Without data, we’re dead in the water.
I believe out-of-control teen parties are an epidemic. If police start keeping data on them, I’m certain we’ll see improvement. Alas, no Australian police force does.
I’ve sent formal requests to the worst-affected states for police to keep figures for three months:
- Queensland and Western Australia are reviewing my applications.
- Victoria ‘Can’t support anonymous data gathering’ but is happy to give me anecdotal evidence.
- Despite my repeated efforts, New South Wales and the Northern Territory are yet to respond.
Go figure!
Supporting statistics will show how big an issue teen parties have become. We must capture this data so we can all understand exactly:
- How much emergency services time is wasted on out-of-control events.
- The impact they’re having on our community.
- The injuries teens are sustaining.
I’m confident the data will show governments that today’s limited teen and parent education is NOT hitting the mark.
I’ve long believed legislative change is needed to prevent more injury to our kids and communities.
Parents must be held accountable for poorly planned events. Councils must adopt a by-law to foster safe teen events.
Empty threats
You’re probably aware of Corey Worthington’s fiasco. The threat of his being fined $19,000 was just that – it hasn’t happened!
In March 2011, a hacker promoted a party via Facebook. When 200,000 people said they’d attend, police shut it down. They also said the hacker would be charged – that hasn’t happened either.
Right now, the only way we hear of out-of-control teen events is via media reports. Here are just two parties, in two states, in ten days: NSW and WA.
Like most parties gone wrong, they both had the same old recipe:
- No planning.
- No alcohol restriction.
- No security.
You can bet your bottom taxpayer dollar the host parents were first on the phone screaming for police to clean up their mess.
And media reports cover only a small fraction of bad events.
A better way
Last week I assigned staff to eight teen parties. All had the same organised plan. The plan we’ve used at more than 700 successful events. The plan that’s on my submission.
Not one of the events we handled had any trouble, impacted the community or required any emergency services response.
It’s time we got serious about this lethal issue.
Let’s get our facts straight, so we can stop chasing our tails!
Naomi Oakley, Founder, Safe Partying Australia.
