Some days it seems that the Gods just smile down on us - based on some rumblings we’ve heard around the traps, and via another post from our good friend BrokenLeftLeg (Click here - FCF Part 16 article), it would appear there’s been some action for Cr Humphrey regarding the collection of “evidence” that Pt Impossible is a “gay beat”.

In a fit of responsible journalism, someone at the Geelong Independent (and we have our suspicions who) faxed 10 pages of “offensive” gay website material to newly elected Surf Coast Shire Mayor Rose Hodge by mistake, when the intended recipient was Cr Ron!!

There are so many problems with this event we don’t even know where to start, so perhaps a few high level bullet points will suffice for now:

• How does Ron think that revoking the clothing optional status will result in the end of a “gay beat”? In case you missed it Ron, it’s not the nudists who are the issue here!!! How he managed to convince a journalist it would be a good idea to stick that kind of content on a fax destined for Ron personally is beyond us
• Journalists are meant to be independent and objective of the issues they report, so why was the Independent sending information directly to a person known to ignore fact and incite hysteria through illogical and unsupportable rhetoric?
• Why are journalists looking at gay websites when they could be spending their time verifying any of the “points” made by Cr Ron (or discovering anything he’s ever said fails any scrutiny at all)
• What were the editors of the Independent thinking, to allow this blatant attempt to maniuplate the situation by allowing sensationalism override good journalism?
• While we’re on the topic of editors, why are they allowing their journalists to use their “investigative skills” to gather information supporting the (rhetorical, sensationalist, hysterical) parties and not at least providing the same information to all interested stakeholders for their response? Did “independence” disappear from journalism and we weren’t told?
• According to the BrokenLeftLeg post, it is possible Mayor Hodge’s children saw the offensive fax. Surely the fact that Ron was smack in the centre of this situation and allowed it to happen is enough for appropriate repurcussions (such as a resignation request or termination)?
• In a response from the Geelong Indepentend Editorial department to representatives of the nudist community, the erroneous sending of the fax to a council official (the Mayor no less) was glossed over in favour of claiming that the clear identification of a gay beat promoter who was masquerading as a nudist will result in a story that’s an “example of fine investigative journalism”!!! And claiming that doing such a story would “expose the level of hipocracy [sic] in the public debate”… Sure, that sounds perfectly reasonable, as long as you’re wearing your naive/gullible hat…

There’s more (with Ron it’s hard to stop), but the summary is actually pretty straight forward and easily understood - the nudist community is considering its options concerning further investigation of the behaviour of the Geelong Independent and the individual journalists involved in this issue. Review of the Code of Ethics of the Australian Journalist Association (part of the Media Entertainment and Arts Alliance, Click here for the code of ethics) has already commenced, along with a review of the options available for registering complaints with the MEAA and the Australian Press Council.

This kind of behaviour is unacceptable, and the nudist community is seeking a public explanation - in this case it has been a useful discovery, as everyone now knows how much they can rely on what they read in the Geelong Independent. And the fact that Cr Ron got himself embroiled in the middle of “gay-porn-gate” is hardly a surprise - hello, people of Torquay, are you sure you want to keep this man on your council???

Apologies for this non-beach related post, but it does concern this sites favourite Surf Coast Shire Councillor Ron Humphrey. For those of you not aware, Surf Coast Shire Mayor elections were held today, to fill the popular shoes of departing Mayor Libby Mears (to spend more time with her family, according to sources we read).

Cr Rose Hodge was tipped as a shoe-in for the position, but Cr Ron had been pushing Keith Grossman to the media, etc - turns out not only did Keith not even run for the position, but he stood up at nomination time and nominated Rose!! We predict Cr Ron would have been less than pleased…

Politics is a numbers game - based on the information we’ve read on the Internet, Cr Ron had been taught that lesson before but it doesn’t seem to have sunk in!!

