Latest news with #MoretonBayCouncil
Daily Mail
24-04-2025
- General
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE Deborah is living in a tent with her disabled husband and two dogs. Now the council is forcing her to leave - here's how Australia has let her down
A woman is close to giving up as she sits under a tarp in the rain with her husband, two dogs and remaining belongings just hours after their tent was bulldozed. Deborah Louise, 57, was one of 15 people living in tents at Eddie Hyland Park in Moreton Bay, Queensland, after she was left homeless in August last year. All of them were forced to leave on Thursday by the local council. Moreton Bay Council voted in February to make it illegal for people to camp on public land with letters to those living in 'tent cities' threatening fines of up to $8,000. 'I just want to give up, enough is enough,' Mrs Louise told Daily Mail Australia. 'I was just trying to get on with life, be happy, and then they took that from me today. 'We weren't threatening anyone. We haven't been offered housing. We haven't been offered one place. I just find it poor of Australians to be like this.' Mrs Louise asked council representatives on Thursday whether they had accommodation she could go but they reportedly said there was nowhere. The 57-year-old also said she had never heard of emergency housing until Thursday and it had never been suggested to her and her husband, Albertus. Beau Hayward, 47, runs homeless food initiative Nourish Street Inc and was at the campsite when an excavator was used to move the larger items from the scene. 'It's pretty heartless,' he told Daily Mail Australia. 'A Thursday right before Anzac day; I can't help but think it's not in the Anzac spirit of things.' He said housing services had visited the site two weeks before to issue a warning and offer referrals, but had not been down since then. 'Engaging and offering referrals is a lot different to any sort of temporary or permanent accommodation,' he said. 'There is no temporary or permanent accommodation to be offered.' He said one of the key factors barring Mrs Louise and her husband from finding somewhere to stay is that they have dogs. '[It] cuts off any opportunity for accommodation. There is very little pet-friendly accommodation that will take homeless people.' But Mrs Louise is not prepared to separate from her dogs, which she raised from their father. 'They are all I have left of him,' she said, referencing the now deceased parent dog. 'They're my babies, I can't let them go.' Mrs Louise and her husband had spent years living in a caravan until they just couldn't continue to move from showground to showground anymore. 'It got too much, we're getting too old to move all the time,' she said. Mr Louise, 61, is on a disability pension and Deborah is his carer, meaning she cannot work. Mr Haywood uploaded a video speaking to social media just after 9am on Thursday speaking to Tracey, who has also been camping in the park. 'I'm sitting in there and I'm not moving. I'm not letting them take my stuff to impound it,' she said. '[They're] gonna lock it in a room or something and I'm gonna go with no tent, no cooking stuff, no clothes, no shelter.' When the council visited Eddie Hyland Park to issue a warning to those living in tents and issuing notices, Deborah said the visit took its toll on her husband. 'My husband passed out and had to be taken to hospital. It was the shock. Ranger officers, council officers and police officers - it was too much,' Mrs Louise said. A City of Moreton Bay spokesperson said on April 9 that the council had issued people camping illegally on public land at Eddie Hyland Park with notices to move. 'City of Moreton Bay's local laws reflect community needs and Council has overwhelming support for these,' they said. 'Our community has raised significant concerns about the decline of public space access, amenity and safety in relation to people sleeping rough.' All of those issued notices were offered a referral by the council to specialist homelessness services and the Department of Housing and Public Works, they said. Queensland Police also attended due to the park being a 'location of high risk following aggressive and antisocial behaviour including assaults'. 'The role of QPS is to assist the City of Moreton Bay during their engagements with rough sleepers to make sure all persons, including both rough sleepers and council employees, are kept safe,' a spokesperson said on Thursday. Daily Mail Australia has contacted Moreton Bay Council for comment. The Moreton Bay LGA has Queensland's longest social housing wait list of 4,421, with homelessness having risen by 90 per cent in the past decade.
Yahoo
13-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Homeless given 24 hours to move on from parks
Rough sleepers living in tents in a city's parks have 24 hours to move on with police and council workers to enforce a ban in public places. But support services say without fixing the supply and cost of long-term accommodation, many people will remain on the streets. Brisbane City Council wants parks to be "safe for everyone" and is cracking down on homeless living in tents in green spaces to prevent violence, illegal drug use and discarded needles. Musgrave Park and Kurilpa Point in South Brisbane have fluctuating numbers of rough sleepers taking refuge in tents, with up to 60 people living in parks. Moreton Bay Council recently criminalised homeless camping on public land including in parks with threats of fines up to $8000. The council cited illegal and antisocial behaviour including drug taking, assaults, use of dangerous weapons and strewn litter for the tough stand. Brisbane City Council received "extremely concerning" reports rough sleepers from Moreton Bay would "pour" into the city as a result. Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said it required an immediate response. "Just like our northern neighbours, Brisbane residents don't want their parks and public spaces becoming dangerous no-go zones because of violent, aggressive and anti-social behaviour," he said in a statement. The council, police and housing agencies will be on the ground over the next 24 hours to force homeless encampments out of green spaces. It will also remove any unused tents. Cr Schrinner said the "vast majority" of rough sleepers refused accommodation ahead of ex-tropical cyclone Alfred impacting southeast Queensland. "As a community that cares, I don't believe we should ever accept that tents in public parks are an acceptable substitute for secure and safe accommodation," he said. Housing Minister Sam O'Connor told parliament on Wednesday that 57 rough sleepers accepted temporary accommodation during the tropical cyclone. Rough sleepers in Brisbane will be connected with essential support services, temporary accommodation and social housing instead of being allowed to stay in the parks. Housing access support group Micah Projects CEO Karyn Walsh said the council's response was reasonable as people should not be living in parks but it was emblematic of the housing crisis. She said many rough sleepers did not want to go to a boarding house or temporary accommodation but wanted to acquire their own long-term rental. However, the vacancies were low and costs sky high. "It's not as simple as it sounds," she told AAP. Ms Walsh was grateful the Brisbane did not criminalise sleeping in parks or threaten fines as in Moreton Bay. But she said this should be an opportunity to address housing issues and fund more support services for those who were seriously unwell and living on the streets to help them into long-term accommodation.
