Bigger and better Australia Day show to match shifting sentiment in favour of January 26: Perth Lord Mayor

Perth Lord Mayor Basil Zempilas says the tide is turning on celebrating Australia Day on January 26, with people feeling more confident marking the national day with pride. Mr Zempilas — who is also running as the Liberal candidate for Churchlands in the State election — said on Wednesday he had seen the community push back on changing the date. “There is no doubt that community sentiment has pushed back towards January 26 and celebrating Australia Day on our national day,” he said. “I think people are feeling more confident, people are feeling more comfortable and in fact people are more determined to be able to fly their Australian colours on Australia Day.” The city is expecting record numbers of people watching the Australia Day fireworks with an expected crowd of 100,000 watching from Langley Park and across the southern banks of the Swan River. Mr Zempilas said the crowds for the day were steadily increasing again after 65,000 watched from Langley Park in 2023 and 70,000 in 2024. “What we have particularly noticed over the last couple of years is the number of people who have wanted to come out proudly wearing Australian T-shirts, carrying Australian flags, wearing Australian hats, flying their Australian colours and wanting to be out with other Australians to celebrate our national day,” he said. “At a time going back a few years when that very premise was being debated, the City of Perth stuck by it, and as a result our event has grown.” Mr Zempilas said this year’s display would be bigger and better. “It’ll be the biggest since we’ve shifted to Langley Park in terms of attendance and in terms of the fireworks which will be exploded . . . it was a smaller firework show over here with only three barges, it’s a significantly bigger number this year,” he said. “On top of that, the drone show, the drone show allows us to celebrate Australia Day themes. It allows us to fly the Australian flag and the Aboriginal flag and it allows us to engage in some audience participation with the big crowd that we know will be here.” In 2022 Federal rules were changed so local councils could hold their citizenship ceremonies three days before or after Australia Day, rather than being mandated to hold it on the day itself. This year’s Australia Day event in the city will kick off with the Birak Concert and activities from 3pm with the fireworks and drone show scheduled for 8:30pm. The light show is set to be three times the size of previous events with six more launch zones, making it the biggest since the display was moved to be viewed from Langley Park with tens of thousands of fireworks and at least two tonnes of explosives set for the day. Cardile Fireworks director Rob Cardile said the day would be bigger and better than before. “It’s going to be massive, it’s going to be really good, it’s going to be creative, it’s going to be new concepts,” he said. “I encourage everyone to come down and have a look, it’s going to be really, really top class.” In January 2024 an Ipsos poll of 1000 Australian adults found 48 per cent of respondents wanted the Australia Day to remain on its current date compared to just 27 per cent who agreed with the date changing. Police Commissioner Col Blanch said there would be a “huge operation” on Australia Day to keep the community safe. “We have found again the West Australian community has been extremely well behaved but police will be out in full force ensuring that those that want to have a good time are able to have the freedom that they deserve and if anyone wants to play up well, they’ll be talking to us,” he said. “If people want to have rallies or protests, peaceful rallies, peaceful protests, lawful protests we have no view on that other than to say we facilitate it safely for everyone. “If someone wants to commit a crime or be disorderly that’s the only time you’ll come to the attention of the police.”