The law carries up to three months in prison. The fall could be fatal. Neither appears to have changed his mind.
Somewhere above the 40th floor of one of Sydney most active construction sites, a young man let go of the ladder rung and looked down.
Nearly 300 metres below him sat the city. He kept climbing.
The footage, posted to social media, shows a young daredevil at the summit of a crane atop the under-construction skyscraper at 55 Pitt Street in Sydney’s CBD one hand on the structure, the other apparently free. No harness. No helmet. No safety equipment of any kind.
NSW Police Commissioner Mal Lanyon watched the footage and arrived at a two-word verdict: “Absolutely stupid.”
“There is no activity to go onto social media that’s putting yourself at this type of risk,” Lanyon said.
The climber, who spoke anonymously to reporters after the footage circulated, was unbothered.
“I like to think of it as more of a challenge,” he said. “And just knowing that I can do that makes me want to.”
When asked whether he would stop, his answer was brief: “I don’t think so.”
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How he got up there
The breach at 55 Pitt Street slated to become one of Sydney’s largest office skyscrapers when complete was not a sophisticated operation. The climber made it past site security on foot, entered the building, and ascended 40 flights of stairs before reaching the scaffolding that gave him access to the crane itself.
From there, he climbed hand over hand to the crane’s peak, periodically hanging out over the edge before continuing upward, capturing the ascent on camera throughout.
Security at the site has since been tightened in response to the breach. The construction company responsible for the site has been contacted for comment.
It is not the first time this individual has filmed himself in this position. He previously posted footage of himself on top of a crane in Parramatta, suggesting a pattern of escalating climbs rather than a one-off stunt.
What the law says
The climb almost certainly constitutes multiple offences under New South Wales law.
Under section 8A of the Summary Offences Act 1988 (NSW), a person who risks the safety of any other person by climbing up or on any part of a building or structure except by using stairs, lifts or other means provided for that purpose is guilty of an offence carrying a maximum penalty of 10 penalty units or three months’ imprisonment, or both.
Entering the construction site without permission compounds the exposure. Under section 4B of the Inclosed Lands Protection Act 1901 (NSW), trespassing on land used for business where the entry endangers safety or causes disruption is a serious offence distinct from and more severe than basic trespass.
It is not known whether NSW Police have laid charges in relation to the 55 Pitt Street climb.
A global subculture with a local following
The young man is not operating in isolation. He is part of an established and growing international subculture.
Rooftopping the typically illegal, unsecured ascent of rooftops, skyscrapers, towers, cranes and other tall structures is an offshoot of urban exploration. Rooftoppers usually film or photograph their climbs and publish the footage online. The practice is mainly undertaken by younger people and has resulted in deaths and serious injuries around the world.
Notable cases include Wu Yongning, a Chinese climber known online as “Chinese Superman”, who died in 2017 while performing a rooftopping stunt. In 2012, a man fell to his death while rooftopping the Intercontinental Hotel in Chicago.
Social media has turbocharged the subculture’s growth. Footage of crane climbs and rooftop stunts regularly accumulates millions of views and the attention, critics argue, is precisely what drives young climbers to take greater risks.
The Property Council of Australia has previously warned property owners and building managers that security and regulatory responsibilities should be reviewed in light of the growing trend, noting that once an occupier knows of a specific risk of harm from known dangerous behaviour, they may be under a legal duty to take precautions against it.
The risk is not only to the climber
The NSW Police Commissioner’s language “absolutely stupid” was not directed solely at the personal risk the young man was taking.
A fall from nearly 300 metres would not only kill the climber. Debris, equipment or a body falling from that height into an active construction site or a public street below poses a lethal risk to workers and pedestrians.
SafeWork NSW data shows that falls from heights are consistently one of the leading causes of fatalities and serious injuries at workplaces across NSW and that is among trained, equipped, authorised workers.
Legal analysis by Australian property law specialists has also noted that building occupiers may owe a duty of care even to trespassers in some circumstances meaning that if a rooftopper is injured on a site where access has not been adequately restricted, the site operator could face civil liability regardless of the illegal nature of the entry.
Whether social media platforms share any responsibility
The footage from the 55 Pitt Street climb was posted publicly and circulated widely before any moderation occurred. It is not the first time Australian authorities have raised questions about platforms hosting content that documents dangerous and illegal activity and the question of whether views and engagement effectively incentivise such stunts remains contested.
The young climber’s own framing is telling: his motivation, as he described it, was not simply the physical challenge but the ability to document it, share it, and prove it.
“Just knowing that I can do that makes me want to,” he said.
Whether what comes next is another climb or a charge sheet remains to be seen.
