Two dead after attending Sydney music festival Knockout
Two people have died, and at least another six are in hospital after attending a music festival in Sydney. It comes as police have charged more than 70 people with drug offences at two festivals.
Police & Courts
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Two young men have died on the first weekend of the music festival season, throwing pressure on the Minns government to bring forward its planned drug summit.
The men, aged 21 and 26, are suspected of dying from drug overdoses after attending the Knockout Outdoor Festival at Sydney Olympic Park on Saturday night where nine other people needed urgent medical attention.
While Labor made an election pledge to host a drug summit in its first term, the government on Sunday appeared to rule out moving the summit date forward despite the deaths of two men already being recorded ahead of a summer of festivals.
“The loss of any life from illicit drug use is deeply concerning,” a NSW Government spokesman said.
“We made a commitment at the last election to hold a drug summit as a matter of priority and we will deliver on this.”
Shadow police spokesman Paul Toole accused the government of a lack of action on the summit, which it is understood will be held closer to the next state election in 2027.
“Chris Minns has been caught dragging his feet once again on a much-needed drug summit,” Mr Toole said.
“This was one of his big policies before the election, and again we’ve heard nothing. With music festivals kicking off, the question is how many more lives are we going to see lost before Chris Minns actually takes real action in addressing this situation.”
Police say the 26-year-old died in Concord Hospital after being transported from the venue at Olympic Park just before 1am Sunday morning this morning.
Around the same time police were called to St Vincent‘s hospital after they were informed a 21-year-old man had died after paramedics had responded to a 000 call from a hotel in Chippendale.
Both police and NSW health have confirmed the two had attended the festival but are believed not to be known to each other.
It comes as four men who were arrested and charged with drug supply at the festivals were all given conditional bail on Sunday, including one man who was allegedly found with almost 500 pills.
It’s the worst possible start to the so-called festival season with more than 30 events already planned over the next few months alongside a hotter than usual summer predicted due to El Nino.
From 2017, six people died in a 13-month period resulting in an inquest held where deputy Coroner Harriet Grahame called for pill testing be introduced and police sniffer dogs banned from future events.
Neither of her recommendations were adopted by the then Gladys Berejiklian government nor has the Minns government shown any inclination to adopt the measures.
Police were out in force at both the Knockout and Listen Out festivals where they arrested more than 70 people for drug offences, with senior cops defending the use of drug detection dogs at the festival.
“I can say that the use of drug dogs at music festivals is highly effective and forms part of our criminal investigation strategy and also a harm reduction strategy,” Detective Superintendent Simon Glasser said yesterday.
He said the issue of pill testing was one for the NSW Government, not police.
“My concerns are ongoing drug use … And this shows that people can die at music festivals. Drugs can have some horrible consequences. When you mix that with the heat of yesterday, it’s an added risk factor that can cause adverse effects.”
He said the cause of the two men’s death would not be known until post mortems had been carried out.
“It’s not specifically being treated as a suspected drug overdose. We look at all avenues, anything could have happened. Obviously that’s an assumption people are making. However, we’re looking at everything to make sure we don’t have a closed investigation.”
At the Listen Out music festival police detected 85 people in possession of prohibited drugs.
Of those 37 were issued with court attendance notices; 29 criminal infringement notices and 19 cannabis cautions.
Another eight people – five men and three women – were charged with supply prohibited drug, while two people were arrested for assaulting police, one for wilful and obscene exposure and another for breach of bail.
In one case two men – Jack Douglas, 19, and Tulloch Dixon, 23, were stopped by police outside the event at Centennial Park about 1pm where they were searched where police allege they seized 63 capsules – suspected of being MDMA – as well as cocaine.
The men were arrested and taken to Waverley Police Station where they were charged with supply a prohibited drug – indictable quantity; the younger man has also been charged with possess a prohibited drug.
They were bailed to appear at Waverley Court on October 4.
At Knockout Outdoor music festival 27 people were charged with possess prohibited drug, while four people – two men and two women – were charged with supplying prohibited drug.
A 21-year-old man, Jayden Hunt-Jones was searched after a positive drug dog detection and allegedly found in possession of 61 ecstasy tablets, 40 MDMA capsules as well as cocaine.
He was charged with two counts of supply prohibited drug – indictable quantity, and two counts of possess prohibited drug. He appeared in Parramatta Court on Sunday and was granted conditional bail to appear at Burwood Court on October 17.
At about 8pm, officers patrolling the venue stopped a man after he allegedly attempted to run from them.
During a search they allege they found Mason Nguyen, 26, in possession of 491 MDMA pills as well as 4g of cocaine and cash.
He was charged with supply prohibited drug – indictable quantity, supply prohibited drug, and recklessly deal with proceeds of crime. He was also granted bail Sunday to appear at Burwood on October 17.
Organisers of the Knockout, Harder Styles United, have been contacted for comment.
On their website they bill themselves as running multiple festivals each year for “dedicated ravers”.
“HSU Events has always sought to go above and beyond to provide a safe environment at all its events, over 10 years of successful operation,” their website reads.
“The health and safety of our patrons is our first priority.”
Their website pledges that at each event they provide “at least one on-site doctor for the duration of the festival”, as well as more than 50 medical staff throughout the grounds and on-site ambulances.
Their website also claims “these measures allow HSU Events to maintain our track record of zero drug-related fatalities over 10 years”.
The Minns Government took a promise to the election to hold a drug summit, which it’s understood is likely to be held near the end of this term of government in 2027.
Pill testing debate:
In September, drug experts warned pure party drugs are just as dangerous as those that have been cut with fillers, as a coalition of health experts heaps pressure on Premier Chris Minns to set up pill testing facilities in time for a scorching summer.
Director of UNSW’s Drug Policy Modelling Program, Professor Alison Ritter said just because popular party drugs such as MDMA might not be cut with other substances does not mean the drug is safe.
“With MDMA there are issues with overheating and staying hydrated but not over hydrated,” she said.
Premier Chris Minns has previously rejected calls to set up a pill testing pilot in time for the summer festival period.
He said he would not be making a decision on pill testing until after his planned drug summit which is not likely to occur till the end of the government’s first term.
On Friday, in the lead up to the summer festival season Daily Telegraph father and son journalists Mark and Mitchell Morri debated the pros and cons of pill testing.
They put their very different views on the calls for pill testing to be made freely available. They lay out both sides of the debate here.
Pill testing has been resisted by previous Liberal governments and is still being considered by the new Labor government.
Just days before the festival kicks off, NSW Health issued a public warning about a batch of ecstasy pills stamped “Gucci’’ being distributed around Sydney. These pills contain four times the amount of MDMA in other tablets.
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