State Government says it won’t fence off social media cliff jumping hot spot The Pillars
FED-up Mt Martha locals are bracing for another summer of selfie thrillseekers causing cliff-jumping chaos after the State Government refused to fence off a social media “bucket list” spot.
South East
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FED UP locals are bracing for another summer of chaos after the State Government ruled out fencing off a popular Mt Martha cliff-jumping spot.
The Pillars, a sensitive cultural and heritage site, became a scene of booze-fuelled mayhem last summer after it trended on social media as a cool bucket list thing to do.
Earlier this year Mornington Peninsula Shire asked the State Government to fence off the area to discourage the swarms of selfie-thrillseekers and their entourages.
But this week, the shire received a letter from the Energy, Environment and Climate Change Minister Lily D’Ambrosio, seen by Leader, informing them their request had been refused.
Neighbour Phil Jackson said summers had been “bedlam”, with selfish visitors degrading the area, leaving urine-filled bottles, cigarette butts and piles of rubbish, and wrecking vegetation.
“They have been making our lives a misery; last summer was bad, the one before even worse,” Mr Jackson said.
“Hopefully the novelty is wearing off, and it is a passing fad and they move somewhere else.”
Mt Martha’s John Harvey said the thrillseekers didn’t look after the area very well and caused severe issues for people who lived nearby.
He said the instant gratification element of social media was the driving force behind the problem, and he hoped interest would soon drop off.
Ms D’Ambrosio said no to a fence because the government was “committed to ensure that our coastal areas are both protected and accessible to all”.
She understood concerns, but measures such as alcohol bans, bollards, signage and parking restrictions, which the shire has already put in place, should “minimise the attractiveness of the site”.
If those measures failed, she would “revisit options of limiting access to the site via other means, including a temporary fence”, she wrote.
Shire councillor Rosie Clark said it had “opened my eyes to how social media can create a huge tourist attraction” and she felt sorry for the local community, but the council had done all it could.
Mornington Peninsula Shire held an urgent meeting in January to consider options for the future of the site, and heard there had been five serious accidents there in the past year, leading to three air ambulance extractions and two rope rescues.
One swimmer had struck a cliff while backflipping into the water, and there were also injuries from a jetski collision in the water below the cliff.
