Security mistreatment allegations from Wellington waterfront Ultra festival
Wednesday, 3 June 2026
Allegations of mistreatment by security guards have been levelled in the aftermath of Wellington’s sold-out Ultra festival – including a person being told to go back to their country.
The complaints, released by Wellington City Council under the Local Government Official Information and Meetings Act, also include a party-goer who fainted then allegedly got separated from friends by security. They ended up walking home by themselves, while a parent went to hospital to look for them.
The April music festival on the waterfront near Te Papa attracted about 23,000 people and was hailed as a “raging success” by promoters, while deputy mayor Ben McNulty said he hoped to see it grow “year on year”.
McNulty, who attended the festival, said the allegations were “incredibly disappointing” and he would make sure they were passed on. Any people with similar stories should get in touch with organisers, who organised security, he said.
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The Wellington City Council referred questions to its economic development agency, WellingtonNZ.
A statement from WellingtonNZ said event promoter Audiology Touring arranged the security and confirmed both complaints were investigated “and actions have been taken to address them”. This was confirmed by Audiology general manager Luke Williams.
“The two complaints referenced have already been fully investigated and contacted directly, in line with our established processes, and appropriate action has been taken where required,” he said. Privacy concerns meant he could not say more.
One complaint came from a parent, who appeared to be staying near the festival but not attending. They said they were with their child and trying to get to the Te Papa car park.
“While I was explaining this to the first guard, a second guard approached and was extremely rude,” the complaint said.
“I asked him to calm down, and he then made a racist remark, telling me to go back to my country. As you can imagine I’m extremely upset about this. I found this completely unacceptable, especially in front of my child.”
The second complainant threatened to go to police if the council did not take prompt action.
They said a party-goer fainted in the crowd. A security guard carried them to the medical tent, but stopped friends going with them.
When they regained consciousness, they told the guard they had lost their phone and did not know where their friends were.
“Security told them as they were now responsive they had to leave the medical area and took them back into the crowd and left them there,” the complaint said.
“When they started crying as they were overwhelmed from fainting, not knowing where their friends were, and not having a phone another security guard said, ‘what are you going to do?’ ”
The recently-fainted party-goer told security they would have to make a one-hour walk home, but the guard refused to help them find their friends.
Meanwhile, their friends went to the medical tent and were told they were not there. The friends, who had left the concert area, were not allowed back into the festival, it was alleged.
The person’s parent, who seemingly became aware of the situation from friends, went to hospital to try to find them.
“The consequences of the actions of the staff could have had serious [outcomes] if the individual had fainted again walking home. They were also put into a vulnerable position of walking for an hour home at night.”