Mayor demands compensation as Bronte left ‘worst than third world country’

A Sydney mayor has demanded more cash to fund the massive cleaning bill left by a beachside Christmas party with 10,000 in attendance. But the government isn’t ready to hand out the cash.

Christmas Day celebrations at Bronte (main picture) … and the resulting mess and clean-up (inset pictures). Pictures: News Corp

A mayor in Sydney’s east has demanded compensation for the hefty cleaning bill left behind by a heaving beachside party — with the mayor blaming tourism campaigns for luring a whopping 10,000 strong crowd to the iconic spot.

Waverley Mayor Paula Masselos said the annual Bronte beach Christmas party drew almost 10,000 people — 20 per cent more than previous years — who left the place trashed.

Ms Masselos said the Waverley region featured heavily in tourism campaigns and content but the council did not get any additional funding to manage the “consequences” of the influx of tourists over Summer.

“As always I am appalled that people show such little response for such a beautiful environment. It’s a huge issue,” she told The Daily Telegraph.

Local resident of Bronte Beach Robert Kokolich is seen helping the Council workers clean up the enormous amount of rubbish. Photo by: Gaye Gerard

“The problem we have got is these are people who are mostly backpackers and tourists and how do you get the word out to them.

“The state and federal governments run a lot of advertising campaigns boosting tourism and Bondi and Waverley featured heavily and the council doesn’t get any kind of additional support.

“If the state and federal governments are going to be promoting these tourist spots councils need support to manage the consequences of that.”

Broken glass among other rubbish polluting the area. Picture: Gaye Gerard

A spokesman for the NSW government said there were no curren state government campaigns that is driving people toward Bondi or Bronte by featuring these beaches.

“Waverley Council collects significant revenue from beaches in its local government area including millions each year in parking revenue,” the government spokesman hit back.

In anticipation of the large crowds, the council had additional park staff on from early in the morning until 10pm, 10 additional “user pays” police officers, additional life guards, rangers, council beach ambassadors and signage and social media messaging reminding people it is an alcohol-free zone.

Thousands of predominantly backpackers and travellers celebrate Christmas Day at Bronte Beach this year. Jane Dempster.

Police on the ground were also confiscating and pouring out alcohol.

Long-time resident Robert Kokolich, who lives near the beach, said the crowds defied prohibitions on alcohol and became aggressive when he attempted to film them.

“It was the worst ever. It was out of control. There was nothing happening in Bondi, but everyone must have come to Bronte … right in front of my house,” Mr Kokolich said.

“You felt in danger to be there … It was very bad. This morning, there was glass broken everywhere. Our friends have a little baby, so we were thinking ‘this is so unfair’”.

Mr Kokolich and his wife, Vesna, were one of a number of locals who returned to the beach on Boxing Day morning to assist council staff in clearing away strewn trash.

Sydney's Bronte beach after partygoers left masses of trash following their Christmas Day celebrations in 2022. Picture: NewsWire

While the beach was “starting to look better” after a few hours of work, Mr Kokolich said locals had found themselves cleaning up everything from vomit to tampons.

“This is how bad it is, once I saw it I said: ‘I’m moving’. I don’t want to be part of this … It looks so bad. It’s worse than a third world country,” Mr Kokolich said.

In a statement, a Waverly Council spokesman said while they were happy overall with the behaviour on Monday, the amount of rubbish was “disappointing”.

“Our rangers were on site yesterday, alongside the Police, ensuring the beach remained a safe environment for everybody,” the spokesman said.

“Our hardworking Open Spaces and Cleansing teams worked last night and today to clean up the significant and disappointing amount of rubbish that was left by beachgoers.

Originally published as Mayor demands compensation as Bronte left ‘worst than third world country’