Media response - Australia Day beach crowds

Published on 27 January 2025

Response to Yahoo News Australia.

• I wanted to ask about the crowds at Adlinga Beach yesterday. Looked like a huge amount of people there. I wanted to ask if there was anything council did to prepare for yesterday in particular? Or was it much of the same that you've seen over the holiday period? I know fees for beach access were recently increased, in part to help maintain the environment. Are there other preservation efforts council has been undertaking during peak times like this?  Some online have wondered about limits being imposed for vehicles on the sand, is that something that has been considered.

Comments attributed to Mayor Moira Were

Yesterday saw fantastic beach weather on our 31-kilometre coastline and we were really pleased with the crowds, including on our drive-on beaches.

Although it wasn’t our busiest Australia Day, all our beaches were busy, and overall behaviour was fantastic with lots of families and large groups enjoying the sun and light winds.

There’s no specific capacity limit for vehicles on our beaches, and ramp closures depend on how much sand is available for parking due to tides on the day, the beach’s condition, and how vehicles are spaced.

If there are concerns about safety or crowd numbers, we assess the situation and work with SAPOL, who have the authority to close the beach. We didn’t need to do this yesterday because there was ample room on the beach and the vehicles were well spaced out.

Australia Day is one of our busiest beach days of the year and preparation begins in September.

We’re in constant communication with SAPOL, surf life saving clubs, our rangers, city operations team, media and communications team, and the community groups operating beach ramps on Australia Day.

Council rangers monitor our 31-kilometre coastline every day during peak times to provide community education and enforcement controls on things like monitoring of vehicles, dogs, and horses on beaches; Hooded Plover conservation and watercraft launching.

We add extra patrols on Australia Day. Yesterday saw nine two-person crews in vehicles covering the foreshore from O’Sullivan Beach to Sellicks, with one additional crew available for normal operational requirements.

We maintain the beach vehicle access ramps, grading access ahead of peak periods like Australia Day.

We place additional bins at beach access points along the coast in areas where we expect high volumes of activity, and place additional portable toilets along the foreshore, with toilet facilities across the coast cleaned throughout the day.

We also place electronic signage at turnoff points and beach entrances, additional traffic management at beach ramp entrances, and we ramp up the messaging on our website and social media.

Tomorrow our team will undertake a hand collection of rubbish/debris along our drive-on beaches where excess rubbish has been identified, and do clean-ups at other beaches if requests for excess rubbish come in.

I’m also grateful to the local residents and environmental groups that chip in to keep our beaches free from litter, not just following Australia Day and in summer, but throughout the year.

ENDS