Gold Coast Schoolies safety net gone: where your child stands legally if hurt at the event
Parents are being warned that accommodation owners are not required to create a safety net for their teenagers at Schoolies, with the fine print on contracts confirming Year 12 students attend at their own risk.
Gold Coast
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PARENTS are being warned that accommodation owners are not required to create a safety net for their teenagers at Schoolies with the fine print on contracts confirming Year 12 students attend at their own risk.
Lawyers and former event organisers have told the Bulletin the biggest threat to Schoolies may not be coronavirus but predators, drug overdoses and balcony falls because the State Government has withdrawn its protection program.
Schoolies.com CEO Matt Lloyd, in the lead-up to the end of year school celebrations, revealed “our accommodation providers are working closely with our team to implement COVID-safe plans and social distancing protocols, as they would for all non-Schoolies guests”.
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A former Schoolies organiser told the Bulletin: “The comments by Mr Lloyd should send a shiver down the spine of every parent contemplating sending their children to Schoolies. “Schoolies.com take no responsibility for Schoolies outside of their accommodation and this is the huge and potential problem.
“Schoolies is organic, you can’t stop it. Schoolies.com provides the accommodation, and that’s where it stops. The (State) Government provides the safety net, the social services and diversion strategy — the 30,000 on the beach dance party.”
Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek on the weekend posted on social media saying the Government “can’t just walk away” after Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk cancelled support for the event due to COVID-19 fears.
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Her office later suggested security arrangements were up to operators.
The terms and conditions for Schoolies.com bookings include:
* Booking through Schoolies.com does not guarantee that official Schoolies.com activities will be available at a destination, or that schoolies booked through Schoolies.com are pre-registered for these activities
* Schoolies.com shall not be held liable for any loss, injury or damages sustained entering or during the event, including theft or loss of personal belongings.
* Persons attending Schools.com events do so at their own risk.
Experienced Gold Coast lawyer Bruce Simmonds views the government’s decision as “wise” to shut down the event during a pandemic but warns parents of the consequences of allowing their children to stay in accommodation on the Coast during the traditional celebrations.
Apart from the threat of coronavirus, schoolies would have to contend with the usual risks — older predators, the potential for drug overdoses and balcony falls, he said.
“If you do something stupid you only have yourself to blame,” Mr Simmonds said.
He said the police along with Red Frogs volunteers in the past had taken responsibility for ensuring safety but this year there would be no “controlled area”.
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Mr Simmonds said accommodation providers would not be expected to ensure there were no more than ten people in a room under the most recent COVID-19 restrictions.
“The accommodation owner is not obliged to enforce the law. They’re not deputy sheriffs. It’s the responsibility of the individual,” he said.
Mr Simmonds said the major focus of building managers was the protection of the apartments owned by investors.
“They are trying to protect owner’s property, that type of thing. That’s not to the benefit of schoolies. It’s for the benefit of property owners,” he said.
Mr Simmonds said he was concerned by the number of drug busts by police in the lead-up to this year’s event.
“Unfortunately if a child overdoses (without the safety net this year), it may be the next day before you find them lying unconscious in bed,” he said.
GOVERNMENT ‘CAN’T JUST WALK AWAY’
THE Queensland Government “can’t just walk away” from incoming Schoolies after canning official events while not committing to a safety response, a fired-up Surfers Paradise MP says.
Queensland Premier Annastacia Palaszczuk axed the official celebrations amid COVID-19 fears, as a cluster linked to a Brisbane corrections facility continues to grow.
Advance bookings have already been made and last week accommodation operators begged for clarity around whether to keep taking them or not.
Ms Palaszczuk on Friday axed official state-supported events and her office said security arrangements were “up to operators” as Mayor Tom Tate urged any Schoolies to stay home but said he was concerned they would turn up anyway.
Surfers Paradise MP John-Paul Langbroek is now demanding an explanation about how the “last minute” cancellation will work.
“(The State Government) can’t just walk away from their responsibilities,” he said.
“It begs the question, whether the Chief Health Officer has to tell accommodation houses they can’t rent their rooms out. That’s what happened at the peak of the pandemic.
“They can’t just say, ‘that’s it, Schoolies is cancelled’, and wash their hands of the whole event.”
He added while there had been a growing trend of better behaviour among Schoolies in recent years, he was still deeply concerned about a wild minority.
“There’s a bunch of people (…) who will come and wreak havoc,” he said. “They just won’t abide by any rules or regulations. Without any of the safety stuff, who knows what it’s going to end up like.
“Only the formal part has been cancelled. They’re saying, ‘You can celebrate, it’ll just be different’. Well for a lot of them it won’t be different.
“They’re not going to social distance, they’re not going to practice hand hygiene and they’re not going to stay home if they feel sick, because they’re hungover and feel sick every day.”
Mr Langbroek posted questions to social media at the weekend, asking about police support, accommodation refunds, if it was realistic to expect Schoolies to abide by social distancing and other frontline services. The Premier’s office replied: “We provided answers to exactly these questions on Friday.”
The cancellation has sparked serious concerns among the Gold Coast community, where last year some 20,000 school-leavers were partying.
Schoolies was scheduled for November 21-December 11.
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