Here’s How Much Money NSW Police Are Making Off Gladys Berejiklian’s War On Festivals
Under the 'user pays' system, the NSW police force earn up to $200,000 from each festival.
The so-called ‘war on festivals’, spearheaded by newly re-elected Premier of NSW Gladys Berejiklian, has its clear losers.
Festival organisers, punters, and touring companies have all suffered as a result of skyrocketing safety costs, as the government has deemed a bevy of previously upstanding festivals as being an ‘extreme risk’, forcing them to shell out cash for extra security.
Even established cultural entities like Bluesfest have felt the heat, with that festival’s organiser Peter Noble warning Berejiklian that her new measures could drive him out of the state for good.
Perhaps unsurprisingly then, given the amount of upheaval caused, Berejiklian’s crusade has had its clear winners, too — namely the NSW police force.
As SBS have reported, in the space of a mere seven months, the NSW police force has earned $13 million from the war on festivals. That’s under the ‘user pays’ system, which, according to the police force website, forces individuals to cop the costs when “services go beyond” the usual free “responsibilities” the force provides.
Yet it is not clear how the services police officers provide at festivals “go beyond” their usual duties. Most police presence at festivals involves drug dogs, which specialists argue are ineffective at dealing with the true root cause of drug dealing, and plain clothes police officers, who embark on invasive strip search procedures and have already been accused of heavy-handedness.
Exclusive: Weeks after several NSW music festivals were cancelled, citing the prohibitive costs of additional police services, we can reveal the revenue received by NSW Police Force for “user pays” policing has increased significantly over the past decade. https://t.co/thJxZwfbv0
— SBS News (@SBSNews) March 26, 2019
Moreover, it feels deeply unethical that the police should profit from any services that are normally free — particularly if those services are being required thanks to a draconian and illogical set of anti-festival measures that threaten the cultural future of Sydney, and if those services themselves disproportionately target people of colour.
For their part, a police spokesperson has told SBS that the NSW police force “does not profit” from the user pays system — despite the fact that individual festivals are copping bills of up to $200,000.
A short time ago, a NSW police spokesperson provided this statement. Read it in full below:
Any increase or decrease in the cost of the “User Pays” program is determined in accordance with demand by client organisations.
The NSW Police Force User Pays program is a not-for-profit function. The monies paid to NSW Police recover the cost of personnel and resources used.
The level of police support is determined by the client organisation, in conjunction with NSWPF.
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.
NSWPF can liaise with client organisations and local governments to determine potential risk factors.
“User Pays” programs help event organisers meet their business needs and their responsibilities to the community. Recovering this cost ensures more police are available for duty and maintains normal policing services to the community.