Bronte locals want to put an end to yearly backpacker Christmas bonanza

Eastern suburbs locals want sniffer dogs, an Uber ban and bag checks to “break the cycle” of binge-drinking backpackers abusing their beach every Christmas, while turning nearby streets into “a mass urinal”.

Eastern suburbs locals want sniffer dogs, an Uber ban and bag checking on Christmas Day to “break the cycle” of backpackers binge drinking, drug taking, punching on and turning the streets into a “mass urinal” every year.

Residents of the picturesque beachside enclave of Bronte assembled on Monday night to brainstorm how they could make it as “difficult as damn possible” for backpackers to continue their infamous Christmas Day festivities.

In the forum run by Waverley Council, residents were given four options on how the notorious party could proceed.

The options were: running the event to be unrestricted entirely; enforcing some level of management with a police presence and extra toilets; increasing security and transport options; or running a paid, ticketed event with an alcohol ban.

The fourth option involved erecting a 1km fence, which would cost a minimum of $90,000.

Crowds at Bronte Beach on Christmas Day. Picture: Daily Telegraph/ Monique Harmer

However, Monday night’s attendees came up with a separate, fifth option of their own — stop endorsing it all together.

The forum quickly agreed they needed to “break the cycle” of Bronte being “annually abused”, by discouraging revellers as much as possible.

Among the most popular ideas floated was to boost the presence of police and drug dogs – a deterrent which, it heard, could quite literally send revellers running for the hills.

One man remarked how last year, “a thousand people” ran up his street within 10 minutes, prompted by the arrival of drug detection dogs.

The aftermath of last year’s festivities. (File picture)

Another idea was a targeted social media campaign, emphasising a zero tolerance alcohol ban and the presence of drug dogs.

One resident who had surveyed the carnage of past years, said it needed to be made clear such shenanigans weren’t welcome.

“All they want to do is party, so we need to get a message out and start investing some money to say ‘we’re not going to let them abuse our area anymore”, he said

“They just want to party, we need to make it very obvious that they can’t.”

Thousands of beachgoers are seen at Bronte Beach, Sydney, on Christmas Day. (File picture)

An idea 0f enforcing an “Uber black out” through geofencing was also tabled to make it harder for people to move around the area.

Alma Douglas, the chair of the association Bronte Precinct, said residents should not be forced to accept the annual free-for-all.

“We can get rid of it, why do we have to have it, why are we accepting that it has to be here,” she said

“We’ve never had people so irate at what happened here at Bronte”.

Another person said it was easier to shut the whole event off, stating “police can’t deal with it, they have more important things to deal with than Pommy backpackers having a rave”.

Left over carnage from the hectic Christmas party at Bronte. (File picture)

Joel Stuhler, who lives nearby, said North Sydney council tackled a similar problem on New Year’s Eve by checking bags and forcing punters with liquor to either pour it out or leave.

“You’d just see a wave of people get up and leave, it completely changed the vibe, people were then happy to have their kids there,” he said,

Mr Stuhler said the options presented by council “condoned the behaviour”, with the situation “getting progressively worse”.

“There’s broken glass outside my home, vomit on my driveway, people making out outside my house, my neighbour got parked in for six hours, it's just mayhem,” he said.

Another man complained the laneway behind his house became a “mass urinal”, while one woman recalled witnessing a punter being “knocked out cold” in a fight, before regaining consciousness only to continue binge drinking.

At the end of Monday’s discussion, Mayor Will Nemesh agreed council needed to “get the message out there”.

“Council will look at enhancing increased communication and get the message out there that what has occurred is not sustainable and we will not accept that,” he said.