MONDAY, JANUARY 25, 2021
au OPINION 19
WARREN BROWN
Our beaches should be
a haven, not a hazard
A
USTRALIA’S coastline is
blessed with a staggering
number of world-class
beaches.
We all look forward to
our annual summer holidays and
visiting the beaches, whether that be
for swimming, strolling, kayaking,
paddle boarding, exploring, fishing,
snorkelling, playing or just lying on
the sand to rest.
On hot summer days popular
beaches attract thousands of people
yearning for peace and relaxation.
The beaches of Port Phillip Bay are
especially attractive to families with
small children as the waters are
generally shallow to a good distance
offshore and perceived to be
generally safe for families.
However, growing numbers of
people are increasingly concerned
and complaining about safety issues
where powerful personal watercraft,
or jet skis, congregate, and the rise
in numbers and disturbing noise
they generate.
The calm and tranquillity of our
beaches has disappeared due to the
growing number of jet skis. The
beaches no longer feel safe for many
swimmers, families and their
children.
The sound of jet skis can travel
for distances, even disturbing
surrounding communities. It takes
just a handful of jet skis to interrupt
the peace of thousands of beach
users on a hot summer day.
Swimmers often feel nervous and
uneasy in the water, especially in
mixed zones that allow jet skis at
popular beaches. For instance, Half
Moon Bay in bayside Melbourne
has become a hot spot as jet skis
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VICKI
KARALIS
launch from the ramp within metres
of swimmers and snorkellers. It is a
matter of time before we witness an
injury as a result of jet skis.
Jet skis move at incredible
speeds, making them a real hazard
for the swimmers and snorkellers
especially at times and places when
visibility is low. It takes only small
waves of less than 30cm to obscure
the line-of-sight for a jet ski rider to
see the head of a swimmer. In this
common situation, the vulnerability
of a swimmer rapidly becomes
extreme if a jet ski rider is travelling
near them, and also at high speed.
As a result the swimmer is
virtually unable to react or take
evasive action, and an accident,
potentially fatal, is waiting to
happen. Many residents have taken
videos and photos demonstrating
these risks.
Jet ski riders must slow to 5 knots
within 200m of the shoreline.
However, they can be very
annoying for beach users — taking
passengers up and down, weaving
between beach users. While many
riders obey the laws and exercise
caution, there are equally many who
do not. Furthermore, they zoom up
and down shorelines creating a loud
disturbing continuous drone of
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noise(s) that do not cease until the
end of the day.
Many communities have
complained and expressed concerns
about ongoing reckless behaviour by
an increasing number of jet ski
riders.
This coincides with a boom in
sales of new jet skis over the same
period, and alarmingly, the sale of
craft with often more powerful
motors allowing them to go faster,
resonating higher levels of noise.
They are also known to affect
marine life and sea grasses closer to
the shoreline.
There is a growing body of
research that jet skis affect the
behaviour of dolphins. Recent
research found jet skis can alter
short-term dolphin behaviour by
interfering with dolphins’ acoustic
communication, disturbance of
prey, and causing stress. It is not
fully known what the long-term
effects are on dolphins.
According to the World Health
Organisation, environmental noise
pollution can also affect human
health contributing to stress, poor
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concentration, high blood pressure,
cardiovascular disease, sleep
disturbance and annoyance.
Overall, jet skis are an
unacceptable risk in proximity to
people and marine life. There is no
doubt they are a significant
contributor to noise, air and
vibration pollution. They are not in
harmony with the natural
environment.
Many coastal groups such as the
Sandringham Foreshore
Association would like to ban jet
skis at and near popular swimming
beaches in Port Phillip Bay to make
them safer and quieter places for all
beach users to enjoy.
Jet skis cause an unacceptable
level of excessive noise, and have
taken away the ambience and
relaxation of our beaches.
The water police are particularly
helpful when called upon but cannot
always be present to monitor the
situation and their services are
limited. We have seen when water
police arrive, the behaviour of jet ski
riders changes — they slow down.
So why do we allow jet skis close
to people and precious beaches of
Port Phillip Bay? It is akin to
allowing powerful motorbikes run
amok in a national park or onto
pedestrian pathways. We would
never permit this situation.
Jet skis and the excessive noise
they generate are ruining the
holidays of many people who are
seeking to relax at the beach.
DR VICKI KARALIS AM IS PRESIDENT OF
THE SANDRINGHAM FORESHORE
ASSOCIATION AND A MEDICAL
PRACTITIONER
GARY
MARTIN
When a
sickie is ill
advised
A
HEAD of the Australia Day
holiday on Tuesday, some of
your cunning colleagues
have locked in Monday as an extra
day’s leave to create four days of
uninterrupted vacation bliss.
There are also those who will
achieve the same result by calling in
sick on what has notoriously been
dubbed National Sickie Day.
On this dodgy day off, bosses are
bracing themselves for a surge of
employee absences, along with
myriad suspicious explanations.
Yet as tempting as pulling a
sickie can be to ensure a four-day
uber-long weekend, stealing that
extra day from your employer can
turn out to be a bittersweet
experience.
It is likely your anticipated day
of bliss will be overshadowed by a
cocktail of unpleasant feelings,
including nervousness, shame,
anxiety and a huge dose of guilt.
The day will start with a sickie
day sleep-in — cut short because
you must let the boss know you will
be a no-show. So, armed with an
array of breathless sentences
accompanied by a simulated
hacking cough, you call the boss.
Your next order of business is
some guilt-free, luxurious, healing
sleep. But your sleep-in plans come
to a grinding halt for a second time
when you begin to overthink the
call with your boss and whether
perhaps you had been just a touch
too convincing.
You relocate from your bed to
the couch before deciding a doctor’s
note is needed to eliminate any
doubt. But your doctor is flat out
today so you must visit a different
surgery. You eventually find
another clinic, where the GP takes
your full medical history before
issuing your sick note. To add insult
to injury, this doctor does not bulk
bill and hits you up for a long
consultation fee.
Two hours later, you consider
lunch at the new cafe, attending an
afternoon yoga class or booking in
for a haircut. But you need to avoid
providing any evidence that might
undermine the reason for your
absence.
So, you decide to stay at home,
but off social media. Even a spot of
gardening is too risky — the last
thing you want is to have to explain
even the mildest case of sunburn.
As your mind turns to your
under-pressure colleagues stuck in
the office, you worry if your
absence will pass the “pub test”
when they meet for after-work
drinks.
If you have joined the National
Sickie Day movement on Monday,
you have probably concluded the
lure of chucking a sickie is far more
enticing than the reality of pulling
one.
PROF GARY MARTIN IS A SOCIAL AFFAIRS
AND WORKPLACE EXPERT WITH THE
AUSTRALIAN INSTITUTE OF
MANAGEMENT