Laneway Festival announces safety text line for patrons

St. Jermone’s Laneway Festival has expanded its patron safety hotline initiative 1800-LANEWAY, announcing that this year’s festival will see text line available for attendees to report inappropriate or disrespectful behaviour.

The move comes after Laneway partnered with Camp Cope to launch a telephone hotline, 1800-LANEWAY, for last year’s festival.

Both the hotline and the new textline, available on 0404 242 555, will connect punters with the festival hub.

“Laneway Festival believes that everyone has the right to have fun, feel safe, feel included and enjoy the music,” said organisers.

“Creating a culture of respect is something we strive for, not only for our event but for the Australian music industry as a whole.

“In 2017, we were inspired by Camp Cope’s It Takes One campaign, raising awareness of harassment at gigs and festivals.

“In collaboration with the band, we launched our 1800 LANEWAY initiative, a hotline for patrons to report and escalate any inappropriate or disrespectful behaviour."

Laneway has also been working with the international Good Night Out Campaign to create extra safety strategies and staff training.

Good Night Out has compiled an Active Bystanders Guide for tips on how to help combat festival harassment as a bystander.

Coupled with the announcement, Laneway released a video featuring endorsements for the new 1800-LANEWAY campaign from Miss Blanks, Nick Allbrook from Pond, Tom of Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Rakel & Alice from Dream Wife.

Laneway Festival silently removed controversial artist Kirin J Callinan from the lineup recently, before Brisbane rapper and safe spaces advocate Miss Blanks revealed that the decision came as a result of a discussions she had with festival organisers about Callinan’s suitability for the lineup.

Laneway kicks off on February 2 in Adelaide, before hitting Melbourne, Sydney, Brisbane and Fremantle.