THE organiser of an underage dance night at Altona has vowed to fight moves to shut down his monthly ‘Tropical’ party.
At last week’s Hobsons Bay Council meeting, a four-two council majority voted to ‘‘prohibit the use of the Altona Youth Hall for discos and similar events’’ pending a feasibility study into the hall’s management.
Mayor Tony Briffa said the dance night had caused numerous issues for several years.
‘‘The events are advertised via social media, attract young people from all over Melbourne to a small hall in Altona located near homes.
‘‘We often receive complaints about noise, inappropriate behaviour, graffiti, tagging, alcohol misuse, etcetera, following the events.’’
Altona North ward councillor Michael Raffoul, who moved the motion, said the dance organiser had been given time to ‘‘fix issues’’ associated with the night.
He said crowd controllers at the venue could only control what went on inside the hall, not what happened out on the street.
Cr John Hogg, seconding the motion, said he had seen young people drinking alcohol and entering residential properties in Civic Parade after leaving the youth hall.
Councillors Angela Altair and Peter Hemphill voted against the motion, expressing concerns about due process and saying the operator had not been given a chance to respond.
Michael Jones, who promotes the monthly Tropical night at Altona, slammed the councillors who banned his dance party. He claimed the council wanted to shut him down so the hall could be demolished.
‘‘I should be getting a medal for what I’ve done for the youth of Altona for the last five years,’’ Mr Jones said.
‘‘At the end of the day, I’ve helped all the youth; I’ve kept them off the street.
‘‘I’ve done nothing wrong. This is a set-up.
‘‘This is destroying the youth hall and destroying the youth of Altona.’’
Mr Jones, who claimed he did not make any money out of the underage night, said about 200 young people would now have nowhere to go. ‘‘Some kid will invite 200 kids to a house party and a disaster will happen,’’ he said.
‘‘They’re leaving it wide open now. Touch wood.’’
He denied there were problems associated with patrons from his dance party, which is open to those aged 13-17.
Hobsons Bay’s Inspector Bill Mathers said it was a concern for police whenever there were large gatherings of people.
‘‘We have had concerns in the past with groups of young people going to and from the disco, particularly in the summer months,’’ he said.
‘‘There’s been problems in the past along Pier Street and on the beach area on the nights that the disco’s on. There have been reports of damage and assault on the same nights.’’
