Clubs forum ”farce”

Hamish Heard
Nightclub industry members have hijacked a youth forum on safety around central Geelong’s nightlife scene, according to participants.
City Hall organised the central Geelong nightlife forum this week to “gauge the perceptions” of young city nightclub patrons.
But a young woman who attended the ratepayerfunded forum said it descended into farce when the audience realised the vast majority of participants were representing their nightclub employers.
“All of us who went along as concerned citizens felt like a minority because the nightclub owners and workers were getting very heated and defensive, almost shouting us down,” she said.
“One girl from the (nightclub) industry said that if you don’t feel safe then you shouldn’t be going out.”
The woman, who asked not to be named, believed nightclub owners had recruited staff and friends to fill out numbers at the forum in an attempt to head off police plans to force a 1am lockout on Geelong venues.
“They were pushing the line that the nightclubs were not responsible for the violence that’s been happening and a lot of them were laying the blame on police, saying there weren’t enough foot patrols.”
“Their input would definitely have been swayed by their bosses, so there was no way they could speak from an objective standpoint,” the woman said.
An advertisement on Club4play’s website urged young people to attend the forum, asking them to consider whether a 1am lockout was “really a solution for nightlife safety”.
Councillor Jan Farrell, council’s youth portfolio holder, blocked the Independent’s attempts to attend the forum.
She told the paper the forum was “full” despite a participant saying only 70 people were at the event advertised for 100 people in Geelong Performing Arts Centre.
Deputy Mayor John Mitchell agreed to let the Independent into the forum but Cr Farrell overruled him.
Cr Farrell released a media statement announcing the forum and calling for participants a day before the event. The announcement did not appear in newspapers until the day of the forum.
Cr Farrell refused to respond to claims that members of the nightclub industry had taken over the event.