Claremont Council claim residents have been left fuming following the recent Western Australian leg of the Stereosonic Festival. Stephen Goode, the Town of Claremont chief executive, told In My Community the council actually had photographs of people defecating, urinating and vomiting to prove their allegations.
“Comments from residents suggest it was the worst ever … the primitive behaviour of people outside the venue,” Says Goode. Also on the council’s naughty list are charter bus drivers and taxi drivers, who were apparently ignoring the road modifications installed specifically to manage event traffic.
“If the State Government wants to continue to allow these concerts it has to do something to help with the bad impacts, so basically we need the police to use their powers and to be out in force,” Mr Goode said.
According to the Royal Agricultural Society, the body who operate the showgrounds, they had left no stone unturned when preparing for the event and the subsequent traffic, both pedestrian and vehicular. Society commercial manager Peter Cooper has said that talks were held with the council and residents to ensure that no toes were trodden on, stating, “On top of that we had patrols in adjacent streets looking for traffic and groups congregating, and large vehicles were directed away from homes”.
You may remember the people of Claremont picking a similar battle with Soundwave AND Big Day Out after residents complained, resulting in the city almost losing both festivals.
Surely out of the 30,000 odd people who went to the event, we’re looking at a tiny sample who acted inappropriately. 8 arrests, 60 move-on notices, 27 drug busts and 2 convictions are very small numbers for an event of this scale.
