By Margie Maccoll
Noosa Police are gearing up for New Year’s Eve celebrations with a team of emergency and support workers preparing to deal with an expected rabble, particularly of young teenagers, on Main Beach.
Acting senior sergeant Troy Cavell said all available local police would be backed up by reinforcements including mounted police and joined by Queensland Ambulance Service officers and Red Frogs Support Network, operating from a base set up in Hastings Street.
Police have also scaled back liquor licensing to end at 3am instead of the usual time of 5am.
He said with Mooloolaba functioning again after closures in 2020 and rain predicted, they hoped for a smaller crowd than last year when thousands of rowdy teens descended on the beach.
Noosa is very busy and the restaurants are expected to be full, but it’s not the adults that present an issue for police, it’s the kids, Snr Sgt Cavell said.
“We’re trying to make it as boring as possible. We’re trying to change the culture. It’s up to them to go someplace else,“ he said.
New Year Celebrations this year will be impacted by Covid restrictions.
Since Queensland reopened its borders on Friday 17 December Covid has returned to Noosa bringing restrictions and reinforcing preventive measures after a time of relative freedom.
Covid has been detected in Noosa wastewater. Queensland Health identified casual contacts in four businesses on Hastings Street on 14 December and close contact notifications have led to quarantines and business shutdowns.
On Monday Peregian Family and Friends announced that one of the musicians at their Peregian Beach carols event on Wednesday 22 December had tested positive to Covid.
Queensland Health figures updated on 27 December show 126 cases of Covid have been detected in the Noosa Shire, 22 known to be locally acquired and 84 under investigation.
Residents and visitors have stood in long queues awaiting Covid tests and there has been mixed adherence to Covid restrictions.
However Snr Sgt Cavell said Noosa residents were relatively highly vaccinated and most businesses had been managing their Covid restrictions without issues.
He said police had only been called to a few Covid-related disturbances.
