Sydney’s New Year’s Eve celebrations appear set to enter full swing after rail unions and the state government struck a last-minute deal to tone down industrial action authorities had warned could force them to cancel public events.
The New South Wales government had lodged an application at the Fair Work Commission to have the combined rail unions’ planned actions – which included limitations on the distances train crews could operate over the new year period – suspended on the grounds they would pose safety and economic risks on the evening of 31 December.