MICHAELA PETROFES
A proposal for Gold Coast and Sunshine Coast beaches have vendors service beaches has been submitted to the Gold Coast City Council.
Allowing Australian beaches to be commercial will mean the beach goers can order and consume food and drinks directly while on the beach.
Gold Coast City Council Media Officer, Rebecca Bruce says the services will range from hired beach equipment and delivery of pre-purchased food and non-alcoholic beverages.
“There will be no food or drinks sold on the beach,” Ms Bruce said.
“Beach goers may be able to buy food or drinks from a nearby shop and have it delivered to the beach.”
Environmental group Keep Queensland Beautiful, CEO, David Curtin says they support the growth of tourism and businesses along Australian beaches.
However, he believes in order for this to be a success, proper environmental risk education needs to be put in place.
“Of course, with any proposal where human impact is a risk factor, Councils and business operators must and will take these impacts into consideration.
“Councils and operators will need to ensure adequate bins are placed on the beach. Humans can be lazy creatures, so we need to reduce that risk,” Mr Curtin says.
Local beach goer, Cara Devine, says she is looking forward to see how the decision proceeds.
“It would be a whole new experience if council allows for this to happen.
“It’ll be interesting to see how they [council] handle litter if it were to get out of control,” Ms Devine says.
A vote next week within the council will be the first step in decision-making process.
