Perth Voice Interactive

THE Origin NYE event at Wellington Square has been knocked back by a divided Perth city council, despite promises the DJs would keep the bass down.

Lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi and councillors Jim Adamos, Janet Davidson and Judy McEvoy lodged no votes, outnumbering Origin-supporters Rob Butler and Reece Harley. The vote comes despite the city staff recommending approval.

The organisers have been selling $150 tickets for about six weeks and their ads were plastered across Facebook, with a fine print disclaimer on their site noting it’s “subject to council approval.”

Council staffers initially wanted to knock it back on advice from WA police who were concerned about having another event to handle, and the public transport authority which was worried about mass crowds leaving the area at 1am when it wrapped up.

Organisers have now appeased the PTA with shuttle buses to disperse the crowd.

The coppers still aren’t happy about it, but city staffer Margaret Smith told councillors “that appears to be a standard response to licences [and] concerts”.

New security measures were to include a double fence with dogs patrolling the gap so people can’t hop the wall and sneak in.

“It’ll be like Alcatraz, but with people trying to get in instead of out,” Ms Smith says.

The other concession to the neighbours was that the DJs would have had to keep the bass down on the mixing desk.

They were also bringing in a variety of acts so the nearby residents weren’t subjected to a wall-to-wall evening of bassline junkies.

by DAVID BELL