Australian premier backs out of decision about Defqon.1

By Nina van Zelst 18 September 2018

Last weekend, two people died at Defqon.1 Australia. 13 others ended up in the hospital, and 700 visited the first aid. Premier Gladys Berejiklian responded to these events by completely banning Defqon.1 Australia, but now she seems to be backing out of this decision.

ALSO READ: Australian authorities want to shut down Defqon.1

The premier of the Australian state of New South Wales talked about her previous comments in a press conference, since she received a lot of criticism about her decision from hardstyle-lovers as well as from Australian citizens. Berejiklian announced that she has asked an expert panel to give her advice within four weeks about how they can make events safer.

“What I am announcing today, is that an expert panel will provide me with government advice in four weeks as to how we can make all these festivals safer. This is about giving the public and parents at home confidence that these events are as safe as they can be.“

Berejiklian continues about her comments considering Defqon.1, and explains that the event does not have to be banned if it can be made safer. She justifies her comments by saying that she does not want to see the event return in its current form, due to a lack of drugs safety.

“In the last five year there were four deaths, that to me is too many. That’s why I made those comments. I never wanted to see the event in its form come back. Clearly action needs to be taken to make the event safer. We will be taking advice from this experts panel about how this can happen.“

“Pill testing is not supported“

Something Berejiklian does want to stress, is that the government definitely does not support pill testing. Even though journalists are lining up to tell her that research has shown pill testing does have a lot of benefits, she does not want to respond to it. “Pill testing is not supported by the government. We’ve been very clear on that point and I can not be more clear about that today.“

Footage via Facebook-page Defqon.1