Safety expert warns against teens travelling overseas for schoolies

Is your teen heading to Bali, Fiji or Thailand for schoolies this year? A safety expert’s advice is to think twice – because the biggest risks aren’t immediately apparent.

Schoolies has become a rite of passage for school leavers, but a safety expert warns against celebrating the occasion overseas.

Australian destinations such as the Gold Coast, Victor Harbor, Lorne and Byron Bay have spent decades developing a safe space for young people to do dumb things.

But that is not the case in emerging schoolies hotspots like Bali, Fiji and Thailand.

Safety expert Professor Alison Hutton has spent nearly 20 years working at mass gathering events, including schoolies.

Her message to parents is to think twice before allowing your child to go overseas for schoolies. 

Prof Hutton encourages school leavers to celebrate schoolies, but says they should do it here in Australia, not overseas. Picture: NewsWire/ Richard Gosling

“We have a really wonderful and safe system here,” Prof Hutton said.

“We expect young people to get drunk and muck up, but in Australia there’s as a safety net.

“We make sure streets are well lit, we monitor the beach and set up dry zones.

“There are police patrols and volunteers. Agencies work closely together to support young people.”

Prof Hutton has worked in event safety for over a decade, including many years at schoolies.

Prof Hutton said there was a range of measures in Australia that created a safety net for teens pushing boundaries.

“In Australia there’s a focus on harm reduction and harm minimisation,” she said.

“I don’t know why you would send your child overseas instead.”

Prof Hutton said overseas the risks are far greater for schoolies.

“A big issue is drink spiking and poisoning, especially with those poor women in Laos last year,” Prof Hutton said.

“Smartraveller reminds Australians to be wary of spiking in Indonesia. 

“It can happen anywhere, but if it happens here you get urgent medical care for free.

“Overseas you may not get the same standard of care and it will cost a lot more.”

A young Australian man shoves a policeman during a confrontation in Kuta, Bali, during schoolies in 2018. Photographer: Liam Kidston

Events in major centres like the Gold Coast are set up especially for schoolies with an emphasis on harm minimisation. Picture: NewsWire/ Richard Gosling

Local laws are also very different to Australia, often with much harsher consequences.

“You really need to do your due diligence and research the local customs and laws,” Prof Hutton said.

“For example, in Indonesia the legal drinking age is 21 years old – schoolies are much younger than that.

“Lots of kids these days have medication for depression or ADHD – those medicines are illegal in many countries.”

The safety expert said when things go wrong overseas, it can be very costly.

“Travel insurance does not cover incidents where drugs or alcohol are a factor,” she said.

“It can cost thousands of dollars to get care and as a parent, you’re thousands of kilometres away.”

A young Australian woman pushing a man during a fight in the nightclub district of Kuta during schoolies in Bali. Photographer: Liam Kidston.

Ultimately, Prof Hutton’s advice was to celebrate schoolies in Australia, where it is safer and the support is greater.

“If your child is determined to go overseas, then make sure you have a detailed conversation with them,” she said.

“Discuss their emergency plans, work out communication and international SIM cards, chat with them about who they’re going with.

“And please stay away from scooters.”

Alison Hutton works is a professor of nursing at Western Sydney University.

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Originally published as Safety expert warns against teens travelling overseas for schoolies