“The Opera House’s review has considered heritage, creative, community and operational priorities including the number, frequency and duration of projections,” an Opera House spokesperson said.

The Opera House currently allows for projections for artistic, cultural and community initiatives. All visual imagery is to have significant artistic or aesthetic merit, and no logo or corporate identity is permitted.

Vivid, the winter festival that starts Friday, meets the Opera House’s policy criteria for projections because the venue is taken over entirely for live Vivid events.

But in 2018, the Opera House sails were controversially lit up with colours, numbers and a trophy of the Everest, billed as the “world’s richest race on turf”, following the intervention of former premier Gladys Berejiklian.

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The projection became a lightning rod for concern about the appropriateness of using the Opera House as a billboard. More than 1000 protesters chanted “save our sails” and “it’s our house” on the night of the Racing NSW projections.

Then, in the days before the March election, the Perrottet government pledged to light the sails to commemorate the 75th anniversary of Israel’s independence if re-elected.

Australia International Council on Monuments and Sites, part of an advisory body to the World Heritage Committee committed to the conservation of culturally significant places, was among the organisations protesting commercial advertising projections on the sails.

A spokesperson said on Friday the body had a general and ongoing concern to ensure that the values of all World Heritage properties were protected and respected.

“We have not formed a view about the current program of illuminations, and no concerns have been raised by our members, but any review to ensure that World Heritage values are protected is welcome.”

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Defending his decision not to mark the coronation of King Charles III, Premier Chris Minns said at the time that requests from other community and religious groups had also been rejected. They ranged from the “trivial”, including the visit of an international soccer side, to “heroic events” important for the state to commemorate.

A spokesperson for Opposition Leader Mark Speakman said Labor had still not adequately explained its decision to cancel the lighting of the Opera House for King’s Coronation.

“We don’t want to see the Labor government take decisions about one of the world’s most iconic landmarks for significant occasions that would harm Sydney’s rebounding tourism sector,” they said.

“We don’t need another Labor review; we need certainty from the government as to whether it is cost or frequency that they’re taking issue with.”

The cost of lighting is understood to range from $10,000 for single colours achieved by using gels on the Opera House floodlights, to upwards of $50,000, depending on the complexity and duration of the illumination, and if the image requires design and projection from the Overseas Passenger Terminal. The Opera House is believed to be recompensed for the costs it incurs.

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