For the first time in its 17-year history, counter-terrorism police did a risk assessment ahead of Splendour in the Grass, backpacks won’t be allowed inside the venue, and police will search punters with electric wands.

But NSW police say the assessment wasn’t a response to a specific threat, and that “there is no heightened security risk” at the festival. This year’s Splendour will be as safe as it’s ever been, NSW police told Hack.

Splendour Promoter Paul Pitico, who was unavailable for an interview with Hack, told the ABC that terrorism threats at festivals overseas and the terrorist attack at an Ariana Grande concert in Manchester prompted the tighter security restrictions.

"Obviously the Manchester situation weighed heavily on us….these are the times we live in now,” Paul Pitico told the ABC.

Chief Inspector of Tweed Byron police Mick Dempsey, who is at the Splendour site, told Hack that counter-terrorism police won’t be patrolling the event.

“Because it’s such a large public event, we had some police from the counter-terrorism unit from Sydney to come up and do a risk assessment for us, and as a result we’ve put a number of measures in place to ensure the safety of the community that attend the Splendour site.”

As for backpacks being banned from the festival venue, Chief Inspector Dempsey said, “Anything can be concealed in them. It’s about any object that could jeopardise the safety of anyone at the site.”

No cavity searches at Splendour

Drug dogs will be present at Splendour in the Grass, and punters will be subject to searches if an officer has “reasonable suspicion” that a festival-goer is carrying prohibited drugs.

“If police at the drug dog site have reasonable suspicion that they’re carrying drugs, they will be searched,” Chief Inspector Mick Dempsey said.

Mick Dempsey said it was up to an individual officer’s discretion if they believed a punter was carrying drugs, and would use “various” ways to determine this, including a person’s “demeanour”.

Chief Inspector Mick Dempsey confirmed that there will “definitely” be no cavity searches (like the ‘squat and cough’ method) of festival-goers at Splendour in the Grass, but strip searches may be conducted.

As a message to Splendour-goers Mick Dempsey said, “Don’t bring any prohibited drugs, and as long as they don’t interfere with anybody else, come and have a good time.”