Midnight fireworks at Mooloolaba on New Year’s Eve could be scrapped over concerns about costs, the behaviour of youths and the potential impact of construction work along the foreshore.
Instead, Sunshine Coast Council is proposing to deliver a 8.30pm fireworks display and a new event targeted at people aged 13 to 18 from 8pm until midnight, with live music, free transport, security, small-scale midnight fireworks, food and non-alcoholic beverages.
The agenda for Sunshine Coast Council’s Ordinary Meeting on Thursday includes proposed amendments to its Festive Season Program, which was initially implemented in 2021.
“Three years on, increasing costs are impacting on the Festive Season Program, and council’s ability to deliver the program, at the scale and in the formats first envisioned, while also delivering on the safety, sense of place and community cohesion outcomes the program was initially designed to achieve,” the meeting notes say.
“This makes the current model unsustainable without significant investment or a revision of the service offering.”
The notes reveal costs to stage the New Year’s Eve celebrations at Mooloolaba have risen because of increased security measures.
“For the 2023 event, the Queensland Police Service (QPS) requested changes to the event to include gating the event zone and increased security to address safety concerns,” the agenda states.
“Noting that the event was developed and has always been focused on community safety, the QPS requests were implemented, however they have also significantly increased the infrastructure costs for this event.
“We understand this requirement will be ongoing for an event of this magnitude at this time of the year in Mooloolaba to ensure community safety.
“It is also noted that the midnight fireworks in recent years have been when the event has experienced issues related to managing youth behaviour.”
The agenda report also notes that construction is expected to be in progress on the Mooloolaba Foreshore Revitalisation Project in 2024 and 2025, which will impact on the scale and format of the event.
“It is anticipated that the area will be unavailable and/or unsafe for large-scale public events/access in December 2024 and that the proposed works may not be completed before December 2025,” it says.
Data shows about 65 per cent of attendances to the celebrations occurred around the 8.30pm fireworks, dropping off to about 35 per cent for the midnight show.
The report says fireworks are a “business as usual” option and fit within the current budget, but cost analysis is also provided for drone shows and light projections as an alternative.
“It would be timely to consider the environmental impacts of fireworks on wildlife such as shorebirds and debris from the pyrotechnic display to ensure that in 2024 and ongoing, this is still the right approach for the region and it vision,” it says.
A total of $297,558 was budgeted for the 2023/24 New Year’s Eve celebrations, which in 2024/25 would be split to provide $120,000 to deliver a 8.30pm fireworks display and $177,558 for the new youth event.
The $120,000 includes the cost of fireworks, security, police, permits, traffic control, park-and-ride bus service and entertainment.
Scroll down to SUBSCRIBE for our FREE news feed, direct to your inbox daily.
The report says the youth event would be designed in partnership with youths, police and the Red Frogs movement, with chill-out and sensory zones.
“Possible locations would be in the Kawana area (Sunshine Coast Stadium, Western Fields, NightQuarter) with public transport and the ability to gate the event,” it says.
“The event will be ticketed (low cost for accessibility) to provide entertainment to attract the target market and to ensure appropriate safety measures are in place.”
Among the other proposed changes to the Festive Season Program are cancelling council’s ‘regional Christmas event’ due to increasing costs.
In 2021 and 2022 this was the multi-night Festive Garden at the Maroochy Bushland Botanic Gardens, but due to “significant cost increases” the one-day Festive on the Green event at Sunshine Coast Stadium was offered in its place in 2023.
The event was eventually cancelled due to severe weather, however only 5000 people had booked tickets.
The $98,804 budgeted for the regional Christmas event would be redistributed to other festive events, with the report noting “it is apparent that there is a preference for council to support localised community-led Christmas events”.
Other proposed changes include increasing the Festive and Commemorative Events budget from $55,416 to $121,720 and the Christmas infrastructure budget from $496,572 to $529,072.
No changes are proposed to Australia Day events, with council continuing to deliver its Australia Day Citizenship Ceremony.
The report notes a “relatively low event activation and funding demand” for Australia Day events, which are supported through the Festive and Commemorative Events Grants Program.
“In addition to this, the Queensland Police Service do not recommend the delivery of large-scale Australia Day events due to public safety concerns,” it says.
The changes to the Festive Season Program have been recommended for approval by council officers.
Do you have an opinion to share? Submit a Letter to the Editor at Sunshine Coast News via news@sunshinecoastnews.com.au. You must include your name and suburb.
