Gold Coast City council (GCCC) has intervened in Surf Life Saving Queensland's (SLSQ) plan to install surveillance cameras on Gold Coast beaches.

The council, which appears to have been unaware of the plan, has called SLSQ representatives before a sitting of its surf safety committee to answer questions concerning how the cameras will be used.

SLSQ last week told ZDNet Australia   that the cameras would be installed as part of an ongoing upgrade of communication technology the association uses for its Gold Coast surf rescue operations.

SLSQ has already trialled one of the cameras at Nobby's Beach. SLSQ SurfCom operatons manager, Peter Dawes, told ZDNet Australia   earlier this month that the cameras would assist in monitoring swimmers on beaches that are un-patrolled or where surf rescue resources are spread thin.

However, Gold Coast City Councillor, Rob Lacastra, said the special nature of people's dress behaviour at beaches would require the council to consider the life saving associations proposal carefully before sanctioning it.

"What we're trying to do is say to them 'look you can't really go doing this sort of stuff unless you put it through council, as we need to know what you're doing, when you're doing and whether we'll give it our blessing' because obviously we've got real concerns about it," said Lacastra.

SLSQ already has fixed Web cams trained on its beaches to allow its sites visitors to view surf conditions at the beach, but Lacastra said the surf monitoring cameras are a different matter. Lacastra said the council still needs to know whether the cameras will be fixed, have the ability to move around and their optical power.

Currently, Queensland legislation does not explicitly address the use of surveillance cameras. However, Nigel Waters of Convenor of the Australian Privacy Council said beach users had a right to expect some level of privacy when visiting such a space.

"It's not a quasi-private space like a mall. To some extent people can choose not to go into malls but people should have the right to go onto beaches without being under surveillance," said Waters.

Dawes believes Waters' argument is too academic. He said that it was not possible to prevent anyone walking onto to a beach and filming beach activity, which he said is very easy to achieve with the number of high-rises overlooking the Gold Coast shoreline.

"You have to weigh the privacy concerns of the individual against those of the safety of the community sensibly," said Dawes. "We hope it comes out on the side of common sense".

Ironically Dawes' point might best be demonstrated by Victoria life savers late last year, when the group found itself powerless to stop photographs of its teenage volunteer life savers being published on an erotic Web site.

The Victorian Law Reform Commission has been asked by the Victorian Attorney General to review the states laws concerning the use of optical surveillance devices in public places in the wake of those events.

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