The View from the West

Winnipeg Free Press - PRINT EDITION

Schoolies binge to start summer break

By: Michael Madigan

26/11/2009 1:00 AM | Comments: 0

An Australian school boy was "expelled' from the sprawling Australian city of Gold Coast this week after end-of-school-year celebrations got out of hand.

What Northern Hemisphere types might call "spring break'' Australians call "schoolies'' -- a week of uninhibited, alcohol-fuelled rampaging and sexual experimentation among 17-year-olds marking the end of their high school years.

Australia has long tolerated the celebration which occurs around the country but uses the surf-side city known as "The Gold Coast'' in southern Queensland as Ground Zero.

Many parents, often highly responsible and engaged parents who genuinely care about their kids, buy their adolescent offspring alcohol to consume during the week.

The rationale is that, given the kids are going to drink anyway, it might be a good idea to have a role in what they consume and ensure some light alcohol beer is included.

A few parents even book holiday units on the Gold Coast for the week-long party, just to be on hand in case things get out of hand. Embarrassing to the teens it may be, but precedent shows it's not such a bad strategy.

In past years the teen fun has led to tragedy. One youth fell to his death four years ago after a "balcony walk'' -- attempting to navigate one's way from one highrise balcony to another.

This week the schoolies have lived up to their reputation. Several have been arrested for drunkenness, projectiles have been thrown from high-rise balconies and a few binge drinkers have taken a trip to the emergency ward.

The jumping on car bonnets, the urinating in public and the raucous cries which echo around the city until the small hours are manageable fall-out.

In one of the more lamentable incidents, a 17-year-old boy allegedly stole a bag from a 16-year-old Monday night, injuring two girls in the process.

In his attempt to escape, the boy allegedly punched his victim in the face then trampled over another teenager, injuring her sternum.

The boy spent the night in the local police cells before fronting a local magistrate who, in the spirit of the old west, agreed to give him bail on the condition he leave town.

Another budding entrepreneur aged 16 was arrested for attempting to sell his mother's ovary medication to schoolies as the party drug "ecstasy.''

But in the most disturbing incident, Queensland police minister Neil Roberts found it "beyond belief" that a 12-year-old managed to join the teenage throng. The girl was pulled from the beach during the festivities and taken to the Gold Coast Hospital.

"Our message is to parents to please pay attention to where your children are,'' he said. "It's absolutely unacceptable that a child of that age was found wandering around the Gold Coast.''

Police superintendent Jim Keogh has asked Queensland's child protection unit to investigate.

In the respected Melbourne-based broadsheet The Melbourne Age, leading mental health advocate Ian Hickie made a direct call to Prime Minister Kevin Rudd to raise the drinking age from 18 to 19 to break the connection between school leaving and drinking.

The call had the backing of chairman of the Australian National Council on Drugs, John Herron, who said the council would discuss the proposal at its next meeting.

Rudd will also examine the proposal at a meeting next month with state leaders on health reform, and has long signalled he wants a tougher approach to youth alcohol consumption.

Hickie rejected claims that raising the drinking age would merely encourage more under-age drinking. The U.S., where many states have a drinking age of 21, experiences lower rates of accidents and violence involving young people, he said.

The Gold Coast city council helps co-ordinate the schoolies festivities with the help of public funding from the Queensland state government, helping to temper the alcohol-fuelled high jinks with a layer of bureaucracy.

This year, in a sign of the growing media sophistication of Australian youth, Schoolies Advisory Group chairman Mark Reaburn questioned media coverage of the event.

With 25,000 youths registered on the schoolies official program only around 40 had been arrested, he said.

"I acknowledge schoolies are being arrested and the police are doing their job and we encourage them to do their job,'' he said.

It was important, he said, for the public to realize the bulk of schoolies were letting off steam without causing any serious bother. "They're having the time of their lives."

Michael Madigan is the Winnipeg Free Press correspondent in Australia. He is the Gold Coast bureau chief for the Brisbane based Courier Mail.

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition November 26, 2009 A12

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