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

We only just noticed that this site (and variants of it) has been up for 5 years!! The domain was first registered 2 Oct 2004, and here we are in November 2009 still going!! We also realised that the site has actually only had 2 style/theme refreshes in that time, and so comes that time again – time for a new look, and perhaps some new and enhanced functionality as well!!

We’re happy to take feedback, and we certainly encourage suggestions on what you’d like to see on the site – but mostly we hope you’ll be patient, since the update is going to leave a little bit of a mess initially!! Like any home renovation, the walls have to come down first before the cool new stuff gets installed!!

Keep checking back as we go through the upgrade process – another note will be posted once the dust is settled and we think it is done (and then you can yell at us for all the things that are broken!!)

Many of you will be aware that the Surf Coast Shire Council held a workshop on 22 January with various community and government stakeholders to discuss the issues raised and debated regarding Pt Impossible. Representatives included:

- Members of the Surf Coast Shire Council
- Surfcoast Community and Ratepayers Association
- Members of the local community
- Free Beaches Australia
- Australian Nudist Federation
- Victoria Police
- Great Ocean Road Council Committee
- Department of Sustainability and Environment (DSE)
- Surf Coast Tourism

Many issues were discussed in the workshop, and a wide variety of views were presented. To summarise the findings contained at the end of the media release:

Improve Signage and Access Management
Improve Enforcement and Presence
Community Partnerships
Improve Environmental Management

Our interpretation of the findings is that there are a number of things that can be done to improve the beach itself and thereby reduce/eliminate the unwanted anti-social behaviour. But there is also a real requirement for the Victorian nudist community to contribute to the safe use of the beach, by reporting inappropriate behaviour, keeping the beaches clean, and keeping out of the dunes and fenced areas.

Please read the official media release (Click here to read)

Great work everyone, we see this is a great result and a first step on the road towards working with the council and the community in keeping our beaches safe and secure.

We urge everyone to take the time to respond to the Surf Coast Shire request for comment, and show your support for keeping the beach open. The address details are on the press release – if you are concerned about privacy, make a note on your submission that you’d like to remain anonymous (we don’t believe individual submissions will be disclosed, but you are welcome to request protection of your personal details)

There’s a poll showing currently on the front page of the online Geelong Advertiser, posing the question “Should nude beaches be banned?”. We’re going to ignore the obvious generalisation of the topic on the grounds that there must have been a limited number of words the Addy could fit in that little box!!

Please get along to the poll and show your support for keeping nude beaches open for the enjoyment of thousands of users from all over Victoria, nationally and even around the world

http://www.geelongadvertiser.com.au/

Update: 27/1/07 1.45pm – 68 voters say no to banning CO beaches, from 76 respondents that’s 89% for keeping them open!!

Update: 28/1/07 10.00am – 187 votes are in, with 91% in favour of not banning nude beaches!!

Update: 30/1/07 11.40pm – 602 votes are in, with 92% saying nude beaches should not be banned!! Support for keeping the beaches open is clearly there

Update: 31/1/07 11.50pm – 662 votes are in, with 92% still saying nude beaches should not be banned!! After 4 days of running, it looks like slightly more than 9 in 10 people want to keep nude beaches open. That’s a very interesting result indeed!!

According to this article in the Gellong Advertiser (Click here to read), support for the poll has gone international!! Just think, lots of potential international nudist tourists now know Torquay and Pt Impossible exist!! Nudism is good for tourism, we say!!

According to an article published yesterday in the Geelong Independent (Click here to read), Minister for Planning Rob Hulls has stated that “it would be imprudent to proceed further without appropriate local consultation being undertaken”, in a letter to the Surf Coast Shire council.

It would appear the letters and emails have been working, as Minister Hulls also stated that there had been “submissions to his office from ‘a number’ of groups and individuals that opposed ‘any change to the status quo’”.

It’s good to see that emotive rhetoric doesn’t have the same effect in the higher political offices – it would be icing on the cake to see Cr Humphrey taken to task for initiating this entire mess!! His behaviour has adversely affected the other councillors, the Surf Coast Shire in general, and was contrary to the interests of the community groups (ie us) that he is supposed to be working for!! Is it possible for councillors to be removed from office prior to the end of their term?? Hmmmm….

Great work everyone – keep those letters coming, and make sure you direct them at the Surf Coast Shire and Mornington councils, so that they know clearly that we want to be involved in the process. In particular, get writing to Mornington – it looks like they were trying to ride this wave, so now we need to remind them that we are watching, and we do want answers!!