Bugger off tea bagers

Bugger off tad bagers

BTW – these websites listing dog friendly parks is an awesome resource! Thanks!

If someone hoons in the street, do you take up a petition to have hoons banned or call the cops to deal with them? A petition could take months, a call to the cops deals with it immediately and ensures they won’t be back doing the same thing again. Find out who is the correct person to lodge a complaint to (same people who deal with jet ski’s) and report any such behaviour to them immediately. The cops will come down and deal with it and the offender hopefully won’t come back.

As a long time user of the beaches, there are a couple of things to consider:

1. As a dog owner, you are responsible for your dogs behavior. If your dog causes damage to 3rd party property, you are still responsible for it. There are no exclusions for this, be it kites, or someone kicking around a footy ball that your dog happens to chase. The difference here is this equipment is expensive, maybe $1000+ so its likely the owner is trying to prevent damage if your dog bites it. Someone in the council would easily argue that kids have been flying kites on the beaches for many years and it’s the owner’s responsibility to control their dog. I believe it would be extremely difficult to get a ban on flying kites which children have been doing for many years. Water use is a different topic which I’ll cover later.
2. Having a dog beach does not exclude other beach users from using that beach. A dog beach is exactly that, a beach where dogs are allowed, not a beach where other users are not allowed. There are a number of beach users who may have been using that beach long before you started walking your dog there. Again, some residents have lived in this area for more than 10 years and are just as entitled to use the area as anyone else, for whatever purposes they want (fishing, canoeing, flying kites etc)
3. Any actions (private lessons) would need to be sanctioned by the council. If the person is question is teaching any form of lesson (aerobics, fitness, kiting), chances are they have prior approval from the council. If they don’t, they are not allowed to be there and you can have them removed. If they are, you’re going to have a problem.
4. The actions of one kite person should not tarnish everyone. You would do well to remember that dog owners are just as guilty. I’m pretty sure you would have seen dog owners who haven’t cleaned up after their dogs at the beach and I’m sure you wouldn’t want dogs banned because of the actions of one or two selfish (or arrogant) individuals. Ive actually seen a dog urinate on a persons back sitting on the beach before. Any water users (I would believe these kites would be classes as a type of boat in the same way a windsurfer may) are subject to bay water laws which restrict how close they come to people in the water. If this person came within 3 meters it’s clear that they are not adhering to water laws and I would call the water police to deal with this. It’s the same as the jetski’s menace we have to listen to in summer. Jetski’s can come to shore but they have to be riding slowly. The likelihood of getting a petition through is low but the water police (coast guard?) have to respond to complaints about behavior and that would give you the upper hand. The next time you see it, report it, police come down and deal with it, person gets fined, bad behavior unlikely to continue or the person won’t come back again.