The news is in and it’s all good - Cr Dean Webster is now Mayor of the Surf Coast Shire Council. Like Cr Rose Hodge before him, we found Dean to be a reasonable and logical Councillor, willing to hear all sides of a discussion and let common sense prevail.

But it wasn’t a landslide win, and it does look like we’re heading into another period of split council. If anyone knows how council terms work (ie how long councillors serve, re-elections, etc), we’d appreciate hearing from you.

The Victorian nudist community has never asked councils anywhere to pick sides - just stick to the facts and give nudists a fair go!! We’re no different to anyone else on the beaches, we just wear less!!

Here’s the link to the article if you want to read more -> Click here!!

And remember, if you see anything inappropriate on the legal nude beaches, make sure you report it!! In particular, the carparks and dunes areas are NOT part of the nude beaches - be responsible nudists, make a stand for our facilities and report anything you see!!

After the fascinating but completely misleading article “Nude Beach Sex Shock”, the Addy was good enough to run a letter to the editor response, which they could have ignored so kudos to them for printing it up!!

We couldn’t locate an online version, so here’s a scan from the paper itself -> Click here

We completely agree - if there is any kind of activity going on that should be reported to police, do so!! Nude beach, clothed beach, or centre of town - inappropriate behaviour should be reported.

Thanks Rob for writing in to the paper - be great if more people wrote in to the papers, but if you don’t want to be that outspoken, drop us a line here and let us know your thoughts.

Just when we all thought it was going to be a quiet summer, the Geelong Advertiser decided to come out and show us all that not much has changed. An article appeared today with a reader-grabbing headline that was immediately shown to be completely inaccurate IN THE ARTICLE ITSELF!!!

Now, we’d like to give Rebecca Tucker the benefit of the doubt and assume she is not also responsible for creating the headlines that the Addy runs, but it does go to show that whoever is writing these catchy phrases isn’t actually reading the articles when they come up with these gems!!

So, just to clarify in case anyone can’t see it for themselves in this article (or the plain text of the article below if the link does not work) - there was no sex on the nude beach, the incident happened on the clothed area about 1km away from where the clothing optional area starts!! Clearly we can now expect a summer of reports of activity all along the Surf Coast that will be blamed on the nude beaches - don’t worry about facts, if there was sand involved then the nudists must be to blame!!

On a positive note, it was great that Mrs Simpson reported the incident to police - that is exactly what any beach-goer should do on ANY beach, since incidents like this are not legal and should not be tolerated. It was also great to see Mrs Simpson calling for better signage, since this is exactly what the nudist community also wants, and was agreed as one of the outcomes from the council workshops held so many months ago.

We’ll wait to hear if there are any calls to have the clothed beaches closed, since they are clearly attracting inappropriate behaviour… OK, we’re being facetious, but we hope the point is pretty obvious!!

Nude beach sex shock
Rebecca Tucker

25Nov07

A NAKED couple having sex at Pt Addis beach shocked a mother walking with her teenage daughter on Saturday afternoon.

Katrina Simpson said she was on the beach about 12.30pm with her husband and their teenage daughter when they came across the indecent act.

She said the couple was in full view, about 30m to the right of the beach access stairs, in the area designated for full clothing.

The Surf Coast beach is famous for its optional dress code, but that does not begin for about 1km to the left of the steps.

Mrs Simpson said the couple was to the right of the steps in the general access area.

But she said regardless of which section they were in, their sexual activity should not have been on public display.

“I’m not a wowser but I have great respect for our community and this is a community beach,'’ Mrs Simpson, a nearby resident for the past 25 years, said.

She telephoned the police after witnessing the incident.

Mrs Simpson earlier this year campaigned for better signage at the beach, raising concerns sunbathers did not know where the optional dress area began.

She said at the time that some male nudists used that as an excuse to parade naked in the general access area.

At the weekend she renewed calls to improve signage, beginning with postings on Pt Addis Rd so people were aware of the different zones before they got to the beach.

Mrs Simpson said apart from the couple having sex at the general access area, her family also came across a naked man reading his newspaper.

“He was still in the wrong area but he covered up with the paper, so at least he was being discreet,'’ she said.

“We’re coming to the start of the summer season and we’re going to have the same issues as last year unless something is done about it.

