Alex Ross-King, 19, dies at Sydney music festival FOMO

Sunrise host David Koch has lashed out at NSW Premier Gladys Berejiklian on live TV after a teen died at a Sydney music festival.

Alex Ross-King, 19, is the fifth young person to die at a music festival in NSW in recent months.

David Koch has fired up at Gladys Berejiklian over the issue of pill testing, accusing her of being a hypocrite and saying it could help prevent festival deaths.

“Why are you being so dogmatic on this?” he asked the NSW Premier on Sunrise this morning.

“Our heart goes out to anyone who loses a loved one under these circumstances, but pill testing doesn’t deal with overdoses,” the Premier responded. “We need to deal with the evidence, that shows they’re dying from the ecstasy — the MDMA in these tablets.”

When Kochie pointed out that the pill-testing trial at Groovin the Moo in Canberra last April did pick up tablets with other substances, she said: “The best message we can send to these kids is that these substances do kill. Do not take these drugs.”

“But they’re just kids,” he said. “Didn’t you try drugs when you were younger? Marijuana?”

“Hand on heart, I’m probably one of the few that haven’t tried anything,” she said. “If pill testing was going to prevent festival deaths, of course we’d bring it in.

“But for every expert who says it does, another says it’s not the right way to go. Unfortunately there is no common view on this, but from what our government knows, pill testing does not prevent overdose deaths.”

The heated interview followed the suspected drug overdose of Alex Ross-King, 19, who died in hospital after attending the FOMO music festival in Parramatta at the weekend.

Ms Ross-King had been dancing in the 35-degree heat, surrounded by people taking illicit drugs and drinking alcohol before she collapsed.

It is understood Ms Ross-King presented herself to the medical tent when she wasn’t feeling well. Police said she was rushed from the Parramatta Park event to Westmead Hospital about 6pm on Saturday, and died later that night. The circumstances of her death are being investigated with a post-mortem conducted early next week.

Police are waiting on toxicology results, but believe the teenager’s pills contained MDMA.

Alex Ross-King died of a suspected drug overdose at the FOMO music festival in Parramatta on Saturday.

The 19-year-old knew she was in trouble and tried to get help. Picture: Facebook

Kochie suggested the Premier was a “hypocrite” for supporting safe injecting rooms in NSW, but she said it was a “totally different matter”.

“Those rooms are supervised for known addicts who are reported, on a register. My attitude is to reduce the deaths. We know we need to do more in terms of education and medical attention.”

“So many kids are dying though,” he said.

“Absolutely, and the way we do that is by explaining the risks of taking ecstasy.”

“You’re not listening. They’re kids,” he responded.

Ms Berejiklian has taken a firm stance against introducing pill testing, despite the fact that five people have died from a suspected drug overdose at a NSW music festival in just four months.

“In the absence of evidence, we need to keep setting out the strongest message that taking these illicit drugs kills,” she told reporters in Sydney yesterday. “We ask young people not to do it.”

The Premier assembled an expert panel into festival safety in September last year after two people died at the Defqon.1 music festival in western Sydney.

The panel was banned from examining pill testing but the Premier earlier in the month claimed the government gave experts “free rein” when considering how to reduce harm.

“We don’t stop anybody looking at all the options and we always say to them ‘You have free rein to give the government advice on the best way forward’,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The government is implementing all the expert panel’s recommendations including introducing harsher penalties for festival drug dealers.

Ms Berejiklian insisted pill testing gave drug users “a false sense of security”.

“I hear what some people are saying but as a premier, as the leader of NSW, my job is to keep the community safe,” she said.

FESTIVAL ORGANISERS UNDER PRESSURE

Ms Ross-King is the fifth person to die from a suspected drug overdose at a NSW music festival in recent months.

Her death comes just weeks after the death of Brisbane man Josh Tam, 22, who died after taking a substance at the Lost Paradise festival on the Central Coast on December 29, and police are cracking down on event organisers.

Assistant Commissioner Mark Jones said police would introduce a “more robust process” from March, where organisers would have to convince police that they have appropriate measures in place in relation to safety and security — particularly in relation to health aspects around events.

“We are reviewing these music festivals literally daily,” Mr Jones told reporters yesterday. “We’re trying to detect prohibited drugs, making it really clear to organisers they have to put in good practices to try to prevent the use and bringing in of drugs.”

An estimated 11,387 attended FOMO — officers searched 146 people and found 54 of them with drugs. Another 23 were ejected, mostly for intoxication, while 28 were refused entry.

Festival goers at the FOMO music festival at Parramatta Park. Picture: David Swift

A man is treated by medics at the FOMO festival and taken away in a buggy for medical treatment. Picture: David Swift

Mr Jones said police did not have a problem with the festivals per se, but had a problem with people bringing in illicit drugs.

“It’s a small percentage of those that undertake this risk-taking behaviour,” he told reporters.

“Please think carefully before you induce drugs in these fashions. Enjoy the festival, but do so, please, in a safe, responsible manner.”

The festival organisers have expressed their sorrow for the girl’s death.

“We are deeply saddened by the death of one of our patrons of FOMO Festival in Sydney yesterday,” the festival spokeswoman said.

“Our most heartfelt and sincerest condolences go out to her family and friends.”

The festival said it was working closely with NSW Police, and would continue its anti-drug messaging — “a message we’re proud to deliver and will continue to do so with unwavering commitment in order to keep our beloved patrons safe.”

Ms Ross-King is the fifth young person to die at a music festival in recent months.

Friends have remembered her on social media as a ‘beautiful’ young woman.

TEEN’S FAMILY PUSHES FOR PILL-TESTING

Ms Ross-King’s family members have pleaded with Premier Gladys Berejiklian to introduce pill testing as a way of potentially saving lives in the future.

“Premier, please: can we have this pill testing done. It’s such a small thing to do, it’s not hard. Let’s try and get it out there,” Ms Ross-King’s grandmother Denise Doig told Network Ten yesterday. “If it saves one life — one life is a life. And these are children.”

“Strong leadership isn’t always about sticking to an ideological decision or a position when there’s possibly mountain of evidence or advice that maybe something else should be tried,” added her uncle Phil Clark. “Strong leadership is trying something different.”

The spate of recent festival deaths has led to an ongoing debate over whether pill testing should be allowed to check for impurities, with concerns a “dirty” batch of MDMA capsules is behind some of the fatalities.

But Ms Berejiklian is standing firm against introducing pill testing at festivals, expressing her concerns that it “could have the opposite effect”.

“In the absence of evidence, we need to keep setting out the strongest message that taking these illicit drugs kills,” she told reporters in Sydney yesterday. “We ask young people not to do it.”

The Premier assembled an expert panel into festival safety in September last year after two people died at the Defqon.1 music festival in western Sydney.

The panel was banned from examining pill testing but the Premier claimed the government gave experts “free rein” when considering how to reduce harm.

“We don’t stop anybody looking at all the options and we always say to them ‘You have free rein to give the government advice on the best way forward’,” Ms Berejiklian said.

The government is implementing all the expert panel’s recommendations including introducing harsher penalties for festival drug dealers.

Ms Berejiklian insisted pill testing gave drug users “a false sense of security”.

“I hear what some people are saying but as a premier, as the leader of NSW, my job is to keep the community safe,” she said.