Police claim the attire at the celebration held at the Broome Turf Club on March 4 was too risqué.
Punters at the Broome Mardi Gras at the local turf club.Supplied
The licensee has been charged with two breaches of the Liquor Licensing Act.
“The Roebuck Hotel has a special dispensation in their licence for immodest dress standards,including partial nudity,” a WA Police spokesperson said.
“This can only occur in a very specific area under prescribed conditions. Whilst immodest dress standards,including partial nudity,was not legal at the turf club event,in the spirit of equality,police are now reviewing that charge with a view to discontinuing.”
Broome Pride chair and organiser Lucy Falcocchio claims they were forced to close over “intoxication levels” but instead police later charged the licensee – Roebuck Bay Hotel – over G-strings and breast pasties as well as some security guards for not wearing fluoro vests.
“Have a look at every photo we’ve got – every bit of footage - there is no nipple on display,” she said.
Falcocchio said police also gave some patrons a free lift to the event in the back of a police car in their allegedly lewd outfits and with open alcohol.
A few hours later,just before midnight she received a call that the bar and dance party was being shut down.
Punters at the Broome Mardi Gras last month.Supplied
“We had over 2500 people out the front of the Broome Turf Club and then we had to look at how the hell are we going to get these people home safely,” she said.
“It was an absolute nightmare. At 2.30am I was still picking people up on the side of the road just trying to get people home.”
DJ Kayty Banks said police were possibly uneducated about the event.
“I don’t want to say it was a case of the police being homophobic,I think maybe they were just uneducated on what the night is actually about.”
A Broome pub is facing criminal charges over the amount of skin shown by punters at an event.
Falcocchio has met twice with the head of the Kimberley Police District to voice her concern that the decision to shut down the event was unfair and inequitable.
“It’s a peaceful event that brings over $2 million into this town at a time when the town doesn’t have anything,” she said.
“There’s not that many gays in the village but it’s about being one community,that’s always our ethos,and it certainly didn’t feel like that on Mardi Gras night.
“It kinda takes you back to 1978 and I thought we had evolved.”
WA Police say the Roey’s infamous weekly wet t-shirt contest operates under a special exemption that wasn’t applied for on this occasion.
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