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| Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks could be cancelled due to train strike, police commissioner says | Sydney New Year’s Eve fireworks could be cancelled due to train strike, police commissioner says |
| (32 minutes later) | |
| Karen Webb warns police can’t risk 250,000 people being ‘trapped in the city’ with no way out amid ongoing industrial dispute | Karen Webb warns police can’t risk 250,000 people being ‘trapped in the city’ with no way out amid ongoing industrial dispute |
| The New South Wales police commissioner, Karen Webb, says she has “grave concerns” about the safety of Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks proceeding during a train strike – and she could recommend they be cancelled. | The New South Wales police commissioner, Karen Webb, says she has “grave concerns” about the safety of Sydney’s famous New Year’s Eve fireworks proceeding during a train strike – and she could recommend they be cancelled. |
| “Leaving the city is based on access to transport, including trains, and if trains aren’t available, and people can’t leave the city, I have very large concerns of the risk that will create to the public, because families won’t be able to get home and they’ll be trapped in the city [with] no way out,” the commissioner told reporters on Friday. | |
| Webb said every year NSW police patrolled the event “on the basis that 250,000 people can come into the city and then safely leave the city”. | |
| “So I haven’t ruled out that I will recommend to government that we cancel the fireworks. It’s that serious.” | “So I haven’t ruled out that I will recommend to government that we cancel the fireworks. It’s that serious.” |
| Webb’s comments followed a federal court decision on Thursday which quashed a temporary injunction against ongoing industrial action by rail unions. | |
| The NSW government has since vowed to “take every possible measure” to ensure Sydney’s train network runs smoothly over Christmas and New Year’s Eve, lodging a request for the Fair Work Commission to suspend or terminate industrial action “to protect New Year’s Eve and stop rail disruption”. | |
| The government argued the action would risk community safety and cause economic harm. | |
| The NSW transport minister, Jo Haylen, said the uncertainty and disruption caused by industrial action at this time of the year was “intolerable”. | |
| Fair work hearings are due next week. If the government’s request does not succeed, Webb warned Sydneysiders their famous new year celebrations could be cancelled. | |
| Webb said if there was no public transport then “I can’t guarantee safety” and cancelling the fireworks was “certainly an option I need to consider in terms of risk to public safety”. | Webb said if there was no public transport then “I can’t guarantee safety” and cancelling the fireworks was “certainly an option I need to consider in terms of risk to public safety”. |
| The premier, Chris Minns, said the state government would take on board any advice from police. | The premier, Chris Minns, said the state government would take on board any advice from police. |
| “That’s why we’re in court [trying to stop industrial action] – the stakes are high. We’ve got a few steps to take before a decision’s being made, but as I said, we would of course take the advice of NSW police and the police commissioner.” | |
| Sydney’s train network was disrupted from late on Thursday after the injunction ended. Services were cancelled and delayed on numerous lines within hours of the federal court decision. | |
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| Haylen conceded on Thursday afternoon that the government had no certainty about the train services that would run until a new pay deal was struck. | |
| Rail unions can take more than 200 approved industrial actions – including work stoppages, distance limits for drivers, orders to deactivate Opal readers and a ban on the state changing rosters – without needing to provide an official notice period. | |
| Haylen accused the unions of putting “a gun to our head” during negotiations with the threat of cutting services throughout the rest of December but especially on New Year’s Eve. | |
| “This is not a toy train set. You can’t just move it around with a click of your fingers and expect that that’s going to service the millions of people across Sydney that rely on it each and every day,” Haylen said. | |
| Combined unions representing 13,000 rail workers have refused to budge from their demands for a 32% pay rise over four years while the NSW government’s starting offer to the rail unions has been a 9.5% pay rise over three years. | |
| In November, NSW police won a pay deal that would see wages rise by up to 40%. |