00:00This year's celebrations are expected to be bigger and better than ever, with about half
00:07a million people expected to come into Melbourne's CBD to enjoy the fireworks and laser display.
00:13Now, the real focus this year is on community safety.
00:18We've been told that there will be more police officers on the beat than ever before.
00:232,500 police will be deployed across the state, including 500 officers in the CBD area.
00:30Now, that is really in response to the recent devastating events that unfolded in Bondi.
00:36We've also been told that there will be a number of designated search areas set up, including
00:42in St Kilda and in Geelong, where police will have those additional powers to search people for weapons.
00:49We also saw during the Boxing Day Test cricket that there were a number of heavily armed police
00:54officers patrolling on foot.
00:56We've been told that those police will still be around.
00:59We won't be able to see them on foot, but they'll be on standby in their vehicles in case
01:04something happens that they need to respond to.
01:07We heard from Victoria Police a little earlier today, and here's what they had to say about
01:10their operation.
01:11Those police will be our general duties police, supported by our public order response teams,
01:17our critical incident response teams, mounted police, water police, you name it, we're
01:23bringing all the police out for the event.
01:25We want people to come into the city and across the state to have a really safe night.
01:30There'll be two displays this year, the 9.30 family-friendly one, as well as the midnight
01:35show.
01:36Now, there will be fireworks and these new and improved lasers that will be used during the
01:41two displays.
01:42Those lasers are multi-directional, so we should be able to see them from a lot more locations
01:48around the CBD.
01:50We've been told that the fireworks has cost around $6 million this year, but it's expected
01:56to bring in about $75 million in revenue through people out and about and enjoying all that there
02:02is to enjoy around the CBD.
02:05Now, we have been told that the best way to travel on New Year's is via public transport.
02:10From 6pm on New Year's Eve until 6am on New Year's Day, public transport will be free.
02:16So we've been told everyone should plan ahead, make sure you know where those road closures
02:20are if you are driving, and make sure that you look at the public transport timetable to
02:26get to your destinations.
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