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Questions are mounting about why a Victorian music festival was allowed to go ahead in extreme heat following a suspected drug overdose on the weekend.
Aspiring DJ Antony Maugeri, 23, died shortly after being airlifted to hospital in a critical condition from the Pitch Arts and Music Festival in Mafeking, west of Ararat in the Grampians.
Another man in his 20s and a man in his 30s were also rushed to hospital in stable conditions from the same event.
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The music festival was cancelled yesterday amid heat and fire danger warnings, with revellers told to leave by this morning.
But opposition MP Emma Keely questioned why the event was allowed to go ahead in the first place, despite repeated warnings from the Country Fire Authority (CFA).
"(The CFA) urged the organisers to cancel the event and yet we've got this situation where at least three people have been airlifted, multiple people taken out and a really dangerous environment for not just the people who go to the festival, but the local people as well," Keely said.
"We need to make sure that festival organisers aren't just taking the money, that they're also taking responsibility for the patrons, particularly around their health and safety."
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Organisers pulled the pin around 4pm yesterday despite pushing ahead with altered set times on Friday and Saturday when temperatures reached the mid-30s.
Due to the location of the event, mobile reception was limited, making communication with attendees tricky.
Some attendees told 9News they had no idea the event had been cancelled as they had no reception to check their emails.
Keely said the organisers of the event should have stepped up earlier and claimed the issues were known well ahead of the start of the event.
"We all knew this was going to be a hot weekend, it's an accident waiting to happen and unfortunately we've had some catastrophic outcomes this weekend," she said.
"It's just so sad to hear of any young person that's lost their life, but particularly when we've got a music event where things haven't gone quite as well as they could have."
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Two other men at the Esoteric Festival in Victoria were also rushed to hospital following suspected overdoses in the extreme heat on the weekend.
The men, aged in their 30s and 40s, were in a stable condition after being taken to hospital from the festival in Donald on Saturday.
The incidents over the weekend have sparked fresh calls for the Victorian government to change its stance on pill testing.
The Victorian Greens said the latest suspected overdose highlighted the importance of pill testing in the community and at events.
"How many more overdoses need to happen in Victoria before the new Premier shifts gears and finally sets up pill testing in Victoria" Greens drug harm reduction spokesperson Aiv Puglielli said.
"While this Labor government continues to stall, young Victorian lives are being put at risk.
"Even with pure MDMA we've seen how extreme heat can deal a deadly blow. So with untested drugs circulating, this was truly a disaster waiting to happen."
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Puglielli said the government could not afford to delay pill testing from being rolled out.
"It's taking an already dangerous situation and turning it lethal," he said.
"If we want to prevent more overdoses we need pill testing established on-site at music festivals as a matter of urgency."
Premier Jacinta Allan told media earlier this year there were no current plans to change the government's policy settings on drug checking.
"There are no current plans to change the policy setting on drug checking," she said in January.
