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TARA Benney wishes there was a magic button to stop young people taking drugs at the Strawberry Fields festival that starts tomorrow.
But, obviously, there is not. So Benney and her passionate team of music lovers do the next best thing.
At Strawberry Fields, Falls Festival, Lost Paradise and others this summer, promoters have spent millions installing emergency hospitals, private ambulance services and highly-trained crowd carers to look after hundreds of thousands of festivalgoers.
Festivals have been at the forefront of harm minimisation strategy over the past two decades, long before it became a political hot potato.
Benney has been staging her alternative event in Tocumwal on the banks of the Murray River for 11 years.
She said they have proactively worked with council, residents, police, ambulance and rural fire services in the area to “care for every individual coming to our event”.
That includes 270 paid and volunteer fielders who are trained in first aid and crowd care, a “robust” emergency medical infrastructure that includes an on-site hospital locals say is better than their own and private ambulances so the community resources aren’t stretched by festival patrons needing treatment for bee stings, leaving medications at home and the adverse effects of alcohol and other drugs.
“Every measure we have introduced has been a proactive one; no one has ever said ‘You must make your staff do this training’,” Benney said.
“Everyone in our team got into this industry from a place of passion, we are passionate about it in a truly human way.
“A lot of the crowd care people come to these shows to make a fundamental difference; maybe they had friends they weren’t able to help and they believe if they do this, they help save lives.
“On top of that, I am pretty proud to say we have one of the most robust emergency medical infrastructures.”
The patron safety strategy issued by festivals now runs to pages of initiatives from modern medical facilities and crowd response teams to safety hotlines on site and sexual assault support.
Fuzzy, who runs Field Day, Listen Out and Harbourlife, has run an online harm minimisation education program for its patrons as well as onsite security and staff.
Patrons who complete the online course get access to pre-sales and VIP upgrades.
“We have ... run a harm minimisation training program with the Red Cross for patrons and staff since 2016,” Fuzzy’s Adelle Robinson said.
“As part of this program our event and bar staff are trained online in harm minimisation strategies when they accept their shift.
“They then do an onground training session on the day of the event.
“We have trained over 10,000 people and have led the way for the ... industry.”
While Strawberry Fields and other festivals engage their own teams of crowd carers, more than 20 events will have teams from Dancewize.
Lost Paradise promoter Simon Beckingham stressed the drug-related deaths last summer highlighted the need for peer-to-peer safety and education even though all festivals send the message they are drug-free events.
“These horrendous tragedies have put the issue in the spotlight and demonstrated the need for us to have open and non-judgemental conversations with kids about the risks associated,” he said.
“This is why programs like Dancewize are so important as they offer peer-to-peer support through providing credible and evidence-based information about safer partying and encourage festival goers to know exactly what they’re putting in their bodies and the consequences.”
As one promoter said, “Even if nobody used substances, people would still need help and support.”
Australian Festivals Association’s Julia Robinson said promoters must be agile to changing audiences with harm minimisation strategies in a way laws could not be.
“The zero tolerance policy was mentioned so much during the coroner’s inquest. That is what is expected by authorities but seems to have not worked in this climate,” Robinson said.