Hawkesbury Show rides come to standstill for 15 mins as showmen protest sky-high insurance costs

It’s possibly the busiest day at the Hawkesbury Show, but all rides came to a halt on Sunday for 15 minutes at around 1.15pm as show ride operators – they call themselves Showmen – protested about soaring insurance costs which can see them each paying in excess of $50,000 a day during an event.

Dodgems among the rides stopped for 15 minutes on Sunday in protest at sky-high insurance costs

While all the community stalls and exhibits kept going at the Hawkesbury Show, all rides closed for the 15 minutes to draw attention to the issue.

Operators at the Show told the Post it had come to a head because the Federal government had done “a backflip” on working with them and the Insurance Council to create “a manageable and cost-effective insurance system”. Put simply, talks had not progressed to an equitable conclusion.

Two of the striking show operators this afternoon

Insurance costs have spiralled ever upwards for show ride operators not least because of a small number of high-profile accidents at shows – though none linked to the Hawkesbury Show or any of their operators – which have had a knock-on effect across the Show industry in higher insurance costs.

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