Almost 20-thousand high school graduates have descended on the Gold Coast for the start of schoolies week. The annual pilgrimage has been a rite of passage for generations of young Australians, and organisers say the celebrations are safer than ever before.
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00:00After 13 long years, school is out and the class of 2024, ready to party.
00:09Checking in, stocking the fridge and cracking their first beer of many.
00:13It feels good to not have to worry about anything.
00:16Good times with the girls, making some good memories.
00:20At hotel lobbies this morning, nervous parents said their goodbyes and delivered some final
00:24words of wisdom.
00:26As of first KPI we said don't add or subtract to the population while you're at schoolies.
00:30Mixture of emotions, pretty proud they've all finished their school.
00:35What's going to happen in the next five days, who knows?
00:38Long lines to collect wristbands, they're tickets to the nightly alcohol-free schoolies
00:42only beach party.
00:44Authorities say they've noticed a trend amongst young people.
00:47School leavers are now more mature, meaning there's less risk taking behaviour.
00:52Back in the day, you know, they were crawling out of their accommodation at midday but now
00:55they're coming out at 7 o'clock, 8 o'clock in the morning having a coffee and having
00:58a smashed avocado on toast.
01:00What used to be quite a dangerous, predatory environment is now actually quite safe.
01:05And for the first time this year, there'll be a pop-up pill testing clinic in a bid to
01:10reduce drug overdoses.
01:12The behaviour of last year's cohort was given an A plus by police who made just 17 arrests
01:17throughout the week.
01:18That's a far cry from 15 years ago when more than 500 schoolies were arrested.
01:24We'll have to see this year.
01:25Yeah, probably have to test it, you know.
01:27How long are these cartons going to last you boys?
01:29Probably just tonight.
01:30Tonight or tomorrow.
01:32A small army of volunteers, police and paramedics are on hand to help.
01:37Red Frogs estimate they'll cook 100,000 pancakes and hand out four tonnes of their famous lollies
01:43over the next two weeks.