Melissa Seymour

There I was, on the day of my book launch party, sitting in my car on Coogee Bay Road, waiting for my mother in-law who had popped into a chemist to pick up some nail polish. I had just had my hair done and was thinking about the issues we had with press coverage for the event but was anxious about having stopped in a ‘no standing’ zone while I waited. Then this guy walks out of a nearby cafe, stands right in front of my car and starts taking pictures of me. It was the most freakiest experience and for a minute there, I thought I might have been papped. Then it hit me - I’m not famous!

In all seriousness though, I read on the weekend that some councils have employed private detectives to catch illegal parkers. Then it clicked, this must have been what happened to me. The experience left me quite shaken - can you imagine how creepy it is for a woman on her own to have a stranger standing in front of her, violating her privacy without any explanation? I guess this would be similar to how celebrities feel, but at least they know that they’re famous and this is why they’re being photographed. What about everyday people like me who have absolutely no expectation that anyone would want to take our photograph - all you can imagine is that the person has a perverse agenda. Had Brad have been there, he would have confronted the guy and who knows what could have happened as a result (his nickname at the Swans was ’snappa’ afterall).

How sneaky, underhanded and ill-considered is this campaign? It has to stop.