Two Sydney mayors have criticised the NSW government’s New Year’s Eve advice about gathering outdoors, saying people should stay at home.
On Monday, Gladys Berejiklian announced the rules for Thursday, which include the cancellation of all fireworks viewing events in a new “green zone”, which covers the Sydney CBD and parts of North Sydney near the Harbour bridge.
Berejiklian told Sydney residents: “My strong message to everyone is to watch the fireworks on TV.”
But she also said it was “OK” for people to go to local ovals to watch the fireworks.
“If there’s a local park or a local venue that some people go to look at the fireworks or to have a picnic, that is OK so long as everybody is Covid-safe,” she said.
“Sometimes there’s ovals across Sydney which might have access to viewing, that is OK so long as you stick to groups of no more than five or 10 if you’re on the northern beaches, larger ones are allowed in greater Sydney, but please exercise common sense.”
Under current restrictions, outdoor gatherings of up to 50 people are allowed in areas of Sydney outside the northern beaches and CBD.
People will also be allowed into the “yellow zone”, which covers large parts of the city and North Sydney, without permits. The same 50-person outdoor limit applies, but according to NSW Health “people gathering in these areas in large numbers may be moved on by police”.
Some spots that fall outside the yellow zone, such as the Glebe foreshore in the Inner West council area, are popular fireworks viewing destinations.
The mayor of the Inner West council, Darcy Byrne, said the premier’s message was “clear as mud” and the advice around local ovals risked huge gatherings.
“There would normally be 30,000 or 40,000 people who attend vantage points in Balmain and Birchgrove [and] 15,000 to 20,000 would be local residents,” he said. “It is not very helpful to say the parks are closed but if you live nearby, wander down to the local park.”
The council has pre-emptively closed all parks in its council area on the harbour foreshore.
But Byrne said he had been blindsided by the premier’s comments announcing the New Year’s Eve rules, and there were not enough resources to stop people gathering.
“We received absolutely no instructions or directions from the NSW government at all before the premier’s announcement this morning,” he said.
“We made the decision [on 8 December] to declare all our harbour foreshore parks closed. But we don’t have the capacity to enforce that. That is the responsibility of NSW police. And I can tell you that the local police have been given no additional powers.”
Paula Masselos, the mayor of Waverley council, which covers some harbour vantage points in the eastern suburbs, told Guardian Australia people should not go to local parks or ovals.
“We have a position, and we have had this position for several weeks now,” she said. “We have taken a precautionary principle approach, we are fencing off the main parks where people go to – that is Caffyn park and Dudley Page reserve.
“There will be police and rangers patrolling, we don’t want people going there. We are encouraging people to watch the fireworks from home. We don’t want to encourage any kind of potential super-spreader event that will compromise our community safety.”
Masselos said her advice to local residents was not to go to the local park or oval.
“I would encourage people not to do that … I am not sure there are many ovals in Waverley that people are able to see the fireworks anyway. I am not sure that is really relevant.
“What I would be doing is keeping the messaging simple, if you want to see the fireworks, stay home and watch them from the television. I’d say leave it at that.”
Byrne went further, saying that the premier’s comments on local ovals were “an open invite” for large gatherings.
“My message would be ignore what the government says – stay away from harbourside parks,” he said.
“Hopefully people will be sensible enough to stay away. The danger is obviously people will still attend those parks, and if there is good weather it is possible there will be big crowds. It would be much better if we had a much clearer directive.”
Masselos said people should maintain social distancing if they did gather outside.
“I would be encouraging people, even though 50 are allowed, to go into smaller groups. Even if you are outdoors you have to practise social distancing, that 1.5 metre distance, take your hand sanitiser do all of that.”
