Mornington Peninsula foreshore camping suspended until December

An annual summer tradition for thousands of Victorians is under serious threat, with the Mornington Peninsula council making the decision to suspend camping until December.

Every year, thousands of people descend on Mornington Peninsula camping grounds from Dromana to Rye.

During the peak season, the Mornington Peninsula population surges from 170,000 to 240,000 people.

But, this year the tradition has been postponed and it may be cancelled entirely if lockdown restrictions are not eased.

The peak season was due to start on October 23, more than a month after the current State of Disaster is set to end.

Today, the Mornington Peninsula Shire has delayed the start of the season until December 19.

Mornington Peninsula mayor Sam Hearn says he’s hopeful the season will be able to go ahead as usual, but the council couldn’t allow camping bookings to be made when it may be illegal for campers to go ahead with their trips.

“We just haven’t had any clear kind of communication or understanding of the staging out of where we are at the moment,” he told Neil Mitchell.

“We just don’t know when camping will fall into the allowable activities under the restrictions.

“If the numbers go right now and the state government does tell us in October that camping can go ahead, then we would be reassessing this and making camping available.

“We’ve made the call for people who are thinking about trying to book and that kind of thing.”

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