Melbourne’s beach party backfires as councils threaten to shut down beaches

Daniel Andrews has warned “selfish” Melburnians who attended a huge beach party at St Kilda could threaten summer for all those doing the right thing.

A beach party in Melbourne could have seriously backfired for residents, with bayside councils threatening the closure of beaches.

People were seen flocking to St Kilda beach on Friday in large numbers as temperatures soared, with one reveller grabbing Channel 7 journalist Paul Dowsley and kissing him on the cheek.

Port Phillip council chief executive Peter Smith told The Age his council would be forced to close beaches to prevent big gatherings from happening, before restrictions are set to ease on October 19.

They're the pictures that have health authorities on edge tonight - thousands of mask-free Melburnians flocking to beaches ahead of our warmest weekend in seven months. https://t.co/5zYfOfohG3 @paul_dowsley #7NEWS pic.twitter.com/0dLPhFf4IE

— 7NEWS Melbourne (@7NewsMelbourne) October 2, 2020

“We are trying to prevent closure through a range of measures, however, we will only be able to keep our beaches and parks open if each person plays their part by sticking to the Chief Health Officer’s orders,” Mr Smith said.

It is reported councils are also flagging restrictions on car parking near beaches in a bid to prevent large crowds.

Victorian Premier Dan Andrews yesterday expressed his frustration at the rule breakers putting the state’s hard work at risk, saying “no one has the right” to act unlawfully.

“No one has the right to break the rules and potentially put at risk everything that good, decent, law-abiding Victorians have created, have built. All of their sacrifice has to be worth something,” he told reporters on Saturday.

Crowds flocked to St Kilda beach as the temperature hit 27 degrees but masks were largely non-existant. Picture : Ian Currie

“It’s just not smart, and it’s not fair, and it’s not lawful.”

On Sunday, the Premier doubled down on his comments, telling reporters that “silly” and “selfish” Melburnians could jeopardise the ability of others to enjoy beaches this summer.

“We are so, so close,” he said.

“Let’s not any of us do anything that might undermine the very positive numbers, the very strong performance we have seen in recent days. The trend is with us, the numbers are coming down, once we get them low, we can keep them low and we can open up again.

“And if you want to spend summer at the beach, then (summer) will be the time to do that. If we don’t do anything silly or anything selfish right now.”

He said he had not spoken with bayside councils directly, but he thinks “they are just as disappointed” as he is by the scenes on Friday night.

Suffice to say people aren’t thrilled with news beaches could close.

Victoria has recorded 12 new cases of coronavirus and one death in the last 24 hours.

It comes after eight new cases and three deaths were recorded yesterday.

The important 14-day case average marker for metropolitan Melbourne stands at 12.