The Hyde St keg party will go ahead next year whether there is a liquor ban or not, and it would be better if it had at least some organisation about it, the president of the Otago University Students' Association says.
OUSA president Logan Edgar's comment came as revelations on the human and financial costs of the Hyde St keg party continued to rise: a health official estimated injuries from the all-day drinking party would have cost taxpayers hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Public Health South public health physician Dr Marion Poore last week told a hearing on extending Dunedin's CBD liquor ban to the student area that of the 80 people (average age 19) from the Hyde St party treated at Dunedin Hospital's emergency department that weekend, 11 had head injuries, 28 had lacerations, 12 had fractures, 17 had soft-tissue injuries and 15 were acutely intoxicated.
Thirteen of those had fallen on or from roofs; 18 tangled with a fence.
Party-goers made up a quarter of all those treated at the emergency department that weekend.
Dr Poore estimated health-related costs for treatment and ACC were likely to have totalled several hundreds of thousands of dollars.
Information supplied to the ODT showed police spent $25,000 on their Hyde St operation, St John spent 100 hours just planning for it, as well as manning a first aid post and two ambulances all day. The DCC spent $4000 cleaning up.
The OUSA spent $7442, but expected external contributions would cut that to about $5000.
About 18 people were arrested (just one a student), St John treated about 70 people on site, while the fire service put out six fires in the area.
Mr Edgar said he believed the Hyde St party went as planned and the issues that remained, including people jumping on roofs, could be remedied by: regulating the number of non-students, as well as overall attendance, plus keeping people off roofs, and minimising excessive intoxication, for example by ensuring all licensed premises nearby were abiding by their licence, which was an issue for the police and the council.
He said if the liquor ban was extended to North Dunedin it would mean someone would have to apply for a special licence to hold the keg party, and he did not believe there was anyone who wanted to take on that responsibility and liability.
However, he believed the party would go on, "students being students; and I'm one, so I know".
Police would be powerless to stop parties spilling on to the street in quick succession, he said.
It would be a far better scenario if a group, such as the OUSA, and residents, could organise a restricted party.
"I think we could achieve that, and I wouldn't mind being liable for that.
"I have full confidence we could have a bit of control over it, but it would take someone to have the trust in the students and not treat us like a demographic, like we're all animals."
Police last week said they did not think a special licence was practical in Hyde St, which had access issues.
The "controlled drinking" approach, which police tried at Hyde St this year, had failed, they said.
Landlord Debbie Kershaw said she and other Hyde St landlords did not want the party to go ahead, at least not in the same form.
She had written to Otago University vice-chancellor Prof Harlene Hayne saying so.
Prof Hayne had responded saying the university's new alcohol implementation group was keen to speak to landlords.
To suggestions landlords should take more responsibility for letting things like the Hyde St party happen, Mrs Kershaw asked what people wanted them to do: "Do they want us to stand at the gate with a pitchfork?"
There was no controlling 5000 people once they were squeezed into the street, and most of them were not residents, Mrs Kershaw said.
She believed writing party-related conditions into the lease was therefore unrealistic, and punitive, if based on one party, and would make leasing flats more difficult.
She was not against the party, but would like to see it moved to a different venue.
"No matter what OUSA says, they cannot control it," she said.
