'Selfish' CoolCabana act at Aussie beaches prompts fears of major change: 'Terrible result'

Beachgoers are conflicted over the sudden surge of sunshades lining the Aussie coastline.

As beach cabana wars continue to rage this summer with Aussies reporting a canopy of stripes and colourful patterns rather than sand on coastlines nationwide, beach etiquette has been thrown into question.

While there is no question shade is a must at the beach, the current hoarding of space — with some going as far as to reserve parts of the beach with their cabanas — has been branded "un-Australian" by the Prime Minister himself.

Now, Jeremy Scott, the co-founder of CoolCabana rival company Swim Shady has weighed in, telling Yahoo News that reserving parts of the beach is "very selfish" and bad behaviour by cabana owners could result in disastrous repercussions.

He fears the issue has got so out of hand that an extreme step to prevent the behaviour could be to adopt models similar to those seen in Europe, meaning beachgoers would need to pay for the privilege of enjoying Aussie beaches.

"That would be a terrible result for us... as Australians, we value the open free access to beaches and it's something we absolutely have to protect," Scott said.

It comes as two women reported a fellow beachgoer set up her large cabana within centimetres of their towels at a largely empty beach. The women could do nothing but watch on in disbelief as the beachgoer dug her poles into the sand and hung up the shade.

"I don't think she realised how close she was until she was already set up," one of the women said. "We had a laugh... but she definitely was awkwardly close."

After the incident was shared online, others chimed in and admitted they had also experienced something similar.

"This happened to me the other day! The rest of the beach was empty and a large family sat in front right on top of me," one Aussie wrote, while another called the whole cabana sage "annoying".

No doubt' beach etiquette has been turned upside down by trend

Australia has one of the highest rates of skin cancer in the world, with two in three Aussies diagnosed with melanoma. There is no question that the sudden uptick in sun shade is a good thing for public health, but the sudden physical change at beaches has "no doubt" created a layer of social tension at beaches and forced Aussies to consider beach etiquette.

Scott told Yahoo News that "safety is not a luxury but a necessity" but we may need to reconsider how our "un-Australian" actions are impacting others at the beach.

"Beaches are meant to be for everyone to enjoy and occupying excessive space with oversized tents or cabanas can be unfair to others," he said. "In the instance of the women at the beach, for someone to set up right beside them is ridiculous... I sort of agree with what the Prime Minister said."