Public safety at Vivid ‘compromised’ after NSW government backs unauthorised paramedic provider

In March 2023, Destination NSW, the state government agency responsible for organising Vivid Sydney, awarded a three-year paramedic contract to Surf Life Saving Services (SLSS), an organisation that had no legal authority, licences, experience, or paramedic teams. 

Further investigation found that when the agency issued the 2023 tender document, it did not include the part about the contractor needing to hold the relevant licences required under law. The agency then allowed Surf Life Saving Services to operate paramedic services unauthorised for two years. 

When questions were posed to Destination NSW over the past month, all it could offer was general assurances, such as the agency taking public safety “seriously”. 

This investigation series explores the central question: How safe were attendees, staff, and contractors at Vivid Sydney? 

Every winter, millions of people fill the streets of Sydney's CBD for Vivid, the festival of light, music, food, and ideas that has grown into one of Australia's largest public events. In 2023, the festival drew 3.28 million people, its highest-ever attendance rate, followed by 2.42 million in 2024 and 2.53 million in 2025. 

Events of this scale are, by their nature, high risk. From individual medical incidents to crowd crushes and mass-casualty events, government agencies plan around these risks by investing taxpayer money into public safety measures. This includes onsite paramedics. 

When up to 200,000 people fill the Sydney CBD, an ambulance cannot always reach a patient. Onsite paramedics become the first, and sometimes the only, line of emergency care. These paramedics also reduce the pressure on the public health system by stabilising patients onsite and minimising hospital admissions.

For Vivid 2023 to 2025, Destination NSW handed that responsibility, and the public funds attached to it, to Surf Life Saving Services, the commercial arm of water safety charity Surf Life Saving NSW (SLSNSW). 

Yet, when the deal was secured in 2023, Surf Life Saving Services did not hold the legal authority to deliver paramedic services at any event. It remained unauthorised for two years, until 2025, when the organisation’s then Medical Operations Coordinator, Steve McDowell, secured the authority.

“In NSW, private organisations providing paramedic services must hold a Private Paramedic Authority, issued by NSW Health,” a NSW Health spokesperson said in a direct statement.

“This Authority establishes the conditions and requirements under which services may operate, including clinical governance and medicines management obligations.”

Surf Life Saving Services also lacked a Wholesale Poisons Licence for two years, until 2025. Without it, the organisation was not legally permitted to purchase and hold stock of scheduled medications for administration to the public. These medications are required to treat conditions like chest pain, shortness of breath, and seizures. 

Based on email correspondence sighted, Surf Life Saving NSW reportedly explained to a journalist writing for a popular media outlet that there was “no contractual obligation” to hold a Wholesale Poisons Licence and that, because SLSS had “arrangements with the Health Ministry”, it “did not prevent them for dispensing medicines or delivering medical services appropriately.” 

Neither Destination NSW nor SLSNSW provided an explanation on this “arrangement”, and NSW Health provided no other legal pathway for delivering paramedic services and administering scheduled medications. 

Several sources with inside knowledge of SLSNSW’s operations said when the deal was secured in 2023, the organisation had no paramedic team, medical manager, medical advisory group, clinical framework, medication management protocols, or experience in providing paramedic services at large-scale events.

McDowell, who worked as a casual paramedic at Vivid 2024 before being appointed as Medical Operations Coordinator at Vivid 2025, claimed that it was “widely known internally at SLSNSW that all sites in 2023 did not have paramedic personnel present every night, the year Vivid had its highest attendance on record, which could not have adhered to the Medical Safety Plan.” 

“In my view, public safety was compromised, and I think Destination NSW and Surf Life Saving Services were lucky there were no major incidents,” McDowell added.

Limited paramedic presence at Vivid 2023 was also corroborated by other sources familiar with the organisation. However, Destination NSW and Surf Life Saving NSW would not comment on the number of paramedics present that year. 

Destination NSW changes the rules

Government departments and agencies are expected to undertake rigorous procurement processes to ensure public funds are spent responsibly and in the public interest. In NSW, the NSW Procurement Policy Framework sets out both mandatory and advisory provisions for government buyers. The mandatory requirements include that buyers must ensure the procurement process is fair, ethical, transparent, probity-rich, and designed to maximise market competition.

Upon closer examination of the 2023 procurement document against those from previous years, there are differences that Destination NSW would not explain, and that raise questions on fairness, transparency, probity, and competition. 

Spot the difference  

Legal requirements absent in 2023   

The requirement for paramedic services providers to hold relevant licences appeared in the procurement documents before 2023, but was missing in the 2023 RFT, which was not publicly accessible. 

Specifically, the 2020 and 2021 procurement documents contained this provision: “The successful service provider will be required to provide all relevant accreditation, licenses and qualifications.” The 2023 RFT did not. 

That requirement was reintroduced in the procurement document for Vivid 2026, after a Private Paramedic Authority had been put in place under McDowell. 

The 2026 document stated: “The supplier must provide appropriate workers compensation insurance, and any other applicable insurances, licences and accreditations – as required by law.”

Commenting on the omission in the 2023 RFT, McDowell said, “It seems convenient to me. It enables both parties to state that contractual obligations were fulfilled.”

