Schoolies Gold Coast 2016 kicks off this weekend
AN angry elderly man has gatecrashed a Schoolies media conference to give organisers a piece of his mind. PIC: 7 News
QLD News
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AN angry elderly man has gatecrashed a Schoolies media conference on the Gold Coast, telling organisers to “piss off”.
The man berated Schoolies Advisory Group chairman Mark Reaburn as he was addressing media on the Surfers Paradise Esplanade ahead of the annual festival this weekend.
“Tell your staff to piss off with the fence,” the man yelled during a tirade.
Mr Reaburn said Schoolies was a balancing act.
“The Schoolies Safety Response is a balance between the locals of Surfers Paradise and the kids,” he said.
“That’s the reason we have a (fenced) hub ... it opens up at 7 o’clock at night and comes down about 1 o’clock in the morning.
“And what we do by design is give Surfers Paradise and the beach back to the locals.
“We are very conscious of the fact this is public open space.”
Mr Reaburn said trying to stop school-leavers coming to Surfers Paradise to party was like trying to “hold back the tide”.
“The kids come every year and what we focus on is keeping them safe,” he said.
“Really what we are is a response to the kids arriving. We don’t create a party for the kids, we create the party to keep the kids safe.”
School leavers are being warned about the consequences of their actions ahead of the annual Schoolies celebrations.
Organisers say as well as the obvious dangers from drugs and alcohol, attendees should be aware of the long-term impacts of social media posts and criminal convictions.
“Doing a social media post — taking a photo that’s clearly inappropriate, kids need to be conscious of the fact that photo could follow them; a conviction during schoolies is a conviction that could follow them through their careers,” Mr Reaburn said.
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