Noosa beach goers protest police crackdown on nude sunbathing.

[cjpilotboy]

"NOOSA nude beach supporters will gather, presumably clothed, outside the Hastings Street Police Beat next Saturday at noon to protest the latest police actions at Alexandria Bay.

"We would like to invite (Noosa) councillors and Tourism Noosa to attend the protest and read out any letters from your organisations in support of the protesters,” rally organiser Robin Bristow said.

The gathering will also support the State Government giving local government the authority to declare legal clothing optional beaches.

And in response to Noosa MP Glen Elmes offering to transport the A Bay nude bathers north, Mr Bristow said: "We have also asked Glen Elmes to supply us with buses to Poona as promised.”

Mr Bristow said the Member for Maryborough Bruce Saunders, whose electorate takes in Poona, has indicated he welcomes nudists to his area.

The bathing issue flared recently after the arrest of 11 nude beachgoers to A Bay by police patrols."
https://www.noosanews.com.au/news/nude-bathing-rally-outside-police-beat/3115532/


So It appears there is some form of an organized protest against the police station in Noosa on how they treated the nudists on the beach. I found a local group that attends the beach and requested for more information, thier website is here: http://noosanude.weebly.com/
They have thier side of the story on the homepage of the noosanude website.

[cp]

I hope they get it declared a CO Beach, and it looks lovely, from the pictures... Nice share,

[Danee]

I have been to Noosa and the Sunshine coast and we hiked into the A bay area and it was so chill and cool.    Sad.  @Leah lives there and can provide detailed information on the situation. 

[Leah]

All very confusing about why for one day the police issued offence notices to men on the beach.  Below is yesterday's report from the local newspaper where it says this was in response to a nude runner away from the beach.  However, we have previously heard it was in response to a naked man harassing a woman on the beach - this was later retracted; and then that there was no reason other than as part of regular patrols.

Anyway today's protest went ahead and about a dozen people attended without incident.

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Nudes won’t stand for police cover-up
02 December 2016 5:16 PM .


Protesters will gather tomorrow to demand police stop fining nude bathers.
By Jolene Ogle

NUDE beach supporters will gather on Hastings Street tomorrow (Saturday, 3 December) to protest the alleged unfair treatment of naked bathers at A-Bay.

Protest organiser and Australian Sex Party secretary Robin Bristow said he expected about 15 protesters to gather at the unmanned Hastings Street Police Beat on Saturday at 12noon to demand police issue warnings to nude bathers instead of fining them.
The uproar started when bathers at A-Bay accused the police of hiding in the bushes before leaping out to fine them. Police have responded to the accusation saying they increased patrols of A-Bay in response to complaints of a man running through the National Park, who has since been arrested.

Mr Bristow has sent a recording of a phone conversation between himself and Noosa Heads officer in charge Senior Sergeant Steve McReight to the media, in which Mr Bristow questioned the police response.

In the recording Mr Bristow asks if Sen Sgt McReight is responsible for the 11 fines at A-Bay, to which he said: “Ultimately as the OIC (officer in charge) of the station I am”.

“We did have complaints about a naked jogger and I went away (for eight weeks). We do do targeted areas in and around that area. I must admit, I would have briefed the boys differently on what was happening … but it’s for the courts to decide if what they did was unlawful,” he said.

“As an old-school policeman I probably would have done it differently.”

Mr Bristow said the group wanted police to warn people, not fine them.

“It would be the most fantastic thing if you had police walking up and down the beach, approaching these people with smiles on their faces … you issue a warning and people put their clothes back on. It’s very simple,” he said.

“What you are doing now is you’re upsetting a lot of people, you’re damaging the tourist industry in Noosa.”

Mr Bristow said he questioned the police’s claim the onslaught of fines were in response to complaints of the naked jogger in Noosa National Park.

“There were no complaints on the day these 11 people were booked. Why do you claim you only react on complaints?” he said. “The gentleman was running along the paths and not at A-Bay so why were the officers patrolling A-Bay and not the paths?”

Sen Sgt McReight said he couldn’t answer that question and would need to speak to the officers involved.

Noosa Today asked Noosa Council if they supported A-Bay as a nude beach, whether any councillors would attend the protest and if council supported the Australian Sex Party’s push for State Government to give local councils the power to designate nude beaches.
A council spokesperson said: “Alexandria Bay is in the Noosa National Park which is a State Government responsibility. Currently there are no legal nude beaches in Queensland. If Alexandria Bay was to be designated as a clothing optional beach, such a decision would have to be made at the state level as local government does not have any jurisdiction to regulate nude bathing.”

The protest will take place tomorrow, Saturday 3 December, at 12noon outside the Hastings Street Police Beat, Noosa Heads, and while Mr Bristow wouldn’t confirm if the protesters would be naked, he did say he believed it was not illegal for women to be naked.

2

[cp]

Interesting local article, thanks @Leah

Does sound like a lot of passing the book by the police man, and surely if it was to be made a CO beach, it would have to be triggered by local authority to the State i would of thought...

[tc00022]

A Bay is a lovely beach. The day I was there I saw a sea eagle swoop down and catch a fish in the water.

Wish it is made legal though. I don't like breaking the law.