympathy for those still fighting and lost lives but the fireworks are great. Something to look forward to.

Retailers and small businesses needed the revenue boost brought in by people attending the fireworks after the fuck up that is the light rail down George street.

I’m in Australia, and went to see the local fireworks last night. Like the Sydney fireworks they were over water, so no fire risk. Cancelling the Sydney fireworks would have achieved nothing practical and lost a lot of money, it would have been nothing more than an empty gesture. The fireworks I went to had donation points for the fires, Sydney probably had similar.

I am also in Aus, I thought the fireworks should be cancelled because of the fires, but, thousands of dollars have already been spent, since the planning and placement of the firework display began months ago in Sydney for example.

Well then living in Sydney, you should know that the Sydney fireworks don’t cost thousands but millions and are paid for around a year in advance as it takes several months to design it, manufacture what’s required and set up.

Not holding them, out of respect to some, would then cripple many others. A lot of businesses would fold as they rely on that money. Sydney generates 100-150 million each year based on local and international tourism due to its NYE fireworks. Many businesses rely on this and the higher tourism summer to keep afloat the rest of the year. Then there’s the ripple effect. International tourists who come for this don’t tend to only do Sydney, they also do other parts of Australia either before or after NYE. So if you take away the Sydney fireworks you will be having a significant knock on economic effect on places like the Gold Coast and the Reef towns. It’s really not as simple as saying cancel them to stand together with those currently affected by fires. While the fireworks cost millions it’s absolutely nothing compared to the revenue it brings in and jobs it creates.

And to those saying it’s irresponsible as it might start another fire. They are held ON the harbour (literally) on the bridge and barges. It’s over an enormous body of water.

The Money was already spent so cancelling it wouldn’t of made a difference.
Melbourne and Adelaide also has large displays (Adelaide’s also caused a tiny grassfire) and both states had large fires burning over the holiday period.

Our local large display was cancelled (also within Sydney just not in the city centre) as they couldn’t get an exception to the fire ban due to the risk of a grassfire with a large urban park. Sydney city was over the harbour which reduced the risk.

The money was already spent. The world keeps on turning. What can you do.