Do festivals encourage drunk and disorderly behaviour? Or do they contain behaviour that would happen anyway – especially on an event like New Years Eve?

These are the kinds of questions Waverly Council are now asking, following the recent cancellation of the famous annual Bondi Beach New Years event, Shore Thing.

While many Eastern Suburbs residents have reportedly been rejoicing the cancellation of the event, which has featured the likes of Fatboy Slim, Skrillex, Snoop Dogg and more (Check out some of our fave moments right here) it turns out that the council is pretty worried – and rightly so – about the chaos that might ensue, now that there isn’t a single, contained event with hordes of police and security at the ready.

Council Mayor Sally Betts has said that she is “incredibly nervous” about the trouble that could potentially fill the streets of Bondi and surrounding suburbs come holiday season. “The event has been fantastic. It’s kept the streets of Bondi clean,” she says, worried about the ‘free-for-all’ havoc that could replace the festival.

The ticketed event not only kept punters in a single location, but brought an additional police and security presence that the council cannot guarantee without Shore Thing. Cr Betts has said that police won’t support a council-run event at Bondi Pavilion. “This will fall back on police and we don’t know if they will have sufficient people to patrol the whole park area.”

Interestingly, Cr Betts went on to say that Shore Thing had funded additional security deployments all the way between Dover Heights and Bronte over the Christmas period, not just on NYE itself.

I have to agree here. It’s easy to understand why the council are worried about the problems that the cancellation of Shore Thing might bring. Whether the festival is happening or not, the fact remains that Bondi Beach and its surrounding streets and parks are an incredibly popular destination for tourists and locals alike on New Years Eve. And while there will be security and ranger presence in certain areas, will it be enough?

Residents have argued that Shore Thing brings thousands of drunk partygoers to their suburb, but do you really think the beach would be empty without the event? There are thousands of backpackers and tourists who descend on Sydney specifically to enjoy our beaches over the holiday season, and I doubt that this will encourage them to stay away. Especially as Bondi is not within the city lock-out zone.

Let’s go there for a moment. Do we still think that out our streets are safer, now that we’ve stopped serving alcohol and closing venues at 3 am? As hard as I try, I still can’t see the logic in this. Surely it’s better to contain activity within areas where security and police are nearby, equipped to combat violence or other disorderly behaviour. After these venues shut down, people spread out and head to areas like Bondi, the Northern Suburbs, Inner West and more. And this is totally amplified when we’re talking about an entire suburb or area. Particularly when that area happens to be a beach surrounded by cliffs.

I’d say it’s fairly likely that a bigger crowd might choose to head from the city to the beach after lock-out this New Years, specifically because Bondi is not within the zone. Furthermore, without a festival and surrounding security/police patrolling the area, the area will appear far more appealing than the city, or any other major event area.

So, I’ll ask again: does a festival like Shore Thing cause trouble? Or does it contain it?

What do you think?