Sydney Mardi Gras Party Cancelled

starobserver.com.au:

public health order issued by the New South Wales government.It comes on a day when New South Wales recorded over 30,000 cases of COVID-19.According to the health order, “Singing and dancing is not permitted at a hospitality venue, entertainment facility, nightclub, major recreation facility or music festival.”Exceptions to this rule only apply to performers who are “performing” or “rehearsing,” a person who is “instructing” or “being instructed, in singing or dancing,” and a “wedding service” or a “gathering immediately following a wedding.”One of the four main ways to obtain an exemption would be to “ensure there is no dancefloor at the event” or that “any existing dancefloor is not used.”Yesterday, Sydney Gay and Lesbian Mardi Gras (SGLMG) sent out the announcement stating that it was cancelling Party for the 2022 LGBTQI celebration.It wrote it was doing so with “very heavy hearts,” and Party is not “operable under the state’s Public Health Order.”It also acknowledged that the SGLMG team has “worked tirelessly with NSW Health, the State Government and venues at all stages of planning for our entire Festival.”It added, “This phase of the pandemic remains volatile, and the health and safety of our community will always remain our top priority.”Party would be a mainly indoor event with dancing.

The SGLMG also estimated that over 10,000 people would attend the event, making it “high risk for COVID transmission.”Although Party was meant to be held on March 5, SGLMG wrote, “due to Party’s large scale, sadly we have had to make the very tough call now.”It said it is doing this “not only for the sustainability of the event in future years but also for the organisation” and “so that artists and partygoers can make alternate.