Another requirement that was absent in the 2023 RFT: compliance with the Modern Slavery Act 2018. The Act addresses modern slavery and slavery-like practices, including those involving child labour. In Australia, the worst forms of child labour include when children “work in dangerous or unhealthy conditions that could make them sick, or where they may get injured or die.”

Compliance with this Act reappeared in the RFQ for Vivid 2026: “[The] supplier must be able to demonstrate how it complies with all applicable laws, statutes and regulations in force from time to time which relate to modern slavery, including any obligations by way of moral obligation.”

The evaluation criteria 

The 2023 tender document shows respondents were judged on six criteria. The top was “cost-effectiveness/value for money and capacity to deliver with the proposed fee/cost”. 

After numerous attempts, Destination NSW would not share how much taxpayer money it spent on first aid and paramedic services at Vivid from 2023-2025. However, a contract notice on Buy NSW showed that Destination NSW paid Surf Life Saving Services $463,909 for paramedic and first aid services at Vivid 2026. 

If the agency paid the same annual sum across 2023-2025, the three-year contract could have been worth about $1.39 million. Without transparency from Destination NSW or Surf Life Saving Services, the public cannot know how much of its money was spent, or assess whether it got value for it.

The evaluation criteria also included “demonstrated experience, reliability and successful delivery in providing similar services for large-scale, multi-day major events across multiple precincts”. 

Destination NSW and Surf Life Saving Services have not provided evidence of SLSS’ prior experience in delivering paramedic services at large-scale events. Destination NSW would also not clarify whether SLSS provided two referees who could verify the organisation’s demonstrated experience, nor whether the agency called the referees. 

Sources familiar with how Surf Life Saving Services operates stated that, prior to 2023, the organisation would partner with external paramedic services providers (for example, through sub-contracting), but not directly offer paramedic services. The same sources explained this is because SLSS had no internal paramedic team or capability. 

Surf Life Saving NSW's leadership appears to have been aware of the organisation's shortcomings when the deal was secured in 2023, according to an audio recording of a post-Vivid 2025 meeting captured by McDowell to protect his lawful interests.  

“Two years ago, when we took this (Vivid Sydney) on, potentially we should have been at risk of losing the contract overall,” said Brent Manieri, SLSNSW General Manager of Public Safety, Emergency Management & Commercial Services.

SLSNSW, its CEO Steven Pearce, and Manieri have not yet provided an explanation on this statement.

Contract extended for Vivid 2026

According to the NSW Procurement Policy Framework, extension options “should” only be exercised if the contract is meeting the agency's needs, and supplier performance is satisfactory.

For two years of the three-year contract, Surf Life Saving Services operated paramedic services unlawfully, and lacked resources, governance, and systems to deliver paramedic services at large-scale events. In November 2025, Destination NSW extended the contract anyway, to cover Vivid 2026, saying it was “satisfied” that SLSS met its obligations under the contract. 

Additionally, the NSW Procurement Policy Framework states that government buyers must use “best endeavours to identify adverse findings against suppliers and report such findings to the Procurement Board.”

After McDowell escalated public safety concerns externally in July 2025, Destination NSW and the Minister for Tourism Stephen Kamper MP did not make an attempt to speak with him or view his evidence prior to November 2025, when Destination NSW decided to extend its contract with Surf Life Saving Services.  

“Ensuring stringent public safety practices are followed is always our primary consideration in delivering Vivid Sydney,” a letter signed by Tony Coleman, Director of Corporate Services at Destination NSW, stated. 

“I thank you (Steve McDowell) for bringing this matter to the attention of the NSW Government, and advise that no further action will be taken.”

Destination NSW and SLSNSW respond similarly 

Destination NSW failed to answer most of the questions put to it. What it offered instead was a set of general assurances. 

“Destination NSW takes the safety of event attendees, staff and contractors seriously. Comprehensive planning, risk management and assurance processes are in place for all major events it delivers, including Vivid Sydney,” a spokesperson from Destination NSW said. 

“Plans are developed with relevant agencies including NSW Ambulance to ensure an appropriate level of first aid personnel are on site during events like Vivid Sydney and are reviewed by independent risk advisers.”

A SLSNSW spokesperson provided similar assurances. 

“SLSNSW takes the health and safety of its staff, volunteers and the public seriously, and has a wide range of systems in place to ensure the protection of all involved in the Vivid event each year. 

“These processes are regularly reviewed by NSW Ambulance and Destination NSW, as the organiser of Vivid Sydney, as part of our regular contract renegotiations.”

Destination NSW would not discuss whether plans and processes were followed on the ground throughout the life of the contract, nor how the agency monitored compliance with them. 

McDowell, who has been vocal about his experiences on LinkedIn, said, “In my view, Destination NSW either turned a blind eye, or they were incompetent. Either way, its decisions risked public safety.”

In Part 2, find out what happened at Vivid Sydney following Destination NSW’s procurement decisions. Coming soon. 

If you have any information on Vivid Sydney, Destination NSW, and Surf Life Saving NSW, send an email to thedisclosermedia@proton.me or reach out anonymously via Signal to teebee.111. 

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