According to the latest article in the Mornington Peninsula Leader, Sunnyside beach has actually been waiting for works to be completed since a 2004 report rated carpark safety and maintenance a “high priority”.

That’s over 5 years ago!! According to the article (which you can read if you click here:

The council’s sustainable environment director Alex Atkins described replacing the toilet block as “major works”. Mr Atkins said major works were addressed on a priority basis.

Fair enough – the council, like all government “businesses”, has to prioritise how funds are used, so they can maximise return on the investment! But are we the only ones that have noticed a slight bit of inconsistency here?? Apparently the council is aware of the need to complete the “major works” on the toilets since the 2004 report stated that carpark safety and maintenance is a “high priority”, and yet there is a push to close the CO beach (which is over 300 meters away)??? And we’re guessing the report didn’t say anything about the CO beach itself (since that’s not where problems have been experienced historically!!)

Toilets and carparks are problematic at many beaches – just because there happens to be a CO beach nearby does not mean an automatic association should be made.

Righto then, sorry for the long post in advance!! It appears the nudist community is a pretty “positive action” kind of bunch!! To be fair, we have played a couple of games of “Council wants to close the beach” in the past – it’s never fun, the arguments are always the same, and the strategies that would be most effective are yet to be employed anywhere that we’re aware of (and there are positive steps that can be taken, we’ve read the report!!).

The title of this post is actually the first line of another article about Sunnyside pointed out to us today – Click here to read. According to the article:

The [Mornington Peninsula] Leader has been inundated with complaints since it revealed Mornington Peninsula Shire Council was determined to have Sunnyside North beach’s nudist status reviewed.

Well done everyone for showing your support for our beaches – we know there’s lots of support out there, and it’s nice to see it in action!! Any time an article about our beaches runs with a poll, we always see landslide wins in favour of keeping the beaches Clothing Optional (CO). If there are comments permitted, the trend is usually obvious pretty early – lots of support, and bunch of ambivalence (“who cares; if I don’t like it I just won’t use that beach; whatever…”), and the very small minority that actually seem to think clothing optional beaches are the root cause of all evil on earth!! Some of the comments are outlandish to say the least, just check some of the dissenting comments on last weeks article!!

But what is the real problem here? Is it really the fact that people are stripping off? Surely not – anyone who has visited a clothed beach these days has probably noticed how little there is in the way of clothing!! The real problem is that ALL beaches have a variety of problems, and ALL beaches require a combination of council, police and community cooperation to ensure a safe environment everyone can enjoy! But it’s hard to get that approach working effectively, or quickly – so the knee-jerk reaction is always the easy option. It’s important to remember that Victoria’s legal beaches are Clothing Optional, not “nude mandatory” – the nudist community is interested in a friendly and safe beach, definitely not to the exclusion of clothed users.

And here is the real kicker, for those of you that are new to these discussions – the “issues” that are constantly being cited as justification to close the CO beaches are not related to the beach itself!!. Beaches all along our coasts generally suffer from 2 issues – inappropriate behaviour in the carparks and toilets (drinking, cruising, drugs, etc); or inappropriate behaviour in sand dunes (where they exist behind the beaches). Police along the Surf Coast (where Pt Impossible is) noted during workshops held last year that there were exactly zero issues reported to them relating to the designated CO zone. And the Mornington Police noted a similar situation on this side of the bay:

Sgt Webster said few complaints relating to unsavoury behaviour came from the actual nudist beach.
He said they related mainly to behaviour in the toilet block and carpark.

The main challenge for the nudist community is perceptions. Nude does not equal sex. Nude does not equal lewd. Tarnishing nudists with broad generalisations helps no-one, and doesn’t solve any of the real issues!! It is in everyone’s interests to work together towards safe public spaces for everyone. Blaming nudists for inappropriate behaviour (of non-nudists!) in the carpark is akin to blaming a fast food restaurant for the pub brawl that happened next door (facetious perhaps, but you can see the point!).

And to finish:

The council was unable to comment on what it had done since a 2004 report rated Sunnyside beach carpark safety and maintenance a “high priority”.

The report said the council should consider removing or redesigning the toilet block, installing security lighting in the carpark and installing surveillance cameras.

That’s exactly the same path suggested by a coastal study done by Monash University late 2002, titled “Feasibility of Identifying Family Friendly Beaches along Victoria’s Coastline”. The suggestions for eliminating anti-social behaviour in beach carparks included better lighting, access redesigns, and improved facilities with better maintenance. Section 8.10 of the report if you are interested in reading further about the theories of “Crime prevention through environmental design”.

Removing the clothing optional status of Sunnyside will have exactly zero effect in resolving issues that are being experienced in the carparks and toilets. The nudist community will be quite vocal through this process, and has always supported open communication with all stakeholders in order to achieve a positive outcome for all beach users – a lot of data has been collected from the previous experience with the Surf Coast Shire over Pt Impossible, and already the initial observations have a familiar ring to them!

We encourage the council to contact the Australian Nudist Federation (details on the Links page), or drop us an email here so that we can forward contact details to appropriate representatives from the community. The nudist community has a lot of knowledge and experience relating to the beaches, and we will work hard to ensure that the clothing optional status is maintained.

