Queensland

Girl filmed on balcony ledge at Gold Coast schoolies

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Police are "hoping and trusting" young people will make smart decisions at schoolies after footage on social media aired on Sunday night showed a young girl on a balcony ledge.

Footage of the young girl several floors up at a Gold Coast apartment, with a friend behind the camera heard saying, "This isn't going to be funny when she falls", was shared to social media and aired on 7News.

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Schoolie walks balcony ledge

A schoolie risks her life at Surfers Paradise, walking along a narrow ledge at a high rise building. 7 News Queensland

The footage was allegedly filmed at the Beachcomber Resort.

The Beachcomber had locked its balcony doors during schoolies for 2013 after two balcony deaths not related to schoolies in 2012, as reported by News Corp Australia, however it reopened its balcony doors in 2014.

Girl out on the ledge at an apartment on the Gold Coast.
Girl out on the ledge at an apartment on the Gold Coast. Photo: 7 News Queensland

Another clip showed a young man, reportedly at the same resort, dangling his legs off an awning as a voice can be heard saying, "Can you do something funny for Snapchat?"

Chief Superintendent Terry Borland said the weekend had been "quite good" from a policing point of view but he was "astounded" by footage showing young people hopping over balconies.

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"We are just here hoping and trusting that people make smart decisions because if you are going to hop from balcony to balcony and slip you might not hop again," he said.

"It is a high-risk activity and it is an offence."

Gold Coast Schoolies Advisory Group chairman Mark Reaburn told 612 ABC on Monday morning it was disappointing to see this "balcony mischief".

"Someone doing something incredibly stupid and goading someone to do that, it could be a decision that someone regrets for the rest of their days," he said.

"It is up to the kids to take responsibility for their own behaviour."

A Queensland Police Service spokesperson said they had not been called to the resort in relation to any balcony incident on Sunday.

Police arrested 11 school-leavers over 17 offences overnight, eight of which were for drug possession.

A total of 23 non-school-leavers were arrested on 29 charges, most of which related to public nuisance and drug possession.

Paramedics doubled their numbers on Sunday night to treat 93 patients in the schoolies precinct.

Queensland Ambulance Service senior operations supervisor Justin Payne said police had to be called after one girl suspected of taking drugs had displayed "anti-social behaviour" towards paramedics.

Mr Payne said despite heavy intoxication still accounting for most cases, a number of school-leavers were treated for glass cuts or splinters to their feet after walking around barefoot.

Only four school-leavers were transported to Gold Coast University Hospital.

Mr Payne said a few patients who had been high on drugs were able to tell paramedics that they had either taken MDMA or pills.

"All the patients we have had, all with friends except for one friend, are helpful, open about what they have had, that is positive to see," he said.

"Generally we are finding there is a friend who is sober and well enough to look after patients."

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