Liberties leader slams ‘spy’ plan

Alex de Vos
One of Australia’s leading civil rights activists has slammed plans for hidden cameras to spy on men meeting for sex at Torquay’s Point Impossible.
Liberty Victoria president Julian Burnside QC attacked the plan as “unjustifiable and intrusive”.
Mr Burnside has worked in some of Australia’s highest-profile legal stoushes including on behalf of Maritime Union of Australia in the 1998 waterfront dispute and for Liberty Victoria during the Tampa refugee crisis.
In 2004 he won a Human Rights Law Award for his work with refugees before an Australian Peace Prize last year.
The Independent revealed last week that Surf Coast Shire and Great Ocean Road Coast Committee planned to install the cameras as part of an ongoing bid to crack down on sexual activities in the dunes at Point Impossible.
Mr Burnside was scathing of the plan.
“To me, it sounds thoroughly unjustifiable and intrusive and very heavy handed,” he said.
“The cameras would not be effective in deterring criminal behaviour. CCTV has been demonstrated in Britain to be an expensive waste of money.
“They won’t take you an inch closer to catching the criminals.”
Point Impossible came under fire in 2006 after residents complained about men using the dunes to meet for sex. Residents believed that the men were using the beach’s clothing-optional status as a cover for sexual activity.
Surf Coast Shire council later asked State Government to revoke the beach’s clothing-optional status. The Government wrote back asking council to run further investigations over 12 months to determine whether it wanted to proceed with the ban on nude bathing.
Surf Coast Community and Ratepayers Association’s Les Tyack told the Independent last week that the camera plan had emerged during a recent meeting of community representatives running the investigations.
“It was decided that the cameras would be set up in the car park so predators would have a second thought about causing trouble in the dunes,” Mr Tyack said.
“We’re also encouraging members of the public to report any activity in the sand dunes. If people see males standing in the dunes displaying themselves then we need people to report it.”
Last month Torquay police told the Independent that patrols in March had not busted men engaged in sexual activity at Point Impossible.