Positive And Negative Impacts Of Australia Day 2018 On Sustainability Principles: A Triple Bottom Line Approach

Cultural Sustainability and the Triple Bottom Line Approach

Discuss About The Sustainability Principles Practice Taylor?

Held on 26^th of January every year, Australia Day is the known to be the national day of Australia (Macnamara and Crawford 2013). It is the day that brings out the essence of being an Australian and celebrates the history of Australia as well as acknowledges its contemporary state (Australiaday.org.au 2018). This paper evaluates the events of the Australia Day of 2018 that took place on the 25 Ferras Road, South Morang and was under the governance of the Council of the City of Whittlesea. The paper discusses its positive and negative impacts along with the efficiency of its operational management. The discussions are based on the principles of sustainability and the triple bottom line approach. The first section provides a general idea of cultural sustainability and of the triple bottom line approach. The second section of the paper discusses and analyzes the positive and negative impacts of the event. The third section of the paper evaluates the operational management of the event including the extent to which it was successful in attaining its goals and in satisfying its stakeholders.

Cultural sustainability is related to sustainable development, especially in maintaining cultural beliefs, cultural heritage, cultural practices, and in conserving the cultural entity and identity (Axelsson et al. 2013). The three main and important principles in the regard of sustainability in tourism and culture are environmental, social and economic. Tourism, festivals and other cultural events affects culture directly (Robertson 2017). Hence, sociologists strive hard to maintain a local cultural environment that is stable physically, socio-culturally and economically.

The triple bottom line is a method first introduced by John Elkington for assessing the values of corporations not only in the economic sphere, but also in the social and environmental spheres (Glac 2015). The economic impact of an event is determined by the demonstration of the returns gained by the private or public sectors from their funding and investments in an event (Dixon et al. 2013). The social impact is realized by the identification of an event’s efforts to contribute to the society and its quality of life. The environmental impact is assessed by the extent to which an event contributes to the purpose of attaining a sustainable environment (Sridhar and Jones 2013). The triple bottom line approach is an area of interest for evaluation of the impacts of an event on the society, the economy and the environment and is often undertaken by the Sustainable Tourism Cooperative Research Centre based in Australia.

Positive and Negative Impacts of the Australia Day

The Australia Day had many positive and negative impacts as assessed  by the triple bottom line approach and based on the principles of sustainability.

Socio-cultural Impacts

• Acceptance of a multicultural diversity as people from all over the world including Australians of the Aborigines and Torres Straits were gathered together for a common cause.
• Provided with opportunities for people of different communities to interact and socialize through various fun activities organized.
• Development of inter-community relationships.
• Development of cultural awareness among people.
• Generation of a sense of pride within and among the communities.

• Promotion of the city of Whittlesea as tourist destination.
• High revenue returns from various monetary funds, and entertainment and food sections.
• Emergence of new business networks providing better and more business opportunities.
• Provided the event and the city of Whittlesea an international status through various business networks and through media coverage.
• Increased number of participants.
• Increased amount of sponsorships and investments in the event.

• Presence of volunteers to ensure proper waste disposal and management as well as to prevent littering.
• Presence of event organizers and volunteers to prevent waste or hot oil spillage on the grass.
• Presence of signs that prohibited smoking and also prohibited people from swimming in the pond.

• Community clashes and conflicts had demonstrated a negative image of the communities (Bond, 2015).
• Alcohol and drug abuse leading to an unhealthy and disturbing environment.

• The incidents involving community clashes and riots called for extra security management that required and had cost additional charges than the previous years.
• The presence of the radio station could broadcast any mishap that would have affected the reputation of the event, the people, and the destination causing a reduction in the tourist attraction.

• The fireworks had caused air pollution.
• Littering on the grounds.

The Australia Day at Whittlesea was under the governance of the Council of the City of Whittlesea.

The Australia Day of 2018 of the city of Whittlesea have successfully met its goals. The event witnessed the participation of people in large numbers from various and diverse communities. A large number of diverse communities interacted and socialized strengthening the inter-community as well as intra-community relationships. Moreover, the day brought together the Australians from various cultural backgrounds as a common fraternity and that developed a sense of pride and a sense of respect for the national culture and its traditions. The communities and the people participated in the acknowledgement of a common history together as a whole. The event saw the recognition of 122 new Australian citizens and accepted them within a common nationality. Moreover, the awards presented to the Australian of the year, the young citizen of the year, the citizen of the year, the community group of the year paid due respect and acknowledged not only the people who had significantly contributed to the nation and its states, but also paid tribute to the people of the Aboriginal and Torres Straits.

Community engagement at events is one of the most important aspects to make an event successful. Community engagements can be both active and passive. Active community engagement requires an active involvement of people and communities in the event so as to develop a greater sense of community as well as to improve community skills (Waterton and Watson 2013). Passive community engagement on the other hand does not require participation on the part of the people or communities and is done via association with councils and businesses. The Australia Day ensured an active community engagement as it required the people and communities to participate actively towards a common cause of developing a sense of togetherness and national pride (Fozdar, Spittles and Hartley 2015). This was done through the various fun filled activities that engaged communities into socializing and through the awards ceremony that ensured a sense of encouragement and pride among the communities.

Security and safety are the two very important measures to be taken to ensure a successful event (Getz and Page 2016). The event organizers of the Australia Day at Whittlesea had taken good measures for ensuring the safety of the event participants. There were increased number of security check-points, security barriers and security guards to ensure the safety of the people in case of any community conflicts, clashes, riots and in case of any accidents. There were fire brigades already at the spot in case of a fire emergency during the fireworks. Ambulances and medical assistance were also kept ready. There were volunteers and event organizers on the ground ensuring that all the vendors of the various stalls hold proper licenses and insurance. An information booth was arranged for the public in case of any assistance or if anyone got lost. Additionally, there were safety signs that prevented people from smoking, crossing security barriers and from swimming in the pond.

Positive Impacts

The stakeholders were satisfied to a large extent. The people and communities who participated were happy and had developed a sense of belongingness. The investors and sponsors had also gained from the huge number of participants in the event. The media coverage, both traditional and social, of the event had resulted in the promotion of the event increasing its economic aspects in the fields of business and tourism of Whittlesea. The people and the communities had developed a common sense of nationality sharing a common history. However, a few minute details could have caused dissatisfaction among the stakeholders. First, many people belonging to the Aborigines and Torres Straits feel Australia Day as a day or mourning since they feel it to be the day they had lost their rights on their lands and freedom (Kleist 2017). Second, the event started later than it was planned. Third, it had rained in the middle of the event and it had raised a doubt on the occurrence of the fireworks. Fourth and finally, a constant check had to be kept on the weather conditions to ensure the display of the fireworks.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it can be stated that the Australia Day event of Whittlesea had been successful in satisfying its stakeholders. It had increased cultural awareness among the people of Australia while bringing them under a closed and shared fraternity. It had also had beneficial economic impacts in promoting the event and the destination for tourist attraction. The event also had operated for attaining a sustainable environment and for maintaining a proper environment quality. However, there were some minor setbacks. Nevertheless, the event was successful in achieving its goals and purpose.

References

Australiaday.org.au. (2018). Australia Day. [online] Available at: https://www.australiaday.org.au/ [Accessed 28 Jan. 2018].

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