12:00a.m. 5 May 2008

| By Kerryn Manifold

If you ask Freebeach Australia president Anita Grigg, nude is definitely not rude and those on the Coast who wish to shed their clothes need a beach where they can do it legally.

In fact, Ms Grigg believes that far from being offensive, a nude beach could actually bring people closer together.

The idea of having a place on the Coast where people can legally lose their strides was brought back in to the public spotlight last week when magistrate Barry Barrett dismissed wilful-exposure charges against an elderly Coast man and virtually accused Queensland of hypocrisy.

Mr Barret said Ken Wenzel, 77, was not treated fairly when police spotted him in the buff at Third Bay beach in July 2005.

For years, police have turned a blind eye to the nude Olympics at Noosa’s Alexandria Bay each March, but officers decided it was inappropriate for Mr Wenzel to wander about sans clothing at the Coolum beach.

The magistrate awarded Mr Wenzell $2000 in court costs and said the court would not be party to such double standards.

Ms Grigg agreed with the magistrate’s comments and produced a photograph of Nude Olympic competitors posing naked in front of a police car.

She maintains that shedding clothes should be allowed at certain beaches as it breaks down social barriers that exist in the “textile world” and is a lifestyle choice rather than a form of perverse entertainment.

“We need a place to meet and socialise with like-minded people,” Ms Grigg said. “At the end of a day on a nude beach, you’ll know everybody there.

“I couldn’t tell you a thing about what anyone’s body looked like – I only remember their faces.”

She claims Freebeach Australia has hundreds of members on the Sunshine Coast including lawyers, academics, police officers and others from generally robed walks of life who would benefit if a nude beach was established in the area.

Tourist dollars could also be made as European and Kiwi naturists would travel here to enjoy our warmer climes.

According to Ms Grigg, the Coast is already losing too many naked tourists to legal nude beaches in other parts of Australia.

One of the possible sites for an official clothing- optional beach that she and supporters would like the community and Sunshine Coast mayor Bob Abbot to consider is just north of Stumers Creek, Coolum.

The long stretch of beach runs from about 2km north of Stumers Creek to the boardwalk and is next to where scores of dog owners take their mutts for a stroll every day.

The beach is bordered by a national park, which is marked by vegetated dunes, immediately to the west.

It is around a slight bend, so it generally stays out of sight of families enjoying a day at Stumers Creek.

Signs 200 metres before the northern and southern ends would warn people that clothes were optional in the section they were about to enter.

Entering would not require people to disrobe, but they would need to respect those who had.

Ms Grigg said the site was ideal because emergency vehicles could easily access it and older Freebeach members would not have trouble walking to it.

Freebeach members have more sites in mind, including Alexandria Bay, which is nowhere near as easy to access.

But they are concerned Mr Abbot will not give them a fair hearing.

Nude bathing is outlawed under the Summary Offences Act 2005, and for the law to be changed a local council must ask the government.

The group met with Peter Beattie when he was premier, but has been told there is a three-month wait to meet Mr Abbot.

The mayor confirmed yesterday that his diary was booked out for two months, and that did not include council commitments.

He said he had not known the Freebeach group was trying to organise a meeting, and he would not be able to grant them permission to establish a nudist beach.

“What I would need to see would be some sort of application come through for that to happen,” Mr Abbot said.

“Meeting with me is not going to do them any good. I’ll wait for their application, or they’ll have to wait until they get a meeting.”

Even if Freebeach can get to run its proposals past Mr Abbot, a few discarded knickers may still end up in knots.

While The Daily was at the Coolum section of beach the group would like to claim, few people – other than a couple of kite surfers about 50 metres into the ocean – were anywhere nearby.

But hundreds of prints in the sand told a different story.

Christina Andrews had just walked her fox-terrier through the proposed site and did not like the idea.

“This beach isn’t appropriate,” she said. “This is our dog beach.

“If they want to go to a nude beach, they should be prepared to travel.”

Noosa Liberal MP Glen Elmes said he would strongly resist any moves to establish a nude beach north of Stumers Creek.

Mr Elmes said young families were flocking to live near the area, making it unsuitable for such a proposal.

“There should not be any consideration of a nude bathing beach anywhere in the Coolum area,” he said.

Related stories:

> Artist in the frame

> We want our own official beach: nudists

> Nude Ken scores a win in court

> Sunshine Coast nudist takes battle to court

> Magistrate draws line in sand over nude bathing

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