Australia- WOMEN who bare their breasts on high-rise balconies at this week’s Gold Coast Indy are likely to escape police action.

Indy flashers have become a fixture of the annual race carnival, prompting complaints from some families and moralists.

Two years ago, Australian army helicopter pilots were suspended and an inquiry ordered after they were photographed flying a “show us your tits” banner during a sweep through the Surfers Paradise concrete canyon.

Yesterday, a group of women warmed up for this year’s Indy carnival by exposing their breasts to appreciative construction workers.

But Police Commissioner Bob Atkinson rejected reports that extra police reinforcements will be used to crack down on bawdy balcony displays at this year’s Indy carnival, which starts today.

For the first time, police are being flown in from as far away as Cairns, Townsville and Roma for Indy to help control more than 320,000 spectators.

However, Mr Atkinson said police would be exercising discretion rather than adopting a zero-tolerance attitude towards the traditional Indy fleshfest.

“We’re not the moral judges of society,” he said. “Our role in society is simply to enforce laws that parliament puts into place.

“A good police department, and I hope and believe we are, will exercise enforcement of those laws with a good healthy dose of common sense.”

Police sources said it was difficult to arrest Indy flashers because by the time police accessed highrise balaconies, topless offenders would have put their clothes back on.

But police and fire officers will keep a close watch on balconies to ensure they aren’t overloaded by spectators, creating the potential for a catastophic collapse.

Indy chairman Terry Mackenroth said he was hopeful last year’s attendance record of 316,459 spectators would be broken, although rain predicted for Sunday could put a dampener on numbers. Afternoon storms are also forecast for the next few days.

Mr Mackenroth said the presence of Australian drivers Will Power and Ryan Briscoe had added interest to the event.

He said he did not believe new smoking laws, which will restrict smokers to designated areas around the Indy circuit, would not hurt crowd numbers.

“You haven’t been able to smoke in the grandstands or corporate areas for a number of years,” he said.

“We’ve got 70 designated areas throughout the track for people to go and have a smoke.”