Correspondence to councillors from cultural services general manager Linda Kirchner stated the master of ceremonies at last year’s The Grass is Greener festival “clearly had inappropriate language usage for this site” and police would monitor language this time around.
The email, sent in May, also stated the number of punters allowed to attend the event at Fogarty Park was “a QFRS call”.
The statement seemed to fly in the face of Mayor Bob Manning’s recent statement to the Cairns Post that it was police who deemed the event could not expand from 5000 to 7000 attendees. But the council CEO John Andrejic explained that was not the case.
“QFRS was initially approached, and while they did not indicate any specific concerns relating to an increased crowd, they advised that, being an outdoor venue, police would be the determining authority,” he said.
Festival organisers earlier this week announced a venue change to the Cairns Showground.
Mr Andrejic said the former venue was close to the CBD and family-friendly areas so “appropriately, it is a condition of the use of Fogarty Park that language and general conduct is suitable for a family environment”.
