Event Organisers Urged to Liase Early with OLGR Following Sydney Oktoberfest Event Breaches

OLGR has said that event organisers need to liaise early with the regulatory body and police when planning significant public events involving alcohol and ensure adequate plans and controls to prevent alcohol-related problems.

The warning comes following concerns about the conduct of an Oktoberfest event held in Sydney after multiple serious breaches were detected.

OLGR and Police detected heavily intoxicated patrons and observed multiple violent and anti-social incidents as well as licence breaches at the over 18s event held at The Domain on Saturday, 31 October 2015.

13,000 tickets were sold for the ‘Oktoberfest in the Gardens’, which was described as a national cultural event aimed at replicating cultural aspects of the annual German Oktoberfest festival in Munich.

Prior to the event, both OLGR and police expressed concerns about potential risks given the nature of the event and previous similar events held in Melbourne and Perth, and sought over 40 licence conditions to ensure the safe management of the event.

However, during the event, OLGR said organisers failed to maintain adequate controls to ensure responsible alcohol consumption and crowd management including failures in security monitoring and presence of Responsible Service of Alcohol (RSA) Marshals.

OLGR Director of Compliance and Enforcement Anthony Keon said: “This is a timely reminder that event organisers need to ensure they pre-engage with OLGR and police when planning significant public events involving alcohol. They must ensure adequate security and alcohol management plans and controls are in place and are maintained during events to prevent intoxication and alcohol-related anti-social behaviour including violence.”

Print PDF