Privatisation Is Killing Sydney's New Year's Eve
Printed in the Sydney Morning Herald
Every year just after Christmas, it’s the same old scramble – that last minute rush to sort something out for New Year’s Eve.
Only a couple of years ago, it was a challenge easily surmounted. All that was needed was some food and wine in the esky, before sauntering on down to watch the fireworks at a vantage point – family in tow.
However, with many public parks (especially on the North Shore) now ticketed and sold out, those easy going, community-focused New Year’s Eves seem to be a thing of the past.
Last year, there was substantial community backlash against a growing trend to privatise Sydney’s New Years Eve. Common sense says that councils would have listened to all of their constituent feedback and anger on the issue – and certain councils certainly have. However, in other cases, the complete opposite has happened.
Rather than listen, some councils like North Sydney have dug in their heels. Despite all the complaints from local businesses and residents about last year’s event, the council has blocked their ears and rolled out paid ticketing to even more parks this time around.
The ''user pays'' system was introduced in 2011 by the Office of Environment and Heritage to spots such as the Botanical Gardens and Bradleys Head (current ticket prices between $29 - $120 per adult), and local furore was immediate. Undeterred by the raucous public sentiment at the time, the concept has been ramped up and in use ever since.
The main rationale provided by councils for this unexpected move is that paid ticketing at key vantage points is necessary for public safety. This is the message also consistently provided to those challenging the policy across council social networks. The safety angle is also heavily promoted by the police.
The idea is that by using the funds from the tickets, councils can pay private security firms to manage and keep a constant eye on the crowds. By taking on the contract, these security businesses also carry the ‘duty of care’ for the safety of punters within their zone. This is good news for both councils and the police because there is less for them to do.
Yet, the big irony here is that New Years Eve has been an exceptionally safe event for years – even before the new ticketing template was created and then adopted by local councils.
For starters, the Economist has just ranked Sydney the 5th safest city in the world and the safest city in Australia. Alcohol consumption has been steadily dropping in NSW for 10 years and young people are drinking far less than they once were. A primarily family orientated event, alcohol is also banned along the entire foreshore on New Years Eve.
Incident statistics on New Years Eve have also been steadily dropping for the past decade. On the 2017 / 2018 New Years Eve – of the 1.6 million revellers watching the fireworks there was a grand total of 16 arrests! This is an incident rate of around 0.001%. An eye-wateringly low figure and all before the big onset of paid ticketing last year.
Sadly, the biggest loser in this whole outsourced approach is the single thing that should be prioritised as paramount – community spirit.
That lovely, serendipitous effervescence that Sydney used to be so famous for on New Years Eve is being thwarted by a physically fenced off, segregated approach to an evening that was always so simple, vibrant and organic.
The big winners are those businesses that get contracted in to get paid to do the things that councils and the police should be taking care of. I’m talking about the fencing, equipment-hire, catering, ticketing website, security-staff and clean-up businesses.
Furthermore, a substantial blackmarket has emerged for last minute tickets, both online and by scalpers at the vantage points themselves. It seems crazy that locals now have to negotiate and hustle to buy tickets to see fireworks their taxpayers money has already paid for, by sitting in a public park their council rates pay to maintain.
New Years Eve is the one time of the year when every corner of Sydney comes together to mingle, smile, laugh and cheer about a busy year passing – and a new just beginning. It is an invaluable and unbridled local spirit that should be fostered and encouraged by local councils, rather than stifled and deprioritised.
However, with council elections only nine months away – local voters may finally get to have their say.
