After this year’s poor turnout for the Australia Day Skyworks, there are now questions being asked about whether the $1.5 million annual event is worth continuing http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/australia-day-fireworks-in-doubt-over-fizzer-crowd-20120127-1qla1.html.
Meanwhile, there is also a discussion about the reasons for the drop in numbers this year compared to previous years. I believe the real problem isn’t being discussed, however before I get to that let me go through the theories out there and why I believe they are wrong.
1 – The threat of anti-social behaviour
Don’t get me wrong I’m not saying there isn’t anti-social behaviour at the skyshow, however the threat has always been there for as long as I remember. The reason my parents never went down to the foreshore to watch the fireworks was because they feared being innocent bystanders caught up in a violent confrontation.
As a result, the memories of the fireworks during my childhood have always been from the balcony of my grandmother’s unit. So if the threat of violence at the foreshore has always been there, the real reason for the drop in numbers must be something else.
2 – Hot weather kept people away
While this may have been a reason why some may have not gone down to the foreshore earlier, this isn’t the first time we have had a sweltering Australia Day. In 2007, the temperature hit 41.2 degrees, just shy of the 41.9 degrees this year. I remember an extremely warm easterly breeze made it feel a few degrees hotter than it was as well.
Yet while the hot weather kept people away during the day, by the time the skyworks had begun crowd numbers were back close to the average of 400,000 people. That’s compared to the estimated 250,000 people who turned up this year.
3 – Alcohol restricted to specific zones
Now were getting closer to the actual cause. Police have ruled out the alcohol zones being the reason for the low turnout and this is partially true. While this official stance is to ban any alcohol outside of these approved zones, most officers will let you be as long as your not drunk and/or disorderly.
Most people who drink at the foreshore just want to have a few relaxing drinks while hanging out with family and friends during their Australia Day, and aren’t there to cause any trouble.
What has actually caused the downturn in numbers at the skyshow in the past 3 years are the measures taken in 2010 when a total alcohol ban was applied to anyone attending the skyshow. http://www.watoday.com.au/wa-news/skyworks-alcohol-message-you-booze-you-lose-20100112-m3zx.html
While public drinking was still an offence before 2010, it was this year that Police declared zero tolerance for anyone caught drinking alcohol on the foreshore, whether they are behaving themselves or not. This turned off many people, like my friends and I, who previously would make the trek down to the foreshore every year, have a few drinks and enjoy the skyshow.
Instead we organised our own Australia Day celebrations, and while we didn’t get to see the fireworks, we avoided many other pitfalls of taking the trip to the foreshore every year: organising transport and parking, dealing with the crowds and traffic after the show etc. We still got to spend the day celebrating with our mates, having as many drinks as we wanted in the comfort of our own or a friends place without having to worry if police would take our alcohol or not. Local councils also used this opportunity to start local Australia Day events to take advantage of people who abandoned the Perth Skyshow.
In short, 2010 made a lot of us remember we don’t need to go to a large organised event to enjoy Australia Day.
And it’s shows in the numbers. In 2010, it was estimated numbers dropped 50,000 because of the alcohol ban and in 2011 it was down to approx. 300,000 people (http://www.perthnow.com.au/news/western-australia/wa-celebrates-australia-day/story-e6frg13u-1225995091173). This year. it’s dropped again to around 250,000 people.
2010 generated a large number of young people who abandoned the skyshow in favour of more relaxed, private gatherings. Free from the pitfalls of taking the trip to the foreshore and free of any future crackdowns Police might decide to have against mainly law abiding citizens.
These young people will have families of their own soon, if they haven’t already. But less of them will take their families to the foreshore, cause new Australia Day traditions have been created in place of the Skyshow. The days of 400,000 – 500,000 people lining the foreshore are behind us; and every year we will have this discussion about the validity of the event. The question would be whether to scale it down, or kill it off altogether?