People favoured setting aside topless bathing areas instead of Christian Democratic leader Fred Nile’s plan to prohibit topless bathing. Mother-of-two and registered nurse Trish Jensen warned of the health risks associated with sun baking topless.

“Topless bathing would be the quickest way to skin cancer,” she said.

Mrs Jensen said from a health perspective, topless bathing was not sensible but there was still a culture among youth that a tan was beautiful. From a personal stance, Mrs Jensen said people could sunbathe topless in their backyards instead of the beach. But she had no problems with allocating a stretch of sand to topless bathers. Another beach-goer, who wanted to remain anonymous, echoed the idea of a designated spot on the beach for topless bathers. The 51-year-old Port Macquarie woman said she had no problem with topless bathing but understood some people found it offensive. As an 18-year-old, the woman bathed topless at quiet beaches on the state’s south coast. “At that stage a lot of people sunbaked topless and there were designated areas on different Sydney beaches,” she said.

Kathy Witchard, visiting from Mortdale, said it was a matter of “each to their own” when it came to topless bathing.

“There are pretty awful sights on the beach other than a few topless women,” she said.

“I do believe there are some bodies that should be covered.”

Mrs Witchard opposes a ban on topless bathing on beaches.

Holiday maker Ian Walker said most topless bathers were reasonable and didn’t flaunt themselves.