Neighbours not striking a chord

Fury at daily morning flute recitals

A GOLD Coast mum has divided opinion after taking to social media to vent her fury about a noisy neighbour playing a musical instrument early every morning.

In a now-deleted post, a Southport mum claimed the noise constantly wakes her and her son.

The woman said one of her neighbours in the Railway St area plays the instrument – which she believes to be a flute or clarinet – between 6am and 8am each day.

“I beg you to please stop!” the mum said on social media.

“You wake me and my son up almost every morning, even on my days off, and I can’t handle it anymore!

“Just please have some respect for those around you!”

The woman said she wouldn’t mind if the musician practised at another time, asking “why so early” in the post.

It sparked a heated debate, with other Southport residents weighing in.

Opinions ranged from acceptance: “nothing to be concerned about, just let them practice” – to outrage: “people are so self-centred, no way would I put up with that!”

One person said waiting until 6am was “being polite”, conceding 4am or 5am would be too early, but it’s probably just “a student practising before school at 9am”.

“I have a guy hockin’ up some evil in his bathroom every morning at 4ish, wanna swap homes?” commented another Southport resident.

One Gold Coaster simply said things “could be worse, (it) could be a recorder or bag pipes”.

“Should be happy recorders aren’t part of school curriculum now,” another joked in agreement.

Someone suggested walking the streets to find the musician, telling the frustrated mum to “stand outside and record it, then report them to council”.

Another local suggested reporting the noise to police, while someone else’s comment suggested buying ear muffs, saying noise is “part of living in a city”.

That last comment rings true, with Gold Coast City Council receiving 4644 noise complaints in the past 12 months alone.

“This includes all types of noise that the City regulates under the Environmental Protection Act and local laws, including animal noise, noise on public land, and private property excluding building noise,” a council spokeswoman said.

“This does not include any noise complaints made separately to Queensland Police.”

Police generally deal with loud parties and anti-social behaviour, while the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal can hear neighbour disputes in court.

So what does the law say about music practice in the early hours of the morning?

The Environmental Protection Act 1994, which council operates under, says musical instruments are not classified as a nuisance.

“While the EP Act applies to a wide variety of noise, there are some noises that the EP Act nuisance provisions do not apply to,” the document states.

The Act suggests contacting local police, or lodging a complaint with authorities online.