New Year’s Eve revellers have largely been praised for their behaviour at Australia’s biggest fireworks shows, while officers were kept busy with outbursts of trouble around local fireworks.
More than a million people swarmed the main vantage points around Sydney harbour and hundreds of thousands of Melbourne partygoers were treated to a fireworks and laser spectacular.
Police in both cities said the vast majority of partygoers enjoyed the night safely, although officers were kept busy with violence away from the main celebration areas.
A 17-year-old boy was stabbed at a park in Guilford in Sydney’s west, as police said they were called to an incident as a group of males allegedly let off fireworks at a park about 10.40pm.
The boy was taken to hospital in serious but stable condition, as police searched for an offender who allegedly fled the scene.
There were 36 arrests in the Sydney CBD and harbour foreshore areas for offences including assault, affray, robbery and knife possession.
The New South Wales assistant commissioner, Peter McKenna, said the vast majority of people enjoyed their night safely and without incident.
“Unfortunately, police were kept busy by a handful of revellers doing the wrong thing, but those people were dealt with quickly,” he said.
In Tempe, in Sydney’s inner west, a grass fire that started late in the evening was brought under control by firefighters.
Victoria police said they were pleased with crowd behaviour but disappointed by a significant number of fireworks-related incidents, including three events in Melbourne’s north sparking fires.
“Despite no serious harm caused on this occasion, fireworks carry the risk of serious injury or death, whilst being unpredictable and volatile items that can result in fires,” police said.
There were 287 reports of fireworks-related incidents across the state, including illegal products seized, as well as more than 50 assaults.
A teenager was in hospital with non-life threatening injuries after he was approached by a group and stabbed at a popular holiday spot on the Mornington Peninsula just before 6pm.
Police said the group fled but two teenagers were quickly identified and arrested over the Blairgowrie attack.
Revellers in Queensland and Tasmania were also generally well-behaved, police said.
In his new year message, the prime minister, Anthony Albanese, said despite times still being tough the nation could head into 2025 optimistically with wages rising and inflation falling.
The opposition leader, Peter Dutton, urged Australians to “reignite our national confidence and our sense of hope” by electing the Liberal-National Coalition in 2025.
