PAX Australia 2021 has been cancelled, marking the second year in a row the event has lost its physical version due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
“The PAX Aus team has made the difficult decision to cancel PAX Aus 2021,” reads the official announcement. “At the start of the year, the team was optimistic that we’d all be able to come together in person this October, but due to the ongoing impact of Covid-19 in Australia, this is no longer possible.”
The announcement also confirms the intention to bring PAX Australia back in 2022, which is hopefully enough time for Australia to sort out its disastrous Covid-19 vaccine rollout. An online replacement will take place between October 8-10, mirroring what occurred in 2020. More details on what will appear as part of PAX Aus Online “will be announced in the near future.”
In the meantime, those who have purchased tickets for PAX Australia 2021 can receive a refund—info on how to get one will be published this week.
It’s sad news for the convention, which was to operate with a limited capacity in 2021 compared to the 2019 event. Greater Sydney has been in lockdown since late June due to the spread of the Covid-19 Delta variant, with 4,729 active cases in New South Wales according to covidlive.com.au. Victoria—where PAX Australia takes place—has this week entered lockdown due to rising numbers of the variant, and is currently sitting at 111 active cases.