“It’s a national park so we have every right to be there and people may have a right to choose not to wear clothing but they don’t have to do it in our face, that’s what the other area is for.'’

But Mrs Simpson said no area was suitable for public sex.

This article was posted in the Geelong Advertiser today - credit to Lauren for writing a purely factual (albeit short) article on the outcome of the long process. It seems like the articles we’re seeing lately are a reflection of the general perception of the whole issue - ho hum, process is done, let’s all move on!! We couldn’t agree more!!

Here’s the link if you want to see the real article (Nudity prevails at Torquay Beach), but we’ve posted the text below due to the Addy removing online articles really quickly after they are published. We believe it’s ok to post text like this as long as due credit is given to the source (Thanks Geelong Advertiser!!). If that understanding is incorrect, please let us know (who has any idea about Copyright laws these days? It’s all so confusing…)

Nudity prevails at Torquay beach

Lauren Pike

30Apr07

NUDISTS can keep their clothes off at Torquay’s Point Impossible beach for at least another year.

The Surf Coast Shire has signed off on a 12-month trial of new measures it hopes will keep both the nude sunbathers and those who oppose them happy.

Surf Coast Mayor Rose Hodge said the council made the final decision after public consultation on the shire’s earlier support for nude sunbathing.

Cr Hodge said the shire had consulted widely with the community, police, nudist federation and government agencies before reaching its decision.

She said a January workshop to address the issue produced recommendations including:

IMPROVED signs at beach entrance roads, the car park and bridge access points alerting the public to the beach’s “optional dress'’ area and restricting access to the sand dunes;

SURVEILLANCE of the beach and sand dunes;

STAKEHOLDER groups to encourage their members to report antisocial or obscene incidents or behaviour, and;

GREAT Ocean Road Coast Committee to develop a weed and rabbit control program and litter control campaign to protect and preserve the coastal environment.

“Council will now test the success of new measures over the next 12 months, reviewing its decision next April,'’ Cr Hodge said.

We delayed posting this information while we waited for comments/outcry’s from the various councils, but since none has been forthcoming, we assume this information is now safe to release. This letter was received by one our our representatives on 22 March, from DSE South West Region in Ballarat - this is an official response given by DSE on behalf of the Minister for Planning, and therefore is about as official a response as we’ll ever see!!

Thank you for your letter dated 5th March 2007 to the Minister for Planning in respect of the Point Impossible clothing optional beach. I have been asked to reply to you on the Minister’s behalf.

The department (DSE) appreciates your interest and participation in the January 2007 workshop held by Surf Coast Shire. The contribution of stakeholders in such processes is very important, and brings many benefits including informed and balanced decision making.

I am pleased to note your endorsement of the outcomes of the workshop. I understand that the Shire in conjunction with the Great Ocean Road Coast Committee (GORCC) have commenced to implement the workshop’s recommendations for improved management. I am advised that works include widening of access paths, revegetation of disturbed dunes, installation of pedestrian barrier fencing to protect dune vegetation and installation of upgraded signs including interpretative signs encouraging dune conservation, are proposed or underway. I am also pleased to hear that your Association has been working with and supporting GORCC with its land management responsibilities at Point Impossible.

I am advised that the other councils who have raised similar concerns in respect to the locations and management of clothing optional beaches in their municipalities are being encouraged to run similar workshops to review their concerns and identify the management options. Any changes to the status of any of the currently designated clothing optional beaches will be based on a thorough understanding of the issues and options and through consultation with stakeholders.

At this stage, I understand that no change to the status of any of these beaches is proposed.

Thank you for your interest in this matter.

HURRAH!!!! Well done to everyone involved, but in particular to Rob, who relentlessly wrote letters, made phone calls, and generally hassled anyone who would listen - perhaps the State Government simply gave in to stop the flood of letters and calls?!?

It’s also important to note that last sentence before the sign-off - no change to the status of any beach is proposed!!! Now that the heat is slightly reduced, we can use the coming winter months to work on our strategy for next summer, when we hope to show we can keep our part of the bargain and get real interest from beach users in looking after their facilities.

We’re proud of our efforts, and we’re pleased that so many people were able to support us along the way. Thanks to everyone who got involved and did their bit to help save our beaches.

We’re also pleased to note that Cr Humphrey, the one person who started this whole roller-coaster ride, has now moved on to something new - opposition to parking meters being installed in beach carparks… and so it goes….