Rainbow Serpent Festival. Credit:Francesco Vicenzi Victoria's Creative Industries minister Martin Foley recently gave the green light to a pilot at nine music venues that will introduce best-practice standards for mitigating and responding to sexual assaults. When it comes to festivals, however, the challenge is not only potentially far more difficult, but the ball is in festival organisers' court as to how, if at all, they handle the issue. Know more? Email us. Sexual assaults are notoriously under-reported, and there's little to no research into the risks at festivals. But, said Dr Bianca Fileborn​, who is part of the taskforce running the city venues pilot and has conducted extensive research into sexual assaults in music venues, there are a number factors that could point to increased risks.

Revellers at the Falls Festival in Lorne ring in the start of 2017. Credit:Carbie Warbie For starters, many victims might not spot their attacker, who could easily get lost in a big crowd or slip away – as was the case at Unify. And, said Dr Fileborn, festivals tend to be held in large, outdoor spaces where the capacity for surveillance is limited; it's dark at night; and there are private spaces inside tents. There is also a lingering attitude that assaults at festivals are inevitable, and that staff – especially security – will not take victims seriously, she said. And, due to their sheer size, many festivals rely on hundreds of volunteers whose ability to help patrons in a crisis may be limited. "What responsibility do you have, as a volunteer?" asks Dr Fileborn. Gang of Youths performing at St Jerome's Laneway Festival in Sydney last month. Credit:Katherine Griffiths "You're there to serve drinks for a few hours in exchange for a free ticket; is it necessarily your job to be responding to assaults?

"There are elements of a festival setting that might make it easier for people to get away with it," she said, "but there are things festivals can do to prevent or to ensure they respond appropriately when it does happen, and encourage people to disclose it." Laneway Festival, which runs one-day events across major capital cities, didn't wait for the bad headlines before launching a national safety hotline, in conjunction with the musician-led #ItTakesOne campaign, which encourages anyone who witnesses a sexual assault to call out the perpetrator. Falls Festival, which was quick to condemn the Tasmanian assaults at the time, is looking at introducing extra measures to improve patron safety, including increasing CCTV coverage of mosh pits; introducing mosh-specific security spotters; increasing counselling for victims; and introducing reporting channels via app, phone or in person. The alleged victim we spoke to said her distress after being assaulted at Rainbow Serpent was compounded by a lack of procedure and clear reporting channels at the festival, and the fact that it was more than 24 hours before her alleged assaulter was ejected from the site. "I did not feel safe," she said.

This year the festival, which declined to comment for this article, appears to have lifted its game. Organisers previously told Fairfax Media that prior to the event they put a number of staff and volunteers through training with the Centres Against Sexual Assault to better prepare them to respond to assaults. The festival also introduced an "Australia-first" safe space, dubbed the Nest, staffed by counsellors. It has also moved to ban the notorious Wicked camper vans, which have been subject to regulatory scrutiny in some states due to the sexist and offensive slogans decorating many of their rental vehicles. Sources helping out at the Nest space at Rainbow Serpent said that in addition to the two assaults reported to police, many more patrons reported assaults but did not wish to escalate the incidents – a fact that is borne out in the under-reporting of sexual assaults more broadly. Other festivals fortunate enough to have avoided bad headlines – including Golden Plains Festival, which takes place next weekend from March 9 – remain noticeably silent on the topic, but that doesn't mean they are problem free, said Laneway Festival managing director Katie Stewart. "I think it would be ignorant to ignore this kind of thing, it is happening and the fact that it isn't talked about is part of the problem," she said.

"We [festivals] do a have a responsibility in this area [to be proactive]." But while some festivals are doing what they can to address the problem, ultimately their ability to do so – and indeed the very question of their level of responsibility – is limited in the face of a society-wide problem, and the need for a concerted shift towards prevention rather than reaction. "We need to view what happens at festivals as part of one piece of a broader campaign to prevent sexual violence in the long term," Dr Fileborn said. "Consent-based education works best if it starts when people are young." Patrick Donovan, CEO of Music Victoria, which is also involved in the city venues taskforce, said the problem was a societal issue and not just a music industry issue, "but the music industry is leading the charge". Mr Foley said the state government would continue to take its cues from the taskforce, and "assess the outcomes of the pilot and work with the industry as to what can be rolled out to festivals".

Falls Festival co-producer Paul Piticco​ said Falls was considering a national awareness campaign on the issue. "There is a real movement for education and change within the community around this issue and we plan to shine a light on it," he said.