So You've Just Been Refused Entry At A Festival... What Are Your Rights?

You scoped the line-up. Refreshed your internet browser madly when tickets went on sale. Bought a new outfit. Took some snaps with your mates. You rock up to the festival gates, but get stopped in your tracks. You have been refused entry. A sniffer dog has detected drugs on you, and despite nothing being found, the police have told you, you’re not getting in.

You might remember about midway through last year, Above & Beyond's Sydney show made headlines after police released a statement that read: “Police will exclude any person from the venue that the drug dog indicates has or who has recently had drugs on them, regardless of whether drugs are located." 

There was a public outcry, but this wasn’t an isolated incident. The same thing happened at Midnight Mafia in Sydney, where more than 150 people were kicked out despite being searched and found without drugs. All punters that had been denied entry and found not to be in possession were granted a full refund from promoters Harder Styles United.

“A sniffer dog came up and sat next to me,” one punter who was recently refused entry to another HSU-run festival, Knockout Circuz, shares with The Music. “They then pull me out of the line and told me to get into my underwear. They searched my clothes and found no drugs on me. I was then told that I wouldn’t be allowed to enter the festival. I asked the policeman why I wasn’t allowed in and they told me it was the venue policy.

"They then pull me out of the line and told me to get into my underwear."

“I tried to ask why and he would just keep saying, ‘We cannot comment at this time.’ I later found out it wasn’t the venue policy, it was police policy. I did get refunded and HSU were very apologetic and assured [me] this would not happen again.”

When questioning police on the matter, a spokesperson for the NSW police confirmed, “Police can turn people away as per state licensing legislation, all of which is available online. Otherwise it is up to organisers/security who they allow in their event and if they get refunds etc. There would be no further comment we can make.”

Marcus Walkom, Senior Lawyer at Media Arts Lawyers thinks it is “more of a grey area”. 

“In the instances where the dogs have detected it and nothing has been found it becomes more of a grey area and that's where the promoters probably step in. They might draw a hard line... But they have discretion as to the application of their terms and conditions.

“Obviously it's dependent on the specific state's criminal acts that are in place and they do vary slightly. The argument, taking that Above & Beyond case again, was that from my understanding, there was nothing in the act that would provide power for them to refuse a person access because of suspicion of drugs as opposed to actual possession." 

He continues, “If they have suspicion, they have the power to conduct a search. If a person refuses a search that then generally provides a basis for which someone would be refused entry and refusal of search can also create additional criminal issues.

“Once the search has been carried out and nothing has been found, the person should generally be free to go. Obviously from a criminal perspective there are no implications from that, for suspicion, but it can have bigger implications on the basis of suspicion that they were then not allowed to go into the festival.”

So if it comes down to the discretion of the promoter and the terms and conditions of the event, what can punters do?  

“I mean obviously if you are clearly in possession of drugs or you're carrying in a machete or something, instances like that, there's a pretty clear indication that there's going to be police intervention and when there is police intervention you'd generally think that would also result in refusal of entry,” Walkom explains. 

But when it comes to drugs not being found “it's not really legislated because it removes it from a criminal issue to an issue based around the terms and conditions of the event and the policies of the promoters. Then it becomes a consumer law issue as to whether the promoter is acting in breach of those consumer laws."

“There are rights under Australian Consumer Law... Whatever the terms and conditions are of an event, they are always going to be subject to those consumer laws and nothing in the terms and conditions should restrict or exclude those consumer guarantees.

“If you're looking at it from the point of view of, 'I actually wanted to get into the festival,' under the ACL you're probably a bit more restricted to just getting the refund there. So at the time you would probably be wanting to take issue with the promoter to say, ‘Well I'd prefer not a refund, I'd actually prefer entry,’ at which case it would be at the discretion of the promoter.”

Despite this, there have been cases where a festival-goer has been caught with drugs and still allowed in. Another punter was caught with cannabis and ecstasy when gaining entry to a major NSW festival.

“Basically we show up to the checkpoint and the cops had dogs and everything there,” he shares with The Music. “Long story short, they obviously found everything when the cops searched through the car. We chatted to the sergeant who came and took us away and he explained to us what our options were. 

“After we went through the process with the detectives and everything they basically said, ‘On you go.’ And that was it. We drove in, went to the festival, no qualms.” 

The terms and conditions for this particular festival state that “any persons found with illegal substances in their possession may be removed from the Venue and subject to Police action”.

"Long story short, they obviously found everything when the cops searched through the car."

So did the festival then get involved? “The only thing I can sort of remember is them saying, ‘Well look, now it's up to the festival to decide whether you gain entry or not.’ From the cops point of view they were agnostic, they didn't really care. They had done what they needed to do. You know, we weren't belligerent, we didn't piss them off, we weren't rude or anything. They were just like, ‘Yep, we've done our job, we've taken you for what we needed to do, we've spoken to you about what you need to think about, it's up to the festival from there.’ And there was no contact from the festival.

“Obviously all these different things vary from state to state. But the only thing that it could be would be the terms and conditions of the ticket. I don't know whether it was the way we were behaving or the attitude that we had made them make that decision. 

“I've known other people that have been strip-searched at other festivals in other states and then they were still let in... It wasn't like one festival, one rule - or different states. The only thing I could say is that it seems very subjective.”

When you consider cases like Above & Beyond, this does seem to be a problematic double standard. Especially when you would assume the police would have been aware of the festival’s internal policies. 

“I'd imagine the best practice and the way it works in the best way is if the police are working in harmony and in conjunction with the promoter,” Walkom advises. 

"Obviously in that case you'd hope the police would be aware of the particular policies and if something like that were to happen the police would say, ‘This is out of our hands... If you want to deal with the issue of refund or being entitled to entry you should speak to a representative of the promoter.'"

This story was originally published in the February issue of The Music. Pick up a copy of it on the street now or head here to read it online.