SYDNEY, Australia (CelebrityAccess) — A government spokesman has suggested that Australian music festivals may be shut down if organizers fail to improve safety after a recent string of drug overdoses.
"We will be working together to look at how, if possible, the NSW Government can contribute to making these events more safe for the patrons, but also about putting the onus on these festival organisers to have a better duty of care to the partygoers," New South Wales Police Minister Troy Grant said, according to the Australian Broadcasting Company.
"So if there's measures that organisers can make or bench marks that we could set that they have to overcome to make it the safest venue possible then that's what we will be expecting of them."
Grant's comments come after a 23-year-old woman was hospitalized in a critical condition after allegedly taking MDMA at Field Day in Sydney on New Year's Day and follows after a series of apparently drug-related at several other recent music festivals in the nation. 25-year-old Sylvia Choi died after allegedly overdosing at the Sydney installment of the Stereosonic festival in December, while 19-year-old Stefan Woodward died at the Adelaide stop for the festival a week later. – Staff Writers
