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

[XXJingledNerves]

I wish so much they had cancelled.

You are not being unreasonable. It was a disgrace. We live in Canberra so the closest fire is about 60km away. Our air quality is worse than Delhi today and visibility is under 500m. Our fireworks were cancelled earlier in the week.

The fireworks went on b/c of pressure from local business. It's one of the biggest nights of the year for tourism in the City of Sydney, and local businesses weren't prepared to throw away the million plus it brings in. The fire risk was also low, as the fireworks are over water.

I did not go; I did not think celebrating was appropriate, but that's the reasoning behind the decision taken to go ahead.

Pressure from business seems to inform every political decision here.

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. 🙄
Settle down.

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.

And there it is OP. As to starting a thread about whether or not The Sydney fireworks should or shlouldn’t go ahead when well you are not living there. ...or are not Australian...... When making the gesture, while it would have made some people feel better, would have cause financial hardship to others in family businesses all over Australia depending on a stable tourism dollar.( I know of some who have suffered fire loss before Christmas who need the money from tourists traveling to their area before and after the fireworks.)

Talk about tone deaf!

However as you have expressed that you do care a great deal I am sure that any donations are welcome. Maybe search for donating to fire victims funds for each individual area.

The firies also need their supplies topped up after tragic events like this, it also costs money to being in extra help from other states etc. The link below is for Rural fire service NSW but I am sure you can find the services for any state you choose.

www.rfs.nsw.gov.au/volunteer/support-your-local-brigade

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

Is the OP from the UK though?
Is she/he a first time poster?
Did he/she post again after the OP? (I've looked but can't see any.)

Penelope

I did think that as I posted. You are quite correct. Could be a plop and run?

Cancelling wouldn't have stopped what has / is happening. They were already paid for. I don't see the point in cancelling city fireworks if it was weather wise safe to have them (ex pat in Aus here). They raise revenue, and I'm sure there were collections/ donations gathered on the night. Over reaction to cancel and waste money already spent. There is calls to cancel them most years.

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 assuming you therefore don’t want UK donations? Noted.

@PenelopeFlintstone Why? Perfectly valid. People saying no one else can celebrate because of this, yet no one thinks about those who have little to no food when they stockpile for one day.

@Winesalot Yesterday 14.28 has it. The same applies to the displays in other cities around the world. I had several friends travelling into London to watch, to eat in the restaurants, to go to shows and some to stay in hotels. That's a huge boost to the city's economy.

I'm from Sydney and I totally agree with you OP. Yes it wouldn't have made a practical difference, in the sense that due to the location harbour fireworks won't start new fires, but it was in terribly poor taste. I couldn't watch it. It's sickening lighting fireworks in to air that is already a toxic smog from millions of hectares burned. Three people died today. Millions of animals burned and the remaining ones are starving as their habitats are gone.

Many Australians agree with you. Smaller local fireworks displays were mostly cancelled for this reason.

And also I think you can and should have an opinion on this despite not being Australian. Hopefully international disapproval will help change the governments actions, as unfortunately widespread national disapproval hasn't done a thing.

differentnameforthis - it just feels like we're all attacking each other. Should we be doing this right now? Some comments seem overly barbed to me. I don't think that whether the fireworks went off or not is a good reason for the tone of some of these comments, including your one. Sorry.
And this one:
'I’m assuming you therefore don’t want UK donations? Noted.'
Like, wtf??

Actually, I am merely pointing out that cancelling the fireworks is oversimplifying the situation and would have had ramifications that were ongoing to other families, and not just to Sydney locals. It is not a local fireworks done by the local council for the benefit of only local people. So, yes. Sadly. The economic impact does need to be considered in all of these decisions, particularly if it will effect the country’s economy in general (and also the. Indirectly the regions that were then hit before Christmas)

Maybe a better way to discuss this is by asking should a country who experiences any disaster just before or during an event that is very important to the economy of that country cancel the event out of respect. When the event has nothing to do with the disaster of course Ie. Should the Rugby World Cup and the celebrations and parties there have been cancelled due to the typhoon? Should the Boxing Day test match have been cancelled in respect for those losses before Christmas?

Perhaps make this a broader issue for discussion???

Like, wtf??

PP made a snide comment about people in the UK having an opinion. I mean are we really doing that insular “we can only have opinions on our own country” nonsense? I’m just questioning whether her stand point that people in the UK can’t have an opinion also extends to monetary assistance?

Should the Rugby World Cup and the celebrations and parties there have been cancelled due to the typhoon?

Some matches were cancelled so I’m not sure of your point here.

And I was only talking about the Sydney Harbour fireworks as some other areas of Sydney (which were for locals more than tourists) did get cancelled due to fire restrictions.

Smaller local fireworks displays were mostly cancelled for this reason.

Uhhmm, no. Smaller local fireworks were cancelled due to fire risk because they are not over, you know, an enormous harbour that mitigates that risk.

JacquesHammer

Some of the World Cup games were cancelled due to weather restrictions not out of respect for the disaster I believe (but I could be wrong there). The finals went ahead.

Some of the World Cup games were cancelled due to weather restrictions not out of respect for the disaster I believe (but I could be wrong there)

Right. But that didn’t mitigate the “economic impact” which has been mentioned on this thread repeatedly.

As an Australian Mner I do agree with XXJinglednerves and other MNers that the fireworks in Sydney and Melbourne should have been at least massively scaled back and funding redirected to support communities dealing with the devastating impact of the fires.

PP made a snide comment about people in the UK having an opinion.
Yep, she definitely did. Sorry. I thought it was horrible when I read it and should've included it. (And I hate it when people start rude comments with the word 'please', like she did.)
It's all got a bit heated.
And where is the OP?????

I can understand the reasons, but I do think that going ahead was in poor taste.

You are right Jacques, I was being snide. And I apologize for my offensive comment. There had been comments previously about Australian’s not being known for their taste etc. But it did not justify my saying that people who only look at the event from one viewpoint without having knowledge of a wider view should not have opinions.

Penelope - just to clarify I was quoting another poster. With the ‘Please ...’