FED: Australia prepares to celebrate 2000 and fight Y2K

AAP General News (Australia)
12-31-1999
FED: Australia prepares to celebrate 2000 and fight Y2K

Millennium Eve is sure to go off with a bang for many in Australia tonight, with or
without a Y2K crisis.

Cities and towns around the country are busy preparing spectacular fireworks displays
for the new year.

More than 1.2 million revellers are expected to clog the Sydney's CBD and harbour foreshore
to see in the new year at a $6 million fireworks extravaganza.

And in Melbourne 300,000 people are expected to descend on city centre, which will
be an alcohol-free zone for the night.

Thanks to Australia's different time zones, residents in border towns in some states
will get to celebrate the coming of the new year twice.

And the isolated outback spot of Cameron's Corner with its population of four gets
to ring in midnight three times.

It's the meeting place of the Queensland, New South Wales and South Australian borders
and the only part of Australia to touch three different timezones.

However, in some capital cities thousands of drunks, traffic chaos and exuberant prices
may lead many Australians to celebrate at home.

And hundreds of suburban and country hotels throughout the nation are expected to close
early on the night, with sky-rocketing security and staffing costs blamed.

As the clocks strike midnight, there's the further threat of the Y2K bug, which theoretically,
at least, could shutdown the country's computer networks.

That could also have an impact on emergency services, banks, electricity, transport,
hospitals and much more.

AAP RTV km/jn/wz a

KEYWORD: EVE (SYDNEY)

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