In the shadow of the worst bushfire season seen in NSW in some time, it is both negligent to wilfully introduce the risk of further fire through fireworks' sparks, and economically wasteful to spend hundreds of thousands of dollars, when communities are suffering from devastating losses, and fire services are struggling to find the resources and man power to fight these fires.

It is understood that planning for a massive event such as NYE is undertaken months beforehand, and that the 2019 fireworks are well and truly underway and as such will proceed. No one wishes to create hardships for any of the companies already financially invested in this event. However, at some point our elected representatives need to recognise that the public do not want these vast sums of money spent on 15minutes of awe, when that money, our taxes, could be put to a much more effective, long term, use.

Now is the time to act and put a stop to the 2020 NYE fireworks.As a community we say NO.

While we acknowledge the beauty and community atmosphere of New Years Eve on Sydney Harbour, we value the Australian ethos of giving those in need a helping hand much more so. We urge the City of Sydney to put an end to spending vast sums on fireworks and to instead distribute the funds to helping those in need - to rebuilding communities ravaged by fire. We further urge recognition of the environmental impact of fireworks, specifically in relation to the risk of fire, and to the introduction of additional smoke into the Sydney skyscape.

Please listen to the people of Australia and take our concerns into consideration before the planning of NYE 2020 is underway.