Harbour fireworks are still on to say ‘good riddance 2020’

Sydney’s New Year’s Eve festivities are almost certain to proceed as planned but under tightly managed restrictions.

New Year's Eve fireworks over Sydney's Harbour Bridge and Opera House on January 1, 2020. Picture: AFP

Sydney’s New Year’s Eve festivities are almost certain to proceed as planned but under tightly managed restrictions and extensive crowd control measures, with key ministers supporting the fireworks and other CBD events continuing despite the spectre of COVID-19 transmissions present on the northern beaches.

A final decision is expected to be made next Wednesday in relation to NYE celebrations, when the crisis committee of the cabinet once again meets to discuss the state’s progress against the COVID-19 cluster and whether end-of-year events should continue.

The Australian understands senior members of cabinet are in favour of events proceeding as scheduled as long as they are conducted under tight controls and no significant upticks of COVID-19 cases are detected.

One official said the monitoring of cases would continue over the coming days, with discussions around the fireworks display — a seven-minute event to be held at midnight — likely to proceed without issue. They said initial discussions would be held after Christmas.

The NSW government has previously announced that a permit system would be used to control access to key vantage points, while other areas of the city will have ­restricted entry using ticketing and passes for residents, frontline workers and others who hold event bookings.

Eight fresh cases of the virus were recorded in the 24 hours to 8pm on Tuesday, all of which were linked to the Avalon cluster on the northern beaches. One additional case involving a Qantas aircrew worker came to light during the Premier’s press briefing.

New rules for Christmas eve, Christmas day and Boxing day.

The man flew to Darwin on a commonwealth-backed repatriation flight from Paris last Thursday before boarding a flight to Sydney. He developed symptoms two days after his arrival in NSW.

The question of whether to proceed with the fireworks display has been left with the state government under a “temporary custodianship” arrangement brokered by the City of Sydney, which normally takes carriage of the event.

Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Moore said this handover was taken out of precaution due to the complexities posed by the pandemic. She said if the event could not be held safely, or if there was a “spike” in COVID-19 cases, it should not proceed as planned.

“The community’s health and safety is paramount,” Ms Moore said. “If NSW Health and NSW Police can’t be certain that the event can be held safely, it should not go ahead.”

On Wednesday, the Berejiklian government announced a modest easing of restrictions across Sydney in time for Christmas and Boxing Day celebrations following positive case results overnight and a high turnout for testing.

Restrictions will remain unchanged for regional NSW, but for Greater Sydney, Wollongong, the Central Coast and Nepean Blue Mountains they would be slightly adjusted, Ms Berejiklian said, allowing for households to welcome 10 people for Christmas celebrations, not including children under the age of 12.

To deal with the northern beaches outbreak, the government announced tiered restrictions for the top of the peninsular and its southern suburbs.

Residents living in the northern peninsula zone, identified as the epicentre of the outbreak, will be permitted to host only five guests from Christmas Eve to Boxing Day, including young children.

Those living within the region’s southern zone can host up to 10 guests from outside the area.

“We‘re trying to be as, I guess, as generous as we can, but we can’t be any more generous than we have done. We just think the risk is too great to go further than what we have,” Ms Berejiklian said.