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

[XXJingledNerves]

I wish so much they had cancelled.

I live in a bush for prone area of NSW. Colleagues of mine lost homes, buildings and livestock in one of the first fires in November. All the people I know went to the local firework display so their kids could have some fun. Proceeds to the show are being donated to the RFS. The show went ahead with approval from both the RFS and Pyrotechnic experts.

I'm current sitting in 4000 particles air. My partner was out fighting fires last night. W lost my family home to bushfires 2 years ago. Give no shits if the fires works go ahead in safe circumstances. Many were cancelled but the Sydney ones went ahead. It was safe.
Save your outrage and energy for stuff that matters

I think it's incredibly distasteful for people from other countries to tell the Australians what they should do and how they should feel about the. fireworks.

Almost none of the money spent on the fireworks would be salvageable. They need careful (expensive) storage and many don't last that long without being taken apart. Most of the money is on setup, not just for the display but for managing the crowds who will be in the city anyway. So they can't save the money and spend it on recovery. The Sydney fireworks are watched by over a billion people around the world. It's a major part of Sydney's tourism marketing which helps the country's economy and will enable them to invest more money in recovery over the coming year.

If enough Australians thought it was inappropriate and not worth the tourism it will bring in on this occasion then canceling would have been reasonable. But living in another country and tutting about it online - especially in a way that might shame Australians who are looking forward to them as a bit of relief from the tragic news - is just being a judgemental keyboard warrior.

@BoomBoomsCousin it's actually felt a bit tasteless the amount of drama-lama-ing MN has done on this subject.

Most Aussies have said the fireworks were fine to go ahead, and yet someone sitting in a freezing cold UK is telling us no, they felt sick at the thought of it

Long-time Oz resident here.

Black Saturday (2009), when 173 died in Victoria, is generally considered the yardstick by which horror bushfires are measured these days.

www.nma.gov.au/defining-moments/resources/black-saturday-bushfires.

And the death toll, just from this week, is now eight. With warnings of more to come.

Thousands more are cut off in burned out towns, running out of fuel, food and water. With no way of knowing when "normality" will be restored.

The very idea that these fires might be in any way normal, even in a country that is supposed to burn occasionally, is laughable. And, frankly, offensive.

Most Aussies have said the fireworks were fine to go ahead, and yet someone sitting in a freezing cold UK is telling us no, they felt sick at the thought of it
Tbh, a lot of Aussies were against them too. It’s all over social media. I wasn’t though. I didn’t have strong feelings either way.

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.

Your opinion is also completely unimportant as, quite obviously, you don’t live here. You don’t know what it’s like not to know if your family is safe or not because you haven’t been able to reach them for 12 hours - they are stuck on a beach with no comms and their house might have burned down. You don’t know what it’s like to be stuck in a house with no transport, hot with choking smoke, when a fire is threatening you.

But that’s okay. We’re just whiners. You sit back and enjoy your fireworks, okay?

Currently keeping watch on a fire burning less than 4 miles from me and ready to evacuate if required.

Last night we sat and watched the New Year in and were happy to see the fireworks, cancelling them made no difference to my current situation, however the money raised by the charities involved will go towards those affected, this money wouldn't have been raised without the events - local businesses here and councils put on fire work displays every year, most were cancelled, a lot of potential fund raising for the rural fire service was missed as without displays the events were ghost towns - the RFS requires heavily on donations and is manned by volunteers who are out there protecting us. The government aren't supplying them with adequate equipment to protect themselves whilst on duty, there's currently a fund raising event trying to raise money for respirators (they are fighting fires with nappies tied around their faces to try to protect them) each respirator costs $90. They could've raised a lot more had local events been able to proceed.

Money raised by the businesses in Sydney CBD will flow back into the economy, the return for the expenditure for the cost of fireworks is huge.

Please don't sit in your armchair in the UK, knowing nothing of how our country works, and tell us what we shouldn't do.

I'm an Australian. I don't think they should have gone ahead. It was not a day to celebrate. People were huddled on beaches hoping to escape the fires. It was a live critical emergency.
Black Saturday, when 173 people died near Melbourne, was only 10 years ago.

Yes, It makes me feel ill - we didn't watch it, personal decision. I find fireworks triggering (fire/loud noises/ smoke in hot air....reminds me of bushfires - can't handle it). Very glad they are illegal/require permit to buy.
We are In another Aus state - had local devestating fires in the past two weeks, so we chose to have a drink and quiet reflection instead of celebrating. I was surprised - given the day/night NSW were facing it was given an exemption but really the RFS gave it the green light in spite of total fire ban 🤷🏻‍♀️, I'm sure it wasn't a decision taken lightly.

Have felt even sicker in the gut at the federal government and Prime ministers responses. Shameful. The contempt they are showing to all volunteers is disgraceful.
Personally, hoping this is the kick up the arse to the general population to expect more/better/higher standard of public servant.

Regardless of it being appropriate or not the situations people have lived - and will live - this summer are scarring and traumatic.

Side note - Adelaide fireworks - held on river bank in he CBD - adjacent to a stadium. went ahead as we had the wind/catastrophic day the day prior and NYE was actually low 20c / no wind.... the reeds adjacent to barge caught - was put out in minutes. Not saying it was right or wrong just providing context.

