How a beach tent sparked a war overseas in Australia

Over the years, the controversial invader has gradually taken over Australia’s favorite beaches.

Absorbing the sand, blocking the view of the ocean and turning the shore into an annoying maze, there is a sea of ​​large beach tents, called cabanas in Australia.

“It’s chokers (overwhelming). They are everywhere,” 30-year-old Sydney resident Claire told the BBC.

For her – and for most Australians – cooling off on a hot day means a hard drive to the coast, and a long struggle to find a parking space. Now the craze for cabanas means they face another battle on the beach.

Polyester covers flutter in the wind as far as the eye can see. Some of them are empty, they are installed at dawn and then abandoned for several hours until the owners want to use them.

“The sheer amount of space that people take up… (if) you’re just trying to find a spare square inch of sand to put your towel on, it can be a bit frustrating,” Claire says.

She is not alone in her irritation. A few summers of simmering tension has exploded into an all-out turf war in the early days of 2025, sparking a debate about Australian culture and beach etiquette.

The debate over the acceptable use of booths has dominated social media, spawned a flurry of articles and TV stories, and even attracted a prime minister.

As the haters call themselves, they say that the authoritative cabana crews are occupying public space and disrespecting other beachgoers.

“If you’re … polluting the beach with your four cabanas next to each other, where’s Gunkle (gay uncle) Nick going to go,” anti-boar crusader and TikToker Nick Salerno said on the television talk show The Project.

“I just need a spot on the beach guys.”

But the wild boar crowd say it’s no crime to seek protection from Australia’s vicious sun – and it’s every man for himself.

Australia is the skin cancer capital of the world and many supporters – including the national charity, the Cancer Council – say the new trend should be celebrated.

“My partner and I have a cool cabin because we both burn extremely easily and don’t want to die of skin cancer before we’re 30, hope this helps,” one person wrote in response to the TikTok rant.

Nobody discounts the importance of safety in the sun, critics of the wild boar deny, but they say it is just a convenient excuse for many people who use beach tents.

They claim that half the time they don’t even sit under canopies, and there’s no need for two people to pitch an entire tent for an hour or two when sunscreen and a hat will do just fine.

Other Boar supporters are more open about their motivations. Breakfast TV presenter Davina Smith has admitted that for her it’s about grabbing “prime real estate” on busy beaches.

She is one of those who puts up her boar locks early in the morning to reserve an area for her family later in the day.

“There are many studies that deal with this matter. You get up early, you have to watch the tides. You can’t just look at it and walk away… you’re putting money into it,” Smith claimed on Nine’s Today programme.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese was among the crowds outraged by the trend: “It doesn’t exist,” he said on the same show.

“One of the great things about Australia, unlike some parts of the world, you go and you have to pay to go to the beach. The beach here belongs to everyone… And this is really a violation of this principle.”

Even lifeguards have their opinions on the matter, some have told local media that it can be difficult to do their jobs in home camps.

There are a number of cultural idiosyncrasies that mean Cabanagat is more annoying to Australians magpie in spring.

First, the country likes to think of itself as an egalitarian society – a country of “honest life” – and this extends to the use of one of its most valuable national assets.

“Australian beaches have always been seen as shared spaces, democratic spaces where social hierarchies break down… (they’re) seen as a great equal,” says Ese Kaya, a research fellow at the University of Technology Sydney.

And Australians “fiercely” defend this ideal: “They see it as a birthright,” says Chris Pepin-Neff, who studies Australian beach culture.

They point to a backlash in 1929, when visitors to Coogee Beach in Sydney were forced to pay to enter the only part of the water enclosed by shark nets. More recently, the proposal to lease part of the famous Bondi Beach in Sydney for an exclusive beach club caused a great response.

And while the use of sprawling shipping cabins is a relatively new phenomenon, there has long been “tremendous class tension” surrounding the use of the country’s coastline, adds Dr Pepin-Neff.

A lack of infrastructure, affordable housing and public attitudes tend to exclude ordinary Australians from coastal areas, while these natural resources are often monopolized by those lucky enough to live there.

“And there’s a perception that it goes even further, (because) the average family can’t even get a spot on the beach.”

But they say there is no real data on who is using the cabs and why. They also claim that there are many good reasons why people might use them. Maybe they’ve come a long way and plan to stay at the beach longer, or they have a disability or young children to care for, he says.

“There’s a balance between having a free and open beach for everyone to enjoy and making sure you treat yourself with respect.”

However, they are not defending the “land bankers”: “As a Sydney resident, I think this is an abuse of privilege… it’s unfair.”

However, as the debate intensifies, there are calls for a truce to restore peace on Australia’s shores.

Beachkit Australia founder Rowan Clarke, which sells equipment including cabanas, told the Sydney Morning Herald that even he thinks cabana enthusiasts should be more polite.

“They should only allow installation at the back of the beach in line,” he said. “Once that’s exhausted, that shade style can no longer be allowed.”

Others want authorities to rein it in, as some in the United States have done. There are proposals for councils to limit the number of cabanas available on their beaches and where.

But Sydney resident Claire, for all her anger, worries it could tip the scales the other way and deprive other people of the beach.

“Obviously you don’t want to put too much value on it… it’s just a beach, first world problems, right?

“I think in general we should just try to be considerate of each other.”