NYE Fireworks
 

Matt Hall - fantastic work this evening over Sydney Harbour. Nice to see the fireworks boys add a little touch of colour.

sc

btw if anyone is interested....

Telstra - YouTube

Horrendous waste of money IMO! :*

+1 HNY anyway.

would have looked awesome from 2100ft.. damn clouds!

makes a small fortune for the local Sydney economy and is part of the Sydney scene and as such is not a waste of money. Instead its an important investment and a great way to showcase Australia (as we are the first Country, that people tune into, to see the new years in).

Forkie - I have been saying the same thing for years. Spend the money where it's needed - like fixing our ailing hospital system for starters.

DF.

I love seeing **** explode & burn! (A little too much probably) especially if it's all pretty colours :D

Here in Amsterdam waiting for new year I can tell you that the fireworks over Sydney is a big hit in Europe. Even saw it in the local bus.
Plenty of EU mob visiting next year, so good value I reckon. Cheers and all the best for 2014.

Just sat down after watching the display on the shore front in Dubai- BLOODY spectacular!!

Yes, I can see that - let off lots of fireworks in the dark to show Oz at its best!

Anyhow, Dubai out did us big time, so I guess everyone will be going there in 2014.

Dr :8

PS: I wonder how many hungry kids around the world could get a feed if the funds were diverted elsewhere rather than going up in smoke.

Took the Mrs & kids down to Melbourne Docklands for the fireworks and dinner at Southbank. The fireworks were terrible, a short miserable show.

The train system simply cannot cope with the crowds. The metro staff mostly seemed uninterested and were extremely unhelpful. The one bright side was listening to the station announcer at Southern Cross. He worked his butt off keeping people informed of the trains arriving.

Next year I think I will take the family to Sydney.

The highlight for me was seeing the Police chopper cruise down the Yarra at about 200' past Southbank at 10pm.

As for people who think the Sydney fireworks are a waste of money, the tourism people themselves say the fireworks cost about $1 million, but bring in about $20 million alone from international tourists who come to Sydney specifically to see the NYE fireworks.

If the fireworks are so good for Sydney then Sydney should pay for them.

Instead you have the NSW state government paying. Despite what many people think, there is more to NSW than Sydney. Can I ask what benefit the fireworks bring to NSW outside of Sydney? Apart from the joy that people who live 10 hours drive away get from watching their tax money literally go up in smoke on live TV.

http://pamuva1.smugmug.com/Airplanes...MG_1300-XL.jpg

http://pamuva1.smugmug.com/Airplanes...MG_1290-XL.jpg

i cant see anything going to waste!

and to all those who say the money could be spent elsewhere, im sure you all donate to starving children and not spend 1 cent on any luxuries.. hope you didnt buy an Ipad! or a newer car! or new computer. or go to a nice restaurant. money could have been better spent elsewhere.. :ugh:

ButFli

Unlike Brisbane which is made up of one mega council and a couple of smaller councils, Sydney is made up of 38 councils. Which one would you propose pays for it. The area of the fireworks alone covers about half a dozen council areas. The fact is in NSW unlike QLD this type of an event is best dealt with on a state level, just like public transport is.

It may surprise some people here but in 2012 Australia was the number one country in the world for charitable donations. 60% of Australians donate to charity, volunteer their time or help a stranger each month.

Top Ten Charitable Countries

In terms of foreign aid, out of 155 countries, Australia as a percentage of GDP was ranked at number 15.

Top 21 Countries that give foreign aid

For some here to say it is wrong to have a little fun each year at tax payers expense are in my opinion being hypocritical. It is quite clear as a nation and individually we are very generous. There is nothing wrong in using NSW tax dollars in this manner especially when it clearly has a huge financial benefit not only for Sydney but also the rest of Australia.

What a miserable pack of bastards. It is governments roll to spend money on infrastructure to facilitate business. Business employ people, people earn an income, they spend that income & create further business.

If a mil is spent on fireworks that create 20 mil in spending, WHAT'S THE F@RKIN' PROBLEM? Would you prefer to subsidise a Grand Prix that makes a 30-40 million loss every year?

I am sure that the money would be more appreciated by the folks who suffered earlier in 2013 and those who will no doubt suffer in 2014 on some heavy aerial assets for the CFA/RFS.

Also not too sure about the "entertainment" on the ABC between the two lots of fireworks. I think I may have to ask for my $0.08 a day back.

601

With all due respect, while I feel very sorry for the 250 families that lost their homes and the family and friends of the two people who lost their lives in the 2013 NSW bush fires, as a society we need to take individual responsibility for all the risks associated with where we choose to live. Living in or near bush land is incredibly appealing to many Australians and there are more than ever doing just this. There is though a risk associated with this and it is unacceptable that government bare the risk of these individual's personal choices. It still amazes me the resistance many people in these areas have to any form of controlled burn offs.

NYE? The fireworks I saw started new years day:)

Melbourne treasury gardens was pretty good spot, with a backdrop of fireworks from the tops of city buildings.

Have a good year everyone, that is an order!

Mickjoebill

Well 601 you should have watched on telstra's youtube live stream.

