The Australian Festival Association (AFA), made up by some of the Australian music industry's leading figures and festival promoters including Splendour and Falls' Jessica Ducrou and Laneway's Danny Rogers, has applauded new recommendations for music festivals across NSW issued by a state coroner.
On Friday, deputy state coroner Harriet Grahame issued a report on the inquest into six drug-related deaths, which recommended the implementation of pill testing, as well as the scrapping of sniffer dogs.
"Drug checking is simply an evidence-based harm reduction strategy that should be trialled as soon as possible in NSW," Grahame said.
In a new statement, the AFA welcomed Grahame's recommendations, which also called for a drug summit to be arranged with key stakeholders.
"This was an extremely important process for our industry that will likely shape the future of festivals not just in NSW, but across Australia," AFA General Manager Julia Robinson said.
"It was a thorough review of all aspects of these six tragedies that found a complex problem, requiring a multi-faceted solution.’
“There is no one solution here. We need to work together to address this issue. One of the recommendations is for a roundtable to do just that. A Parliamentary Inquiry into Music Festival Regulations, the Inquiry into the Drug ICE as well as this Coronial Inquest into Music Festival Deaths have all recommended a roundtable.
"This echo’s the industry’s sentiment. We stand ready to work together."
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