At Mardi Gras, it is important to continually focus on constantly enhancing service delivery to our community at all our events. As part of this strategy, we embarked on a new initiative at Fair Day in Victoria Park over the weekend. Mardi Gras trialled a people-counting camera system for the first time. Devices using non-facial-recognition technology were placed at the entrances of the event to digitally count numbers of visitors entering. No viewable video footage was obtained, and the information is not being used to identify individuals.

What information is being gathered?

The system is being used by Mardi Gras only to confirm the number of people who visited Fair Day.

The system counted the number of people entering the park for Fair Day. No viewable video or photo footage was recorded.

It is important for us to get an accurate assessment of how many people visit Fair Day, to help us plan for future years. We will use this information to plan our services around Fair Day – helping us plan bar service, reduce queuing, increase toilets capacity where needed and plan infrastructure placement – with the aim that our services and structure can successfully accommodate the increasingly large crowds Fair Day gets each year to enhance and improve your experience at our events.

Will the information be shared?

No information obtained by the cameras at Fair Day will be shared with third parties, and there have been no requests for the information to be shared with them. 

We hear and understand the concern from our community about privacy.

The information about crowd numbers we have gathered is for Mardi Gras’ use only and will never be shared with third parties. Individuals cannot be identified using the information obtained.

Will the camera system be used again during the festival?

The camera system was a one-off trial by Mardi Gras this year at Fair Day. We do not intend to use it at any other Mardi Gras events during the 2020 festival, including the Parade and Party.

We greatly value the feedback we get from all our festival attendees and we aim for our events to be as safe, inclusive and welcoming as possible. If you have any questions or feedback, please email us at reception@mardigrasarts.org.au.