As temperature levels skyrocket throughout the nation, Aussies are heading to our country’s shorelines in droves to cool down. But an argument appeared when one Aussie showed up to a preferred 4WD place to find their neighborhood council had actually raised the cost to access the coastline.
“Have a look at this guys,” the beachgoer said in a video posted online, panning his camera to a sign stating it’s $12 to purchase a “day permit” to access Aldinga Beach in South Australia.
“These guys have jacked it up,” he said, pointing to a group of volunteers collecting funds from drivers, adding that the cost of living is taking away the right to “come down and enjoy” the beach.
City of Onkaparinga council confirmed to Yahoo News Australia earlier this year the fee rose from $8 and it projects $375,000 will be collected over the upcoming summer from Aldinga, Moana, Sellicks and Silver Sands beaches.
The fee will be collected by a not-for-profit volunteer group who will receive a third of the total amount, and the rest will go towards maintaining the environment and keeping the area safe. Last summer the volunteer group claimed 50 per cent of the amount collected, the Advertiser reported.
While residents who live in the local area are exempt from paying the fee, many argue that “no one owns” beaches, and they should be free to access.
“No one should pay,” one Aussie said in response to the man’s video shared online while others questioned why anyone would want to take their car onto the beach anyway.
Others pointed out that the fee pays to “clean and maintain the beach and ramp and carpark”
Council uses fee to ‘maintain foreshore’
Despite the backlash to the fee increase, which was last raised in 2019, council has defended itsright to take a fee from beachgoers.
“The current fee reflects increasing costs to maintain our foreshore environment and manage safe use where vehicles are permitted,” City of Onkaparinga Council formerly informed Yahoo News.
Council claimed lorry gain access to has actually been managed on components of its foreshore considering that 1975, consisting of enforcing problems such as establishing lorry rate limitations on entry ramps and on the foreshore. It likewise controls gain access to hours and exemption locations over or along any type of dune.
Drivers with a present Onkaparinga council lorry coastline gain access to authorization are excluded from paying the cost yet those that take a trip on the coastline without a pass will certainly police officer a $187 fine.
< figcaption course=" caption-collapse">Volunteer groups will collect the $12 fee from motorists hoping to access the beach. Source: Facebook
Bad behaviour on 4WD beaches costs environment
The fee rise comes as drivers travelling along Aussie coastlines in 4WDs are being called out for the ” significant damages” their reckless behaviour is inflicting on wildlife.
4WDs travelling along the Cooloola Coast in Queensland — a 100km stretch of sand that’s home to a number of popular camping grounds — are putting endangered species of turtles at risk after driving over dunes used for nesting.
“It takes place every evening,” Jan Waters from Cooloola Coast Turtle Care recently told Yahoo News. “It’s usually young, unskilled vehicle drivers that do not stay with low-tide driving, so they pull back up in the dunes to drive home yet they do not know the damages they’re doing.
Drivers along South Australia’s coastlines have actually created “years” well worth of damages by driving along dunes.
“We witnessed a number of 4WDs reversing up to the water’s edge and then charging at the sand dunes trying to get up on top of the dunes,” Mr Parkes informed Yahoo in 2022. “It’s shocking. The damage they’ve done is absolutely amazing.”
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