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Schoolies events planned for Mt Maunganui and Wanaka have been scrapped and organisers are blaming overzealous opposition from local councils.
The decision has delighted opponents and left the organisers dismayed at councils' hostile reception to the events, which would have seen hundreds of 18-year-old school-leavers descend on the popular holiday spots for a four-day "monster party" in December.
Schoolies organisers Brett MacLean and Peter Ulmer issued a statement yesterday saying they felt "proposed actions and threats" from local councils had compromised the "safe and contained" events planned.
But Wanaka Community Board chairman Bill Gordon said it was ridiculous for organisers to cast community leaders as the ogres.
"We are quite within our rights to tell them to bugger off. Schoolies was a hare-brained idea that is now where it should have started - on the scrapheap."
The organisers first approached the communities in June this year with their idea for a festival for graduating high school pupils.
The idea met fierce opposition from the community board in Wanaka as well as local business and community leaders.
The community board has taken steps to implement a liquor ban in Wanaka for December, whether the event is held or not. It also wrote to the organisers in July to say the event was not welcome.
And organisers were told they needed to apply for a discretionary resource consent if they wanted more than 500 people at indoor events or more than 200 at outdoor events.
In their statement, Mr MacLean and Mr Ulmer said a strong emphasis on the safety, security and containment of the event and a promise it would be nothing like the infamous Surfers Paradise gathering in Australia, where police have made hundreds of arrests, were ignored.
Councils had declined to explore the concept and instead returned with comments in the media of "they can bugger off" and "they want to trash the town for cash", they said.
"This response makes it impossible for us to run a safe, controlled event and it would be irresponsible to continue.
"We are dismayed at the attitude of the authorities and their complete lack of confidence in New Zealand's young adults."
-Otago Daily Times