And for those complaining about the expenditure. The whole production cost $7m or thereabouts. Less than 0.0005 of the nsw state expenditure on infrastructure. And less than 0.0004 of the recurrent health budget.

Essentially they spent nothing.

Very lefty view I know , but imagine if for just one year, all the associated costs for NYE around the world were diverted to reducing the worlds problems rather than masking them..

I too believe its a huge waste of tax payers bucks but hey the whole Australian Govt system themselves are a huge waste of tax payers bucks so it's just another hole in the money bucket.
:ugh:

Wmk2

601, Forkie, Cleared and related...

I could say a dozen things at this point that would demean, offend and/or show you up as fun-spoiling, miserable old _arts that have nothing to do but .... ok I'll stop now and instead will show you a _real_ bit of government spending gone stupid to the point of idiocy.

Only around the corner, on the way to the gig was this:

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7319/1...9f914edd_z.jpg

followed by (the aforementioned artwork in the middle of the roundabout):

http://farm3.staticflickr.com/2883/1...fd692ce3_z.jpg

Then closely followed by (on the other side of the divided road):

http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7431/1...a18321e2_z.jpg

If you need something else to complain about, there is always the CASA... pick your own angle there...


Yes you should have watched the Telstra YouTube stream. Aunty was _very_ second rate.

Do you remember the Tourism Australia "investment" into Paul Hogan including the ads, the movies, etc and the amount of tourism they generated?


Well the crackers on Sydney Harbour were watched by over 5 million people LIVE.

Matt Hall did a great routine, the 15 yo kid got to design her own cracker and show it off to the world, everybody left on a high and feeling great.

What did you do at midnight, Forkie?

btw, Dubai?

Dubai Fountains
As featured in 3 days in Dubai
Ranked #1 of 182 attractions in Dubai

SMCCU Sheikh Mohammed Centre for Cultural Understanding
As featured in Dubai for young kids
Ranked #2 of 182 attractions in Dubai

Dolphin Bay
Ranked #3 of 182 attractions in Dubai


Dubai Metro
Ranked #4 of 182 attractions in Dubai


Burj Al Arab (Tower of the Arabs)
Ranked #5 of 182 attractions in Dubai

Hope you don't feel like a beer either....

Foreign Office Dubai travel advice to Brits: No sex, alcohol or holding hands

Wally Mk2

Just on a quick calculation the NSW government makes money from the NYE fire works party. The event this year is reported to have cost the state government $6.6M to stage. Crowds are reported to have been in the order of 1.5M. Assuming each person spent $50, $75M would have been taken by retailers which would generate $7.5M in GST which is returned to the state. If you add the revenue generated by the public transport system the direct income easily out ways the costs. Add in private sector profits etc and net return is easily 10x the cost of the event. Indirectly this helps Australians be the most giving people in the world.

404 we will never know what the local economy would have racked in on NYE (as people would venture in to the cnteral area's anyway spending their $$$$) without such an extravagant waste of tax payers money to compare with now will we?:-)
The GP down this way is the biggest joke & waste of $$$$ known to mankind:ugh::ugh:Blue poles painting, the yellow peril...................Christ need I go about how Govt's totally waste OUR money!:ugh:


Wmk2

While The Palm Jumeirah and The World Islands played host to a glittering display of fireworks that achieved the colossal task of setting off over 400,000 fireworks across 100km of shoreline, in just six minutes...

...hosted by Emaar Properties

NSW budget: ca AUD7,500,000

Dubai budget: Today, Mr Zaalof will only say that next week’s extravaganza is costing “millions and millions of dollars”.

It must be nice living in a state where you get your GST back. :mad:

Fireworks...were fun when as a kid you could go to the shop and buy them and let them off yourself. No fun just watching all that money go up in smoke. Are the fireworks made in China?

there are tens of thousands of international tourists who come to Australia just to see in the new year in Sydney. then carry on to the blue mountains, hunter valley, and port Stephens just to name few. at £300-£3000 per night just for hotels the government is making way more than they spend either directly or indirectly from the private sector through increased revenues and gst.

the age old saying "you have to spend money to make money" is still running true to form.

I was tucked up in bed, Sprocket, wondering who the hell was invading paradise! :confused:

wally Mk 2

I'm a firm believer in government delivering a return to tax payers. By any measure the Sydney NYE fireworks have delivered it in spades. Government has a roll in helping those that genuinely can't help themselves but I draw the line on those that won't help themselves.

Clare Prop

Under the constitution every cent of GST must be returned to the states. How equitable that return is, is another question all together and we could discuss the fairness of that until the cows come home.

Both foti and howards manufacture the fireworks in australia. I suspect pretty much all that was blown up last night was made here.

And when the GST was introduced stamp duty on real estate was to be axed, maybe you miserable bastards should be whinging about that, not something that is creating jobs, generating income & maybe.............putting a smile on people's faces, you're still a miserable pack of bastards.

"Waste of money"
Must be a sad life that you people live.. and, some what ironically, uneducated in this lucky country of ours.
What a one dimensional, simplistic and ignorant attitude..

Wonderful NYE celebration - always look forward to Sydney fireworks.

The last three posts sum this thread up succinctly.

I can't believe the negativity of some of you people :ugh: