Hosting a party

The Criminal Law Amendment (Out-of-Control Gatherings) Act 2012 provides police with additional powers to manage an out-of-control gathering. The legislation also gives the courts the discretion to order a person to pay reasonable compensation costs to police for their response to the out-of-control gathering

Your responsibilities

As a host, you have a duty-of-care for the safety and wellbeing of your guests. While you want them to have a good time you also want to minimise the potential for harm to persons and property as a result of excessive alcohol consumption or gatecrashers. You could be held partly or fully responsible for something that happens to one of your guests at your party.

Hosting a party for teenagers

The guide Hosting a Party for Teenagers provides information and advice for parents when considering hosting a party with teenagers or allowing them to attend a party elsewhere. This guide is available at the Alcohol.Think Again website, which provides numerous resources for parents about alcohol and young people.

Note: the term 'gathering' is now commonly used by teenagers as a substitute for the word 'party'.

Register your party

Please register your party with the WA Police Force in advance of your party or event. You can register online up to 28 days beforehand.

Only parties / events to be held in Western Australia can be registered with the WA Police Force.

As responsible hosts you are also encouraged to register your party so that, if trouble does arise, the police have important information on which to rely when attending to your call.

Registering your party does not mean that it is an invitation for the police to come into your home. Police will not attend a registered party unless:

  • There is a specific request to do so either from the party, from a neighbour or from a concerned parent; or
  • It is in the public interest in order to maintain community order and safety.

The information you provide on the party registration form will be kept in strict confidence and used only by police in the event police need to respond to an incident at your party.

Please note: registering your party with the WA Police Force does not mean that police will provide security for your party and that the capacity of police to undertake patrols of party venues or to visit a party venue in the event of trouble will depend on other demands on resources at the time and the nature of the event in question.

You can register as late as the day of the party / event; however the registration form will accept a date up to a maximum of 28 days in advance. Once you have submitted the online form your party / event will be registered with the Western Australia Police Force. Please note: Should you encounter any problems at your party / event that require Police attendance please call 131444.

This party has been registered with the WA Police Force poster

You can put the 'This party has been registered with the WA Police Force' ( 261 kb) poster on display at the entrance to your party, to inform invited guests and potential gate crashers that your party is registered with the WA Police Force. (Note: the poster is A3 size but can be printed to fit on A4 paper)

Contacting police: For police assistance in the event of trouble call 131444 or in an emergency call 000.

Out-of-control gatherings frequently asked questions

Click here to read some frequently asked questions about out-of-control gatherings.