I will be a withdrawal from this event.
Completely my fault. I only gave the waiver a cursory glance when signing it, and I hadn't really had a chance to participate in any forum discussions for quite a number of months. Logged on for the first time this morning, and caught up with some of the discussions. I've now re-read the waiver and cannot, as a matter of principal, reconcile myself with signing away my rights for somebody else's negligence. I'm pretty sure that would be overridden by legislation under Health and Safety, and implied duty of care, but I could be wrong.
I don't expect anything to go wrong, but there's no way I will condone telling the owner of a venue that I absolve them of any negligence.
What's done is done. I can't unsign the waiver. I won't be asking for my money back. I simply will not be attending Parkes.
Sorry, folks.