Sharing the article online, Senator Bridget McKenzie, of the opposition National Party, accused Albanese of looking down on “SunSmart Australians” unable to afford ocean views.
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Cabana defenders also pointed to Australia’s blazing heat, with Australian author Anna Spargo-Ryan in The Guardian remembering how her childhood was “a series of lectures” about the need to “slip, slop, slap” to help prevent skin cancer. “In our fiery skin-cancer factory of a country”, the beach was not the place to “be less sun smart”.
It began on social media, when locals at Safety Beach on the Mornington Peninsula, south of Melbourne, began debating the use of cabanas to secure a good spot for the day.
A question of equality
The issue has now become a “full-on turf war” following “several summers of simmering tension”, said the BBC. Australians like to think of themselves as egalitarian – “the land of a ‘fair go'” and “Cabanagate” goes against the idea that beaches are shared spaces and places that break down social hierarchies.
Beaches ‘belong to everyone’
Mornington beachgoers took to an online community page to discuss whether such actions were “selfish or simply smart”. Some argued the cabana owners were “plain rude, entitled city people taking over”, while others told objectors to “stop being a Karen”.
Unlike beaches in many other countries, Australia’s are usually open to all, with no private or reserved sections. This means the public “do not have to fork out to reserve a spot to relax”, said The Guardian, calling it a “proud Australian tradition”.
