Queenstown Lakes Mayor Jim Boult has labelled a group of revellers who flooded into Queenstown Mall at midnight on Saturday "complete cretins".
He has vowed to look at the situation, with the council, to ensure such behaviour is not repeated.
"I just wish those people wouldn’t bother coming to our town — it’s absolute stupidity."
NZME photographer George Heard was in Queenstown on Saturday night when bars closed at midnight, as per Easter trading laws.
A video he took showed hundreds of people chanting in Ballarat St, one person falling from a tree in The Mall, and a man shaking a lamppost until it broke.
Mr Boult said ratepayers would be left picking up the bill for the damage — "the last thing we need at the present time".
"We just don’t countenance that behaviour and I can only hope the video reaches the police and they’re able to identify the idiot concerned," he said.
Mr Boult said he understood how the situation arose — by law, all bars must shut at midnight before Good Friday and Easter Sunday, meaning all patrons are ejected from premises at the same time.
While that was "probably not helpful", it was the law "and we’ve got to live with [it]".
"However, we’ve got to find a way to stop it happening again."
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Cause = alcohol. Cause = alcohol. Cause = alcohol. Cause = alcohol. Cause = alcohol.
It's the pubs that should be paying for the damage, not ratepayers. Once again we see the tourist industry privatising profits while socialising costs.
Make up your mind Jim ... One minute you're crying your eyes out on national TV about how Queenstown is dying and you need Kiwi's to come and support you because the government won't bail you out any more ... or you want to let covid carrying Aussies in to help out.
Well you asked ... they came ... and NO, you don't always get what you wish for. Man up and go sweep some streets so you can find out how the other 1/2 lives.
I'm sure ratepayers like Sam Neil, Michael Hill, Peter Jackson and the other couple of hundred 1%er's in the area, won't worry too much about putting a million or two into the kitty to help you out !!
The behavior is down to the individuals that you see in the video, yes alcohol is involved but their actions are their own. Queenstown along with MANY OTHER towns within NZ are suffering however I can not imagine ANY town asking for such idiots to arrive and destroy public property. The Easter laws regarding pubs hasn't change in years, it isn't new so why does this generation believe they are above the law and behave like a pack of morons?
Don't forget that the Sam Neil's, Michael Hill's of Queenstown are still employing people of Queenstown or surrounding areas. Why should THEY as you quote "putting a million or two into the kitty... "