We commend the efforts of the team over at NakedAustralians for their great article regarding the fight against the reclassification of some Victorian beaches.

The post shows Councillor Ron Humphrey’s speach trying to justify a change in the clothing optional status of Pt Impossible and Southside. Read the speach carefully - one commentor on the site pointed out this interesting throw-away line from Mr Humphrey, perhaps suggesting he has his own personal feelings about nude bathing that are not quite so aligned with other aspects of his speach:

“It’s not the aspect of nude bathing that necessitates this response; although I’m not sure how this activity fits in today’s society of political correctness particularly on public land.”

The post also lists the names and email addresses of all the Surfcoast shire representatives involved, so that we can send appropriate (and respectful!) letters and emails. It is also important to note that the minutes of the meeting indicate two councillers voted against the motion to revoke clothing optional status (Cr Beth Davidson of Anglesea and Cr Libby Mears Mayor of Airey’s Inlet) - in all cases, please be professional and respectful if you do send any communication, and please cc: either this site or the Melbourne Regional Director of the Free Beach Association (contact details for Sue are on the Contacts page).

Here’s the link to the NakedAustralians.com post with all the details -> Click here

Here’s the posting of the meeting minutes again -> Click here

Now that the repairs at the Collingwood Leisure Centre are complete, ConFab is on again on Sunday 30/7. This is a great chance to meet people from the various discussion forums (notably the Yahoo Group Melbourne_Nudist-Naturists). There is also likely to be some discussion about the plight of our beaches under threat (Pt Impossible and Campbells Cove) - if you are a Victorian beach user and are concerned about losing your access to legal clothing optional beaches, please come along and show your support.

We’re not going to ask you to parade down Burke St nude in support or anything, but it would be great to get lots of input into the discussion - these are your beaches too, people!!

Click here for more info and location of Confab

At a recent council meeting of the SurfCoast Shire Council, motions were made for a sub-committee to apply to the appropriate minister to have the status of Pt Impossible revoked, and to increase monitoring of Southside with a view to possible application for revocation in future!

Victoria only has 4 clothing optional beaches - Pt Impossible and Southside are two of them, and Sunnyside and Campbells Cove are the others. Is it coincidental that suddenly 3 of Victorias clothing optional beaches suddenly come under attack? Hard to say… But it is outrageous that Victoria would be heading in a backwards direction while QLD (a state that has never had legal clothing optional beaches) is getting so close to joining the rest of us in the modern world!!

Come on Victorians, this is beyond a joke. If you use the beaches, then help us do something about it - contact the Free Beach Association in Melbourne (check the Contacts page), contact us here, or write to the Minister in charge using the following details:

The Honourable Rob Justin Hulls
Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Minister for
Planning
Level 17, 8 Nicholson St, East Melbourne 3002
Tel: 9637 8855
Fax: 9637 8921
Email:

To read the actual minutes of the SurfCoast Shire meetings, click the link below

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Call to ban birthday suit a bummer (from The Age)
According to an article posted on The Age (Click Here), Wyndham City Council wants to ban the clothing optional status to make way for a $2m tourist development.

The original text of the article cannot be republished without permission, but opinions are strong throughout the Victorian nudist community - the loss of any legal nude beach without a replacement on offer could be construed as an attack on the clothing optional beach status of all beaches (at the extreme end of the perspective) - at the very least it is an insult to the nudist/naturist community by presuming their concerns can be overlooked without due process.

Check the Links page and join the Melbourne_nudist-naturists for a more detailed discussion! This article will be updated as status changes.

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Update 24/07/06:

An article appeared in a local newspaper produced by the Star News Group, which you can read here. Although the beach itself may not be the most comfortable, loss of the clothing optional status of one beach without being offered a replacement (equivalent or otherwise) is really where the problem lies. Campbells Cover may not be the greatest beach, but it is a useful location on the west coast of Port Philip Bay and easily the closest legal location to the city.

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Update 25/07/06:

A petition has been started addressed to the Australian Government. If you are a clothing optional beach user, or are thinking of being one in the future, we urge you to sign the petition.

Check it out here!!

(Taken from a post to Melbourne_nudist-naturists Yahoo forum)

Although we have about 20 legal nude beaches throughout Australia, and many more that are unofficially condoned by the authorities, there are never any guarantees. In the past we have seen high profile legal nude beaches such as Reef Beach in Sydney Harbour closed due to pressure from local objectors. You can help prevent this by following the prompts in the list below and vote against the proposed closures.

Miners Beach - near Port Macquarie, New South Wales Miners Beach is an unofficial nude beach near Port Macquarie, NSW. (Lighthouse NP). At the end of 2003 the council built a boardwalk from the nearby textile beach and now people walk through the NP via the nude beach. The council has recently erected signs saying “If nudists offend contact police”.

We are therefore close to losing yet another unofficial nude beach in NSW (Little Conwong Beach” has suffered the same problems). I have been alerted to the website of a magazine that is running a poll as to whether to keep a nude beach at Miners Beach or not. The website address is http://www.focusmag.com.au

We need all nudists to go to the site. On the left at the bottom of the article is a poll. Click on this and vote “yes” to keep the nude beach. We need your help with this NOW!

(At the time of posting this article, 1323 votes had been cast with 82.2% indicating support of an official nude beach on the mid-north coast)

For the full article, Click here or click below if the link has been taken down…

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