Read all about it on BrokenLeftLeg’s blog post (Click here to read more)

Our congratulations and thanks to Libby Mears for her efforts during the course of our battle to maintain the freedom of the Torquay beaches. Her communication with representatives from the nudist community was always reasonable, objective, and realistic (and in some cases, encouraging in the face of ridiculous circumstances). We wish Cr Rose Hodge all the best in her new role, and look forward to working with the council to resolve the outstanding issues and maintaining the Torquay free beaches as clothing optional into the future.

In the latest media outburst from our favourite Surf Coast Councillor, Cr Ron Humphrey tries yet again to make a point and fails dismally. Not for any lack of trying though!! In this latest article in the Geelong Advertiser titled “Nude beach fight hots up” (Click here to read), what started out as a somwhat reasonable discussion of some of the issues to be raised during the community consultation process was devalued by Cr Humphrey’s inaccurate and inappropriate ramblings (yet again).

Cr Ron’s latest arguments on this issue all seem to be surrounding issues relating to the gay community. Yes, you heard it here first (well, actually it’s about the fourth time now) - Cr Ron seems to think the content of a gay cruising website is the glue that holds together his flimsy “if we ban the nudists then the inappropriate activities in the car park toilets will be solved” argument.

Here’s a quick analysis of what Cr Ron had to say in the article:
the beach needed to be shut down immediately after he was sent information on a website promoting it as a gay haunt
Interesting… Although the article does not provide details of the website Cr Humphrey is using, a search conducted by FBA members and interested people in the nudist community only found one website that was close to the type of site Cr Ron refers to. Sure enough, it is a listing for gay “cruising” locations. Turns out there are 455 locations listed in Victoria, and approx 40 are coastal. Wow, that’s quite a few locations for Cr Ron’s new “shut it down immediately” policy to be applied to!!

Cr Ron (and the media) seem to miss a key point here - what’s this got to do with nudists? As users of the beach, we are just as concerned with reports of inappropriate activity, just like McDonalds patrons are concerned when they hear of fights and stabbings in their local McDonalds carpark on a Friday night. Cr Humphrey is deliberately sending mixed messages every time he opens his mouth, by trying to link the nudist community with the gay community, both of which do not support illegal/indecent/anti-social behaviour in ANY location!!

the website … was proof of the “atrocities” that occurred there
Also fascinating… Although we’re not specialists in “evidence gathering”, we think the police might disagree that a website has the kind of evidenciary value Cr Ron is suggesting. Still missing the point though - can someone tell us how closing the beach to nudists will stop inappropriate behaviour in the car park toilets from occuring? As a NSW report on beach management suggested, the most effective methods for curbing inappropriate behaviour is with better facilities and monitoring, to encourage more beach users, not by excluding the only group of users who adhere to a code of conduct!!

The public needs to be assured that if they go to nude beaches they will not be confronted by the type of people who visit this global, pornographic website
That statement almost sounds like Cr Ron recognises the problem is not related to nudists, since nudists also don’t want to be confronted by inappropriate behaviour of any kind on our beaches, clothed or otherwise! As members of the public and users of the beaches, the nudist community wants the support of the Surf Coast Shire council and local authorities to agree on plans to manage risk and increase safety. We hope the consultation process will bring forth proactive solutions that can be implemented and supported, so that all parties can benefit.

Everyone needs to remember that nudists are not supporters of inappropriate behaviour - simply being nude does not automatically mean you are a nudist. And engaging in inappropriate behaviour of any kind, particularly sexual, is contrary to the nudist code of conduct and is obvious proof that the people involved are not nudists. The nudist community are supporters of legal and appropriate behaviour on our beaches. Inappropriate and/or illegal activity should be dealt with the same as on any beach - report it to the authorities.

As a side note, we have been constantly disappointed with the various journalists who have been reporting on these issues. We are yet to see any journalist actually take Cr Humphrey to task, and question the validity of his arguments. While his quotes do make for entertaining reading, we’ve yet to locate a single verifiable fact in any of the commentary he’s ever made. You only need to do 5 minutes of research to quickly see that Cr Humphrey is not the most popular councillor on the Surf Coast block - he got this unpopular for a reason (actually, many reasons)!!