In NSW, tight policing regulations squeeze harder, with some event organisers budgeting for up to $50,000 for police, on top of their own security guards, and $45,000 for a medical presence.

Some festivals are blaming cancellations on the high cost of police and medical expenses. Source: Supplied / Ravyna Jassani

But the charges can be a lot higher — depending on the number of police officers on site.

Following six drug and alcohol-related deaths at festivals in the 2017-18 summer, the then-Liberal state government introduced the Music Festivals Act 2019, which raised on-site policing and health requirements — to be paid for by event organisers under the User Charges policy.

However, critics said the revision did little to address heavy police presence and the costs associated with it.

The NSW Minister for Music and the Night-time Economy, John Graham, supported the changes to the Act. His spokesperson told The Feed the amendments would ‘reduce the bureaucratic barriers and additional costs imposed on many in the sector’.

What’s the situation in Victoria and Queensland?

In NSW, the festival had 35,000 attendees and was charged $120,465 for police services. In Victoria, where the crowd was about 40,000 people, organisers were charged less than $10,000.

The costs of policing a festival can vary drastically for organisers between different states. Source: Supplied / Ravyna Jassani

The cost of police officers under the User Pays system is relatively similar across NSW, Victoria and Queensland at between $144 and $177 per hour depending on the officers’ rank. It is the number of officers required that drives costs up for festivals.

AFA says that due to the differences in state laws, festival organisers in Victoria and Queensland can be charged half of what’s charged in NSW for police to patrol a crowd of the same size.

“As part of that planning, police constantly review intelligence provided and continue to work closely with multiple agencies and event organisers as well as our own specialists in the field to identify and address potential issues,” the spokesperson said.

Who decides how many police officers a festival needs?

“The number of police required varies and depends on a range of factors including crowd size, risk assessments, the size of the related venue and safety measures,” the spokesperson said.

“User Pays police and having police on site was actually asked for by some of the organisers a few decades ago but I think it’s swung too far the other way,” he said.

Who can be exempt?

“That really puts us under a lot of pressure to meet these requirements under the legislation,” Mode co-founder Joe Ireland told The Feed.

Mode Festival’s co-founder said festivals now face increased pressure to meet policing requirements. Source: Supplied / Ravyna Jassani

“It was obviously a super horrible summer when all the deaths occurred that led to this legislation but it took these charges, which used to be a collaborative decision between police, emergency services and the event, to be an enforcement point.”

Mode received a 50 per cent reduction in ambulance and police User Charges, from $15,000 to $8,000 and from $50,000 to about $20,000, respectively, by meeting exemption criteria, which include government sponsorship and the potential economic inviability of the event if charged in full.

Joe Ireland suggests the government could fund the cost of policing music festivals as an investment in the local economy. Source: Supplied / Ravyna Jassani

Ireland believes one way governments could help the music festival industry is to fund the required police presence themselves as an investment in the local economy.

“In my opinion, governments should look at it and go: ‘Well, we make money from this festival because we charge GST and tax and there’s wages that get brought in etc, so then the cost of doing business for us is we supply police to the event’.”

Does police presence increase safety?

AFA’s Wilson said the sight of police patrolling a festival or checking ticket-holders with sniffer dogs leaves many young Australians with the sense that festivals are inherently associated with wrongdoing; that they could get in trouble just for attending.

“Policing music festivals also includes crowd control, traffic management and drug detection.”