Keep your shirt on
WE might live in one of the warmer places in Australia but blokes shouldn't be allowed to shop topless, shopping centres say.
Redlynch teenager Matthew Mahony was surprised when told to leave the DFO centre at Westcourt after going into the shopping centre without a shirt on.
"I was asked by security if I had a T-shirt I could put on," the 16-year-old said.
"When I said I didn’t, they asked me to leave.
"We live in the tropics and it is steaming hot."
Centre manager Barry Frame said it was DFO policy for people to wear some sort of top and the centre was airconditioned.
"It’s like if you were going to a restaurant, you wouldn’t be allowed in," he told The Cairns Post.
"People are allowed to wear singlets and we think that is relaxed enough.
"You wouldn’t be allowed to go topless in a restaurant or even a pub."
Author of the Little Book of Etiquette Patsy Rowe backed stores which banned topless shopping.
"I think bare-chested is fine at a barbecue or the pool but in the shops, it is, perhaps, not the right look," she said.
"Everyone gets hot but it is not hard to put on a T-shirt or a loose-fitting cotton shirt.
"You have to remember women always have to wear a top."
Smithfield Centre manager Sheldon Mulla said each shopping centre had its own policies.
"We have no hard and fast rule and you will probably see some people here without shoes or a top," he said.
"A lot of people come literally straight from the beach to the centre.
"If it is completely inappropriate, we will have something to say but normally going topless (for men) would not be grounds to expel someone from the centre."
A spokesman for Stockland Cairns at Earlville said it asked shoppers to be dressed in "neat and tidy attire".
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Barely decent: Matthew Mahony was told to put a shirt on when he went shopping at DFO, Westcourt
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