Revellers who attended Groovin' The Moo in Canberra on Sunday have accused security guards at the festival of mocking and failing to help those in need of attention, even walking away from a girl who had collapsed and was "trampled on".
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Festival-goer Jamie Guy said she was sitting on the grass at the popular music festival when she noticed some young girls struggling to carry their friend who had collapsed.
She said at least 10 security guards and medics were standing around "having a laugh and a banter" while the girls passed them, forcing a male bystander to step in and help the friends carry the sick girl to the tent.
"We were in shock that none of the medics or security guards were helping her – they just stood and watched," Ms Guy said.
"Knowing that they are meant to help people and keep them safe, and seeing that, was like, 'Are you really carrying out your duty of care? Would you look after me if that was me'? I have never seen anything like that."
Ms Guy said medics only helped the girl after she got to the first-aid tent, despite being clearly free to assist earlier.
Another GTM attendee, Dayle Russell, expressed disgust at a similar alleged incident.
She claimed she saw a girl fall to the ground unconscious in the mosh pit and wake crying and screaming for her friends.
"Everyone was trampling on her, so my friends gathered around and made a circle to let security guards through," Ms Russell said.
"They just stood and stared at her and then turned around and walked away."
Ms Russell said she approached one security guard and asked if they could help take her to the first-aid tent but he had said it wasn't his problem.
"She could not function, she needed help, and they just left," she said.
"Even if it's not their responsibility, everyone else around was too drunk to know she even needed help, and they didn't do anything about it."
Both Ms Guy and Ms Russel said they saw security do nothing to assist girls – some who looked underage – projectile vomit, while Ms Guy said she saw another security guard escort a man out of the festival who was close to passing out and needed medical attention.
"I would hate to have known what happened to all of these people who needed help," Ms Russell said.
"It really concerned me and my friends."
A number of other festival-goers took to GTM's Facebook page complaining about security guards who they believed behaved poorly.
In January, one user posted a poll to the Facebook page asking people if they wanted to see the "same security [at this year's GTM] as last year's cause they don't give a f**k about anything".
Groovin' The Moo organisers did not respond directly to the allegations, but posted a message to their Facebook page thanking their "many service providers" after Fairfax Media contacted them for comment.
"We acknowledge several media reports with regards to the welfare of patrons and conduct of security and emergency service providers at both GTM Maitland and Canberra," it said.
"Groovin the Moo believes all actions taken by service providers were delivered in the best interest of GTM patrons."
An ACT Policing spokesperson said they received a complaint about a security guard in regard to an incident where a male allegedly urinated on a female attendee at the event.
ISEC Security, the company contracted for the event, declined to comment.
Police arrested two people at the Canberra festival, one for allegedly assaulting a security guard, and another for "intoxication and disorderly behaviour".
They also made five drug seizures in a sellout crowd of roughly 15,000 people, following two suspected drug overdoses at the music festival's first gig in NSW at the weekend.
