A woman claims to have been asked to leave a Queensland shopping centre because she was barefoot.
The woman wrote on a community Facebook page that staff at Sunshine Plaza in Mooloolaba gave her the boot on Saturday.
“Was at Sunshine Plaza today and was asked to leave as I wasn’t wearing any shoes,” she wrote.
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“Since when has being barefoot been illegal? Has anyone else been told this?”
The woman, who 7NEWS.com.au has contacted for further comment, responded to some of the hundreds of comments on the page questioning why she would go shopping barefoot.
“I find it more comfortable with bare feet. (I) only wear shoes at work or where I really have to,” she said, adding that the “dust and soot” that collects on her feet “just washes off”.
She also claimed to have gone barefoot at “shopping centres and walking on city streets for just over 30 years”.
“I do it all the time, even in Brisbane city, never had a problem before,” she said.
“I couldn’t believe it … I’ve never had a problem before, even in the big Brisbane shopping centres.”
She labelled as an “overreaction” the decision to ask her to leave Sunshine Plaza, asking, “What’s the big deal, who does it hurt?”.
She also rejected a commenter’s claims that some diseases can be spread via barefeet.
“Can’t be that easy,” she said.
“I’ve been going barefoot into shopping centres and walking on city streets for just over 30 years and never got anything.”
While most people in the 300-comment threat were critical of her shoeless habit, others lamented the enforcement of anti-barefoot polices as being a restriction on personal freedoms.
“Why go barefoot? Because it’s natural. Why make the choice? Because it’s mine to make,” said one person.
Sunshine Plaza has been contacted for comment.