village of Wee Jasper, Yass Valley, even after emergency services warned against it.

Police, Rural Fire, State Emergency and NSW Ambulance Services recently told the organisers they would object to the event running in the rural location of Wee Jasper, claiming the Yass Valley site was too dangerous.

Yass Police inspector Alison Brennan said the location posed a number of dangers and that Dragon Dreaming organisers did not have an emergency evacuation plan.

Dragon Dreaming is host to a diverse crowd, aged from infants-in-arms to adults.

In 2015, a 23-year-old Sydney woman died from drug-related causes at the festival; and this year, drug detection rates were higher than ever before.

“We have a very positive relationship with the event organisers, but we just cannot mitigate the risks, no matter how many resources we throw at the location,” said inspector Brennan.

However, organisers said they would be seeking approval from the Yass Valley Council to host the festival in the village, next year.

“Yass Valley is our home and Wee Jasper is a small but extraordinary community [that has] welcomed the festival [and] its patrons,” a Dragon Dreaming spokesperson said. 

“We've received expert advice that suggests excellent strategies to mitigate all areas of concern, including engaging a bushfire management team for pre-event planning to ensure the safety of all patrons in the unlikely case of an emergency.”

However, the expert advice given by NSW Rural Fire Service superintendent Peter Alley did not support the location.

“From a bush fire point of view, the festival is always held around November. We had a total fire ban on the first day of this year’s festival and the rating was very high risk over the weekend,” superintendent Alley said.

The council said it would consider the objections when assessing an application for the festival to stay in Wee Jasper.​

Yass Tribune