December 1, 2023

LETTER 335

A Back Route to Taylor Swift Tickets in Australia

By Natasha Frost

Fans during Taylor Swift's Eras Tour in Buenos Aires in November.Sarah Pabst for The New York Times

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. This week's issue is written by Natasha Frost, a reporter with the Australia bureau.

Australian Swifties cannot purchase tickets to the Sydney or Melbourne dates of Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" for love nor money — unless they leave the country.

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Seeking to avoid the ticket scalping that has plagued fans elsewhere in the world, Victoria and New South Wales, the two Australian states where the concerts will take place, gave the events a special designation, making it illegal to resell tickets for more than 10 percent over the sale price. Corporations that contravene that face a fine of up to 495,660 dollars in Victoria.

At the same time, the retailer, Ticketek, capped the number of tickets that could be sold to a single individual at four.

Yet hundreds of tickets at many multiples their original cost are currently available for sale online — so long as the purchaser is not located in Australia.

Viagogo, a major ticket reselling site, appears to have contravened Australian legislation by simply geoblocking resale tickets for the Australian leg of the tour, so that Australian customers (and, presumably, Australian law enforcement) can't see them. The retailer did not respond to requests for comment.

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Viagogo, a ticket resale site, has worked around Australia's restrictions on buying tickets for Taylor Swift's shows in Sydney and Melbourne.Viagogo

All over the world, Swift fans have struggled to get their hands on tickets for the Eras Tour.

In the United States, difficulties with ticket sales for the tour prompted the Justice Department to open an antitrust investigation into the owner of Ticketmaster, which sold the tickets.

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Australia has had difficulties of its own: More than a million people registered for a presale code within 12 hours of the dates of Swift's Australian leg being announced — and more than 4 million users reportedly queued online for a chance to purchase no more than 450,000 tickets.

Some Australian fans resorted to an in-person appearance, camping outside physical ticket booths for days, while others did battle with the website of Ticketek, the only retailer.

In recent days, many have taken to Twitter to complain about challenges of using Ticketek Marketplace, the only site in Australia where fans can exchange or sell tickets without risk of having them canceled.

Wait times on the website have, in many cases, exceeded multiple hours, and would-be buyers said they had not been able to purchase what few tickets appeared — ever so briefly — to be on sale. Ticketek did not respond to requests for comment.

Those who have successfully snagged a ticket will face another challenge, as will Swift herself: sweating through the concert's three hours and 15 minutes amid what meteorologists are forecasting may be yet another hot, dry Australian summer.

Now for the week's stories.

Australia and New Zealand

A firefighting helicopter attempts to control a blaze in Perth, Australia, last month.Aaron Bunch/AAP Image, via Reuters

Fire Season in Australia Starts, Early and Ominous. Though experts do not think that this season will be the worst yet, they also warn that the past is no longer a reliable guide to the future.

36 Hours in Melbourne, Australia. Long seen as Australia's second city, Melbourne is runner-up no more after officially edging past Sydney in population for the first time in more than a century.
In New Zealand's Crackdown on Crime, What Part Can Maori Wardens Play? The strategies used by the Indigenous community policing alternative are in stark contrast to more muscular tactics pitched by the incoming government.

Rare Giant Rat Is Photographed Alive for First Time. The people who live on the island of Vangunu were adamant that the critically endangered species still existed. They helped researchers prove that they were right.
New Zealand's New Government Says It Will Scrap Smoking Ban. The law, celebrated as a model for other countries, would have eventually made tobacco illegal.

Around The Times

A woman running to the concrete shelter at her home in Ashkelon, Israel, after a rocket siren sounded on Oct. 7.Tamir Kalifa for The New York Times

Israel Knew Hamas's Attack Plan More Than a Year Ago. A blueprint reviewed by The Times laid out the attack in detail. Israeli officials dismissed it as aspirational and ignored specific warnings.
Kissinger: A Player on the World Stage Until the Very End. He traveled the globe when contemporaries had died or retired. Capitals around the world were still open to him. And he remained the toast of Davos.
Divided by Politics, a Colorado Town Mends Its Broken Bones. Two years after death threats and aspersions roiled little Silverton, the town has found a semblance of peace and a lesson for a ruptured nation.
Emma Stone and Yorgos Lanthimos Have Nothing and Everything in Common. "I'm a girl from Arizona, and he's a guy from Athens. I don't know how this worked," she says. Their latest project, "Poor Things," may be Oscar-bound.

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