The time when fresh-faced teenagers break free of the shackles of 13 years of school and descend on the Gold Coast has arrived once again.
Up to 20,000 teens are expected to drink excessively and party on the Sunshine State strip during Schoolies celebrations, with parents worrying from afar as their chicks leave the nest.
It's a busy time for emergency services responding to celebrations turning sour from intoxication and violence.
School leavers will also flock to the Sunshine Coast, Airlie Beach and Byron Bay during the nationwide celebrations, which kick off on Saturday and run til December 1.
But research shows fewer attendees are indulging in risky drinking with nine in 10 choosing activities not involving alcohol in 2023, including exercising with friends, alcohol-free beach days and dining out.
Binge drinking remained a key activity for nearly a quarter of school leavers with one fifth consuming more alcohol after the event, a DrinkWise study found.
Researcher Amy Pennay said young people are drinking less over time but the 18-24 age group remains the peak time for experimentation.
"It becomes an even more risky time because you're not used to drinking, you don't know what it takes to get drunk and your tolerance is very low," the alcohol policy researcher at La Trobe University told AAP.
"You feel like it's not working and then all of the sudden it hits you all at once.
"I think that's why at Schoolies we see a lot of intoxication behaviour and increase in emergency departments."
School leavers tend to take more risks after the stress of the final year of education ends and there is a sudden release of responsibilities, Dr Pennay said.
This year's Schoolies has already been plagued by drama with backlash to an adult content creator who promised to bed "barely legal" men at the event and film it to publish on a subscription-based site.
A petition with more than 20,000 signatures was created calling on the Australian government to cancel UK Only Fans creator Bonnie Blue's visa.
Her visa was revoked as carrying out work in Australia would be a breach of the conditions.
It was predictable that teens might be interested in taking up Ms Blue's offer, however it came down to their brain chemistry, psychology researcher Rachael Sharman said.
She said the 18-year-olds attending Schoolies still have the frontal lobes of their brains developing which inhibits their risk-to-reward analysis.
Teens aren't great at considering the long-term consequences of a decision like filming sex and putting it on the internet, Professor Sharman added.
"It might sound like a really great idea to get yourself up on (Only Fans) having sex with someone but you know in 10 years when you're at the alter ready to say 'I do', your wife might not be very pleased," the University of the Sunshine Coast researcher said.
Parents should have conversations with children around the long-term consequences of such behaviour, Prof Sharman said.
She recommended also having conversations about safe sex and consent before the event.
"Parents sitting down and having a discussion over the dinner table is very, very important," she said.
Teenagers might not listen to their parents' sage advice but Prof Sharman said simply planting the seed was important.
"You give them a bank of ideas that they can pull from if they find themselves in a difficult situation," she said.
Pill testing will go ahead at the Gold Coast event after the Liberal National government backtracked on plans to dump the service.
The former Labor government had committed funding for the free and confidential service to be rolled out for the first time.
No decision has been made on whether it will be retained next year.
The evidence overwhelmingly suggested that people made good decisions after receiving pill testing results, Dr Pennay said, urging the government to make it a permanent fixture at Schoolies.
"I think anything that is going to reduce harm is a good idea and I don't think there is any evidence to show that it encourages (drug) use at all," she said.
School leavers will be supported by emergency services and charity volunteer group Red Frogs, which urged school leavers to never leave their friends behind, leave a drink unattended or accept drinks from others.
They recommend charging phones before heading out, drinking lots of water and eating healthy meals, with students also encouraged to check in with their parents and be careful about what is posted on social media.
