Sydney parks including Clark Island, Shark Island, sections of the Botanic Gardens, Nielsen Park and Barangaroo will be charging entry for this year’s New Years Eve festivities.
In what must be the most drastic curtailing of civil liberties since they made Bondi an alcohol-free zone for most of December, park managers are now forcing people to pay to sit on a patch of grass and watch things explode in the sky. The move is supported by park rangers and the police, but residents and councillors are not happy with being charged up to $20ea to be in a public space. Which is fair enough, really. NExt you’ll pay a surcharge for walking down the street in any suburb which may, at some point, be classified as a vantage point.
The fee is pushing many families out of public spaces, which means we will probably see heaps of tots gurning at Dan Single and Maurice Terzini’s NYE party because it was equally as expensive for their parents to find a babysitter. Enjoy the rock lobsters, kiddies.
via SMH
