Caleb Bond: Melbourne deserves something to celebrate
Melburnians have lived for nearly two years in a city battered by lockdowns and Covid but still the government has found a way to wind down the celebration of our great nation.
Opinion
Don't miss out on the headlines from Opinion. Followed categories will be added to My News.
While Sydney and Perth will be treated to big fireworks shows on Australia Day, there will be barely a whimper across Melbourne’s CBD.
Under the cover of Covid, the state government has found a way to surreptitiously wind down the celebration of our great nation – leaving the city with just a lacklustre concert and a visit from Bananas in Pyjamas.
The traditional Australia Day fireworks display at Docklands has been quietly dispensed with – in its place a drone show put on by the City of Melbourne.
Despite the government claiming on its website that the light show is an Australia Day event, it actually has nothing to do with the national celebration.
The Summer Nights Drone Show at Docklands began on January 15 and runs until February 5.
It includes a light show displaying the Wurundjeri creation story of How The Platypus (Dulai Wurrung) Was Made – but a City of Melbourne spokesman confirmed that the three-week event had nothing to do with Australia Day.
Melburnians, having last year suffered through the world’s longest cumulative lockdown, would do well to be treated to some action to make it feel like our city is coming alive again.
About exciting as it will get is a concert in Flagstaff Gardens with a largely unremarkable line-up.
The headline act, at 7.45pm, will be ageing rocker Daryl Braithwaite, who will no doubt trot out The Horses – the only song, overplayed and overrated, for which anyone seems to remember him.
Over at Federation Square will be the “family friendly” Reflect, Respect and Celebrate event, which appears as exciting as the name would suggest. Bananas in Pyjamas will pay a visit, as will ABC-TV sensation Bluey.
The event’s listing on the government’s Australia Day page talks up “giant lifeguards, giant kangaroos, giant seagulls (and) giant cockatoos”.
And to really keep the kids interested, there will be a jazz band and a screening of the Olivia Newton-John and Gene Kelly film Xanadu.
A classic film – but I’m not sure it will set the Bananas in Pyjamas fans on fire.
Meanwhile in Sydney, thousands will be gathering around Circular Quay to watch the annual Australia Day concert and fireworks outside the Sydney Opera House, directed by entertainment stalwart John Foreman. Delta Goodrem and Casey Donovan are the headline acts. Thankfully, for those deprived of a decent performance and fireworks show in Melbourne, it will be broadcast on the ABC.
And they will have entertainment in the waters of the harbour all day, including a tall ship race and a regatta.
Perth is going ahead with its Skyworks show – the biggest Australia Day celebration in the country, which routinely attracts more than 200,000 people to the banks of the Swan River.
First Perth took our grand final. Now the hermit kingdom of Western Australia – so immovable on its Covid madness that it lost an Ashes test – is making us look like a bunch of nannas in bed before 8pm.
Adelaide is staging a light and sound show on the banks of the Torrens River and has been putting on live performances in its main shopping drag, Rundle Mall, all week.
The only city seemingly joining us in a scaled-back Australia Day is Brisbane, where the traditional cockroach races have been canned.
It should be no surprise, given the piddly fireworks display we were given in the city to ring in the New Year.
Thank God we have the Australian Open.
Another notable absence is Melbourne’s Australia Day parade – canned for the second year in a row.
When that announcement was made two weeks ago, the government said it was not cancelled because of Covid and nor was it an effort to boycott Australia Day. It is believed the decision was made to support other events instead.
You can be the judge of whether that was a wise decision. After nearly two years of living in the city more battered by lockdowns, restrictions and Covid woes than any other in the country, Melburnians deserve something to celebrate.
That we can be so obviously shown up by Sydney and – of all places – Perth is an embarrassment.
More Coverage
Originally published as Caleb Bond: Melbourne deserves something to celebrate
Australia is waking up to the woke and I absolutely love it
People have finally had enough of the self-loathing from our inner-city elites and the usual whingers campaigning to “change the date”, writes Matt Canavan.
Deery: Humiliating result sends shockwaves through Labor
Labor has copped a resounding vote of no confidence. If it’s replicated statewide at next year’s election, the party will be obliterated from the treasury benches.