Body corporate owners will be lobbying to the State Government to phase out Schoolies over the next few years. Photo / NEWS LTD
Body corporate owners will be lobbying to the State Government to phase out Schoolies over the next few years. Photo / NEWS LTD
Gold Coast apartment owners tired of their properties being trashed during Schoolies week are taking a stand against the annual wave of destruction school-leavers bring to the holiday hotspot.
News.com.au has been told some Gold Coast buildings are refusing accommodation to school-leavers during the fortnight of celebrations, andbody corporates say the event, in its current form "can't continue".
After tolerating years of damage, a coalition of body corporates says it's been forced to lift the lid on what really goes on at Schoolies. The group has released shocking footage of a party that caused $40,000 in damage, and disturbing details of what goes on in Surfers Paradise apartments.
A dossier, which will be delivered to the state government, details the devastating effects of Schoolies week on just one central Surfers building last summer.
Apartment owners say they've been forced to lift the lid on what really happens at Schoolies. Photo / NEWS LTD
The document shared with the Gold Coast Bulletin shows the popular Schoolies accommodation destination was smeared with blood and faeces in the common areas and on balconies, and Schoolies had urinated outside the building's security office, in its lobby and on rocks in a sauna room.
In the same building, glass bottles were tossed from balconies into the pool causing it to be closed. A cleaner was also attacked, targeted with cans thrown from apartments.
The block received 36 emergency services attendances, 10 times more noise complaints than a regular week, and evicted 13 schoolies for reasons ranging from drug possession to "balcony hopping".
Shocking vision has been released showing a trashed Schoolies apartment. Photo / NEWS LTD
Leader of the body corporate reform group George Friend told news.com.au the report was representative of what happened at high rises all over Surfers Paradise during the two-week celebration.
Mr Friend said apartment owners have been forced to reveal the disturbing details after putting up with thousands of dollars worth of destruction, and worse, for too long.
"(Schoolies) simply cannot continue in its current configuration," he said.
"Surfers Paradise, at the end of the day, becomes a no-go zone for two weeks. It's a Mad Max World. And the conduct and behaviour, it gets worse."
The damage is believed to have cost about $40,000. Photo / NEWS LTD
Mr Friend, who has lived in Surfers Paradise for 17 years, along with a band of fellow apartment owners is calling for a "root and branch review" of the two week event.
He says the school-leavers celebration is tarnishing the Surfers Paradise brand, and endangering lives.
Along with drug use and risky activities like balcony hopping endangering lives, Mr Friend told the Gold Coast Bulletin the common Schoolies practice of blocking fire escapes is turning building into "virtual chimneys", and some accommodation blocks were taking matters into their own hands.
At least one Surfers property, Mr Friend said, was refusing to accept second-week Schoolies.
Stairwell doors at Surfers Paradise is being kept open to allow access to schoolies through the fire stairwells. Photo / NEWS LTD
Week two attendees - mostly the NSW cohort which finishes the school year a week later than Queensland school-leavers and are more likely to be over 18 - are generally worse behaved and have a reputation of being "out of control", Mr Friend said.
As well as the strain on apartment owners and body corporates, the toll of Schoolies on local businesses has also been exposed. Surfers Paradise businesses have also reported they suffered each year over the two weeks.
"What we want is a root and branch review," Mr Friend said. "We want to bring back is all thee locals who are displaced."
