News

The Dunedin City Council has done its best to ensure trouble on the night of June 19 by passing a temporary liquor ban to cover much of North Dunedin, timed to coincide with the last night of the Gardies Tavern and the All Blacks vs. Wales test match at Carisbrook.


In specifically targeting the date as a likely cause of student unrest, the DCC has made it much more likely that unrest will happen, a problem compounded by the Council’s refusal to organise an alternative event on the same night. At a meeting held on Tuesday last week several councillors attempted to introduce the idea of an alternative event to head off possible crowd trouble focused around the closure of the iconic student tavern. However the recommendation was defeated by a single vote, and a liquor ban extending from June 18-20 was adopted as a measure to prevent unrest.
Previous years, however, have shown the ineffectiveness of liquor bans in coping with student unrest. Liquor bans have been in place for the last three Undie 500 weekends and, instead of curbing trouble, were seen as antagonistic.
Many have suggested that by putting a liquor ban in place the DCC is again inviting trouble and drawing unnecessary attention to the event. One commenter on Critic’s Facebook page posted: “Does the council honestly think that hyping the event up like this is going to help? Media hype is going to ruin this event by comparing it to the ‘riots’ before it even begins and getting ideas into peoples stupid skulls. Good work [Mayor Peter] Chin etc, you've just fucked yourselves.”
The Otago Daily Times reported that Chin questioned what responsibility the DCC had to help organise something to accommodate the huge influx of people expected at and around Gardies, other than providing the police with extra powers to control the crowd.
Another Facebook commenter said that for a mayor of a student city, Chin “really does not seem to understand the mentality of the average student.”
OUSA President Harriet Geoghegan also slammed the DCC decision. However she praised individual councillors for attempting to address the problem proactively and organise an alternative event, going so far as sending them an email commending them for their efforts. Geoghegan, speaking to the ODT, added "The fact that people are flying from out of town for this event suggests it is not just an issue for students, but for the image of the city as a whole."
The hype surrounding the closing of Gardies contrasts with the relative absence of media attention, and trouble, that accompanied a party organised on Facebook to mourn the tavern’s sale earlier in the year. Afterwards, many students spilled onto the street and peacefully made their way home or to other bars in town.
The owner of the Gardies Tavern, Pete Innes-Jones, speaking to the ODT, said he was taking precautions to ensure that the pub’s last night did not get out of hand. Among these was a no-entry policy after the test kickoff at 8pm, and a plan to cut off entry below the bar’s licensed capacity of 550. In addition extra security would be rostered on, and no drink specials would be offered. Innes-Jones said had no desire to “fuel stupidity.”
Further demonstrating the inspired leadership this city has to offer, Dunedin Area Police Commander Inspector Dave Campbell was less logical, and more religious, in his approach to controlling students on the weekend, telling the ODT he was “praying for rain – a downpour would be excellent.” In the lead-up to last year’s Undie 500 chaos, Chin publicly said he was hoping for snow to close the motorway into the city.