EXCLUSIVE
A new smartphone application that allows people as young as 13 to find private parties in their area is being marketed as the "Tinder for parties and events", but parent advocates and police warn it is fraught with danger.
The app "KickOn", launched last week, lets users list their parties for the public to see. Anyone who wants to attend the event can "swipe right" to register their interest, and the host can either approve or reject the guest. Guests need to be accepted or invited to see the event's location.
Sydney-based founder Charles Stewart said the app would become "the Tinder for parties and events", referring to the popular sex and dating app.
It is geared towards house parties and underground warehouse events.
The idea first came about in December but NSW's 1.30am lockout laws - introduced in February - galvanised investors to back the project, Mr Stewart said.
"The natural response to when a government tries to limit people's liberties is for the market to try and figure out a way to circumvent it," he said.
"I personally don't like being told what I can do or when I cannot do it."
Mr Stewart said the application's in-built rating system would discourage gatecrashers, violence and other unruly behaviour. Hosts can "rate" their attendees and, if a partygoer develops a reputation as a "party pooper", he or she would most likely be denied attendance in future, he said. But, ultimately, it would be up to individual users.
"If they want to sit there and swipe right on 3000 people, then don't be surprised if you end up having a Corey Worthington-style party," he said, referring to the Melbourne teenager whose party was famously gatecrashed by about 500 strangers in 2008.
NSW Police Association president Scott Weber said the app was still "fraught with danger" and could lead to altercations when people were refused entry to an event.
He was sceptical that hosts would advertise house parties on the platform because it was so public and potentially dangerous.
"I don't see it as a winner. There's going to be no control in regard to the people that attend," he said.
Police would most likely monitor the app to find and shut down parties that breach service of alcohol laws or receive noise complaints, Mr Weber said.
Adolescent psychologist Michael Carr-Gregg said parents would be "up in arms" about KickOn, particularly because it was pitched at teenagers, who were less able to predict the consequences of their actions.
"You are asking for trouble because you're creating the opportunity for Corey Worthington on steroids," he said.
Dr Carr-Gregg dismissed the in-built rating system as "digital smoke and mirrors" because users could simply re-register under a different name if they received a negative reputation.
Mr Stewart said he hoped KickOn would eventually supplant Facebook as the primary means for young people to organise private parties. He said he had warned police about the app and was awaiting a response.
Australian Childhood Foundation chief executive Joe Tucci said the app was another example of social media diluting the definition of friendship and causing young people to assign more significance to relationships with little to no history.
"All people are equal friends in the post-Facebook world," Dr Tucci said.
"For a parent that's at the heart of the fear."
