Frankston naturist Michael James to consult Victorian communities on possible nudist beaches
The man behind a campaign to keep a Mt Eliza beach clothing-optional believes more Victorian towns would support a push for the same rules in their area. Do you agree?
Victoria
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A Frankston man spearheading the campaign to keep a local beach clothing-optional will petition to have more locations allow the same freedoms.
Australian Naturist Federation’s Victorian representative Michael James told the Herald Sun members of the public would be consulted to determine which beaches should welcome naturists.
Mr James has enjoyed Sunnyside Beach in Mt Eliza for close to 30 years – living roughly 15 minutes away – and believed support for nudist beaches was growing considerably.
“We’re not trying to force our views onto anybody, we’re just quietly trying to enjoy our day on the beach the same as anyone else,” he said.
It comes after Mornington Peninsula council on Tuesday night backed down from a plan to change the status of the beach following overwhelming support from naturists across Australia
Results from the survey determined that 3865 people were in favour of the beach keeping its current status compared to 420 voters who did not.
“There does appear to be a strong community support for clothing-optional beaches if you extend the results from the Mornington Peninsula survey,” Mr James said.
“These things need very careful consideration and thorough evaluations of both the positives and negatives. We would never consider putting a naturist location near a primary school.”
The council also called for more nude beaches to be declared in Melbourne to take the pressure off Sunnyside North as it was the only one of its kind in metropolitan Melbourne.
“One of the reasons Sunnyside Beach works so well is that it’s very difficult to actually get to it, there’s no board walk, there’s no housing development that looks over it,” Mr James said.
Sunnyside North Beach in Mt Eliza, Point Impossible and Southside beach both near Torquay were currently listed as the state’s only legal nudist beaches.
“We would like to see more appropriate consideration of clothing-optional beaches across not only Victoria but also Australia,” Mr James said.
“There is very clear support for the clothing option beach, I think it’s reasonable to expect that there may be strong support for the same thing in other areas,” Mr James said.
“We would very much like to see the suggestions driven by locals who know the area.”
Mr James said he would seek ideas and commentary in coming days about locations around Victoria that would make “appropriate” clothing-optional beaches.
“Naturists are not seeking to offend anyone,” he said.
He said safe locations near any clifftops were necessary as was access to car parks.
Originally published as Frankston naturist Michael James to consult Victorian communities on possible nudist beaches
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