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Wollongong City Council made the difficult eleventh hour decision to cancel its New Year's Eve fireworks just 24 hours before its celebratory event was due to kick off. Late on Monday, acting Lord Mayor Tania Brown announced the fireworks would be cancelled after last minute advice from fire agencies. "The total fire ban has been upgraded to include fireworks, and the southerly which is due to hit at around 8pm has also been upgraded," Cr Brown said. The southerly wind change is predicted to bring with it strong gusts of up to 50km/h and, for public safety reasons, the fireworks do not go ahead if winds are 40km/h or more. Cr Brown said the family New Year's Eve event - which includes rides, entertainers and food stalls would still go ahead regardless of the decision. "I do hope people still come along to the event and take the opportunity to donate to the Rural Fire Service through the bucket collection that will be going around through Rotary," she said. "And that they will support the businesses and stallholders that have been planning this event all year." Earlier on Monday, the fireworks, which usually draw about 15,000 people to the harbour, was deemed safe to go ahead. However, Cr Brown indicated this advice could change at any minute, as the council would take any necessary advice from the RFS if the risk was deemed too high. "If the advice from them changes, I don't see how we could put them on," Cr Brown said at the time. "Either way, we need to rely on the advice of the experts." She acknowledged the effect a cancellation would have on businesses. "[People] rely on this night - not just the people who have come in to set up food stalls and rides. People go to the basketball, they go out to dinner and the go down the the harbour, it's an economic generator." Elsewhere around the country, New Year's Eve fireworks have been cancelled due to the severe weather forecast and fire risk. Read more: Shellharbour Club cancels New Year's Eve fireworks display Read more: What to expect from Wollongong's New Year's Eve party celebrations In early December, the Shellharbour Club cancelled its annual midnight fireworks, citing community safety reasons and risks related to bushfires. In Canberra, the fireworks were called off on Sunday, due to the announcement of a total fire ban for the ACT through to Wednesday. On Monday, worsening weather conditions led to Wagga Wagga, Parramatta, Campbelltown, Maitland and Bega all cancelling their displays. However, in Sydney the show will go on, with the Premier and Prime Minister both saying they should continue as normal due to the economic costs of cancelling. These fireworks were granted an exemption from the ban in place across the rest of the state. An online petition calling for the Sydney fireworks to be cancelled out of respect for farmers, firefighters and wildlife carers has received more than 260,000 signatures. Deputy Premier John Barilaro backed widespread calls to cancel them, saying it should be "a very easy decision". He said keeping city fireworks would be unfair to regional areas, where displays have been banned. "The risk is too high and we must respect our exhausted RFS volunteers. If regional areas have had fireworks banned, then let's not have two classes of citizens," Mr Barilaro tweeted.

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