Most Aussies have said the fireworks were fine to go ahead, and yet someone sitting in a freezing cold UK is telling us no, they felt sick at the thought of it

Have you spoken to ‘most Aussies’? I can guarantee I’ve spoken to a lot more than you have, and the vast majority couldn’t believe the Sydney and Melbourne fireworks went ahead.

What a depressing turn this thread has taken.
It wasn’t clear cut. People have different opinions.

There are also Aussies on this very thread who think it was fine that they went ahead!!

My dh worked last night in Sydney. Got triple pay after midnight due to public holiday penalty rates. Would it have been fair if his boss cancelled his shift if the fireworks were cancelled and they needed less people? That is a lot of money for our family. So I’m glad it went ahead.

He said the crowds were a lot lower in places and that a lot of small business food trucks would have had a bad night because of this. So it seems some people did lose out as people boycotted them. Sad that it is the small business owners who lost out when people made gestures like this.

Side note - Adelaide fireworks - held on river bank in he CBD - adjacent to a stadium. went ahead as we had the wind/catastrophic day the day prior and NYE was actually low 20c / no wind.... the reeds adjacent to barge caught - was put out in minutes. Not saying it was right or wrong just providing context

And many people on this thread are saying there was no risk whatsoever from the Sydney fireworks as they are held on the harbour. There is risk as the harbour is surrounded by bushland. Sydney is a bushland city, so any firework gone wrong could have terrible consequences.

My local area fireworks was cancelled due to the high risk as were many others around us.

It's been a hard summer/year for many - the drought is crippling many industries - not just primary producers, perhaps people just didn't have the General enthusiasm or resources to attend?
Also many in country NSW that generally head to the coast /city for NYE stayed in communities and on property this year to defend and do volunteer rotations

"08Gingernaut

Fiddling while Rome burns.

Horrifying."

You took the words right out of my mouth. It just felt wrong.

@TheStoic I'm Australian, living in Aus. So yeah, I've spoken to a lot of Aussies. Not sure how you can guarantee you've spoken to more than me?

But the people I've spoken with are volunteer firies, those that lived through Ash Wednesday (myself included) and people who live in Gippsland and not one has said the fireworks should have been cancelled.

What do you honestly think it would achieve though?

Cancelling them would waste the thousands of tax-payers dollars that were spent on them. They'd sit somewhere, untouched, useless.

The tourism board would lose money, and to be honest, Australians needed something to think about other than the fires. It isn't disrespectful, and has been planned for over a yr. We'd have more chance of getting NYE 2020 fireworks cancelled, to be fair.

But the people I've spoken with are volunteer firies, those that lived through Ash Wednesday (myself included) and people who live in Gippsland and not one has said the fireworks should have been cancelled.

Really? Not one? That’s almost unbelievable.

Almost as unbelievable as your guarantee of speaking with more Australian's than me??

@rebecca102 Not really a time to be celebrating despite money spent already.

So...cancel NYE all together then? Thousands of Australians are going about their normal lives, is that disrespectful too? Where does it stop? Should we all stay in and not go out at all because of it?

@BlackCatSleeping It's about celebrating while people are living in these terrible conditions

But people live in terrible conditions everyday here is Oz (and the world over). People live in cars, motels, parks, sleep in shop doorways, underground car parks, houses that are fit for nothing except knocking down.

People are using food banks to eat on a daily basis.

The fires are fucking horrible, but let's not pretend that no one else lives in terrible conditions otherwise. I bet you thought nothing of eating your nice food on Christmas day when some people only had meals on wheels/food bank offerings for the day.

aus family say:lots of people needed this.misery upon misery wasnt what they would have wanted.
lots of places including restauratna and food sellers were sending the much risen proceeds from the night to charities and to aid the fire and rescue.their friends got 10,000 just last night!
their kids and others needed to see that things could continue from this.
money had been spent already and to lose that ontop of limited funds for helping in the fire would have actually been worse for them.
i get both sides.

Now 11 dead... and the only real reason the toll is not far higher is that these are mostly very remote regions. The area burned by fire is vast.

I don't have a great personal view on the fireworks. At best, I think maybe it's tone deaf to celebrate when people have lost everything, including lives. But I can see the virtue of the donations too.

Perhaps what the dilemma shows is the vast lack of leadership in this crisis. Our PM (not president!)) hosted the Australian and NZ cricket teams for lunch at his official residence on Sydney's glorious harbour today. But no statement, or empathy or anything for those in the midst of the crisis.

For those who don't understand Australia's govt, the decision to go ahead with fireworks was not one for the national govt. It was made by the city of Sydney (akin to the city of London), as were the same decisions in all other capital cities - Melbourne, Adelaide etc.

I started watching, but the red fireworks just reminded me of the red skies outside my window, so I went to bed.

It cost $6m and brings in $130m. Most of which would have already been spent because tourists arrived already.

I think I could cope with the fireworks if I felt the prime minister was not..I can’t even talk about him, vile man.

Please don’t underestimate what is happening. This started at the beginning of spring, usually it’s past January before big fires. It’s not slightly worse, it’s unprecedented. And no sign of rain to speak of in the last year. We had our winter and it didn’t come close to the rain needed.

And as for blaming individuals for how they set up their houses, blame politicians who are too squeamish to impose any kind of serious sanctions, and town planning, which has no teeth, and kick backs are normal.

And breathe....