EDHS Contemporary World Affairs

SCHOOLIES face being banned from balconies at some Gold Coast apartments this year in a fresh crackdown on drunken and loutish behaviour.

The Office of Fair Trading is investigating whether high-rise balconies can be locked during this year's Schoolies Festival after safety concerns about skylarking, jumping between units and throwing items.

A group of six bodies corporate have sought permission for the lockout through a regional committee, including the Surfers Paradise apartment complex Circle on Cavill, The Courier-Mail reports.

"There is a group down there who thought it was a good idea," Ernst Body Corporate managing director Allen Ryall said. "Circle on Cavill are a building in this group, there's no question about that."

Mr Ryall said the throwing of objects posed a "serious and significant health and safety issue to other owners, tenants and the greater public".
Police support any measure of harm minimisation during Schoolies, particularly after a teenager fell to his death from a balcony four years ago doing something they refer to as the "balcony walk".

"They have a little ledge linking balconies to the one unit, so they used to do the balcony walk and this particular schoolie fell 11 storeys and it was fatal," the Gold Coast's Superintendent Jim Keogh said.

"It was a terribly tragic situation."

Supt Keogh said police attended about 10 incidents last year relating to "inappropriate behaviour" on balconies.

"This ranges from skylarking on the balconies, which also incorporates climbing over the railing, to the launching of projectiles," he said.

Fair Trading Minister Peter Lawlor said he supported apartment owners locking schoolies out of balconies, but permission was being considered on a case-by-case basis.

Body: "We're certainly looking at the situation as to whether they can close off balconies. It is being taken seriously because no one wants anyone to be injured or worse," he said.

"A lot of damage can be done by people throwing things off balconies too. That's something that needs to be considered.

"(But) as you can imagine, most agreements with schoolies vary from establishment to establishment and the locking of balconies as far as rental premises goes, each query is being investigated."

Mr Lawlor said the State Government would assess the rights of the owners and the people renting the units before making a decision about new laws or regulations.

However, those who have received bookings without first stipulating the balcony would be made unavailable may have difficulty this year.

"I think any manager of an accommodation building would be well advised to take those precautions of specifying in future the fact that the balcony will be locked, and that avoids some sort of legal issues that might arise," he said.