BTW, credit again to Andrea Kellett, it was a good article that covered the facts and presented both sides of the story. As a minority community, fair and unbiased reporting has not always been provided in the past, so we do notice when the media covers all the relevant facts!

Another side note as well – please check out the About and Legal Stuff links – this site is simply an information portal. The official representatives of the nudist community are the Australian Nudist Federation and Free Beaches Australia (and not us, we just keep an eye on activity here in Victoria!)

Sunnyside beach at Mt Eliza is now officially under threat – in the past there has been a few noises here and there about getting the CO status revoked, particularly around the same time Pt Impossible was being debated by the Surf Coast Shire Council. This time is different – the articles in the media have started!

An article appeared in the Franskston Leader titled “Bid to Strip Away Nudist Rights at Mt Eliza Nudist Beach – you can check out the article here: Click here. Another post will follow this with a high level analysis of the comments made in the article – we just want to go back and read up on the discussions from Pt Impossible, since this feels like deja vu!!

If anyone here recalls the beach battle over Pt Impossible a couple of years ago, you’ll probably know how this is going to play out. So we’re starting early on this one and asking that we all start “rallying the troops” so to speak. The same issues as Pt Impossible have already been raised, with the primary reasons given being antisocial behaviour in the car park and inappropriate use of the toilets! And again, like last time, we’d like to highlight the fact that neither of those areas are the clothing optional beach, and we expect the participants are not nudists!

We ask all beach users to continue to behave appropriately at our beaches. Victoria Police encourage people to call and report inappropriate or illegal behaviour, just like you would at any clothed beach. But most importantly, talk to each other, particularly at the beach itself – many of the beach users are not always online, may not see sites like this one or participate in the various forums, so chat to the person next to you and we can all stay informed.

It is almost certain you’ll see more articles on this topic over coming weeks – please lend your support and help fight to retain the status of the beaches we all use and enjoy! If anyone is willing to put their hand up and be involved, please let us or the forums know – there’s always a shortage of people who can attend council workshops, talk to the media, or be ready to go with comments on newspaper polls.

As a side note, kudos to Andrea Kellett, the journalist who wrote the article. It was a factual and objective piece, and didn’t follow any of the disappointing “cheap laugh” patterns we saw from articles in the papers across the bay last time we had a beach battle on our hands! We look forward to working with the media throughout this process to ensure that both sides of the argument are fairly and duly represented

Today there was a sudden flurry in activity surrounding the (ongoing) push for a new clothing optional beach closer to the city. We’re not exactly sure why the sudden interest in what has been a long time (but often unmoving) interest in a “Clothing Optional” location that is more convenient in terms of public transport – as we all know, unless you have a car then the extraordinary lengths you need to take to get to a CO beach often turns people off the idea (not to mention the parking challenges if you do have a car, particularly at Sunnyside!).

An article appeared in the Herald Sun that has more details – Click here to read. There’s also a similar version on News.com.au – Click here

From the article:

[Water Minister Tim Holding said] “I think the slogan has always been if you’ve got it flaunt it and I am willing to recognise my limitations and I won’t be encouraging the spread of nudism in anyway across Victoria”.

An interesting view and everyone is certainly welcome their own, but it is clear that Mr Holding has never frequented a Clothing Optional beach, as he would very quickly identify the lack of supermodels trying to “flaunt” anything!! We hope that perhaps Mr Holding’s view of not encouraging nudism (which he is entitled to do) does not stretch to actively discouraging it!!

Sandringham MP Murray Thompson said he would oppose any proposal for a nude beach in Sandringham for safety and health reasons. He said families should be encouraged to cover up to lower the risk of skin cancer.

That’s the first time we’ve heard of that argument against a clothing optional beach – obviously nudists encourage a sun smart approach, and a visit to a nude beach will soon highlight that nudists and their use of umbrellas and sun shade (tents) are more sun smart than your average beach goer!! But we digress – the swimming attire of your average beach goer has less coverage than most underwear anyway… enough said!

But the main point we’d like to make here is that this discussion is not at all about “us and them” – the goal is always to provide Clothing Optional beaches to be used by anyone in any state of dress. The nudist community is the first to acknowledge that the beaches are for everyone to use and enjoy, and making them clothing option is simply a slight adjustment on how they are currently being used!! Suggesting that any beach should be “nude only” would be the same as trying to prevent beach users from wearing T-shirts and shorts and calling them over-dressed – it just doesn’t make sense.

It was interesting to note that (at the time of writing) the Herald Sun poll attached to the above article was showing just over 70% support for the idea of a clothing optional beach closer to the city (2419 Yes from 3433 votes). Many of the article comments recognise the reality of beach life today – swimming attire is so close to nude already, it’s not really a huge leap anyway.

Don’t forget Clean Up Australia Day this Sunday, click the icon top right on the main page for more details!! Be in it, the beaches need your support!!

NineMSN’s travel pages came up with a very entertaining look at beaches, holidaying, and naturism in general. A good read, check it out!!

http://travel.ninemsn.com.au/article.aspx?id=579068