Homeless people are mocking Melbourne, writes Christopher Bantick
FAST-FOOD containers, alcohol bottles, urination and worse. Why do we have to show special understanding to the homeless who trash our city’s pavements, asks Christopher Bantick.
Opinion
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THIS is a very politically incorrect thing to say. I may be accused of insensitivity, ignorance even heartlessness, certainly a lack of charity.
But I am over the homeless in Melbourne. I am tired of hearing the excuses as to why the homeless need special understanding.
Why do I have to show special understanding to the homeless who trash the city pavements?
Fast-food containers, alcohol bottles, urination and worse, that blight Flinders, Swanston and Elizabeth streets, and elsewhere.
This is my city and I don’t like what is happening to it. It is an appalling advertisement for tourists and especially those attending the Australian Open.
The latest makeshift camp along Flinders St station is offensive. It says entitlement. Am I being harsh? I don’t think so.
It is true that it is not an offence to be homeless, as Natalie Webster, on behalf of Victoria Police, reminded readers of this newspaper yesterday. “Should an offence be detected, police will deal with that as per normal practice,” Ms Webster said.
What has become a disturbing feature is the sense of entitlement the homeless assume, if not vocally claim. The Flinders St camp says precisely this. It is not an offence to be homeless but it is an offence to take drugs and harass people.
The fact is Melbourne’s burgeoning homeless are not ‘‘entitled’’ to turn shopfronts, doorways and pavements into their bedrooms, toilets and living rooms. Then there is the aggression. I am weary of being shouted at when I refuse to give money.
It’s not that I do not have experience with the homeless. A few years ago, I spent a summer working at the Sacred Heart Mission in the kitchen and then serving food to homeless people.
They came in their hundreds each day. They were unfailingly respectful, well-mannered and courteous. And were managed compassionately by Mission staff. While there was security on duty, I never saw trouble. Or did I hear bad language.
The homeless issue in Melbourne mocks the world’s most liveable city status. If we had animals living as the homeless do, the RSPCA would act and improve the circumstances. We would be outraged.
To be fair, the City of Melbourne is responding to the problem and Lord Mayor Robert Doyle has shown leadership and clarity in wanting to deal with the homeless in a constructive way, saying: “We all — City of Melbourne, State Government, Federal Government, welfare agencies, Victoria Police — need to be on the same page to deal with this,” in response to Tuesday’s homeless colonisation on Flinders St.
But the Lord Mayor’s comments carry a sleeper. While he may say that he would work with police on programs to address homelessness, there was a sting.
Embedded in this is a blame game. The City of Melbourne says the police are ineffective and the police are hamstrung by current legislation.
MELBOURNE COUNCIL ANNOUNCES CRACKDOWN ON HOMELESS TENTS IN CITY STREETS
Amendments to the contentious move-on laws as introduced in 2013 by the then Coalition state government, reversed by the Andrews Government in 2015, were essentially established for political protest. Not the homeless.
The police are in effect neutered and cannot move the homeless on unless they commit an offence.
The ball appears to be in the Andrews Government’s court.
Even so, some form of move-on law, or even council bylaw, needs to be introduced for the homeless if there is a reasonable fear of violence occurring to the public, or prevention of access to buildings and committing offences in public places. They should be moved on.
But the homeless can actually help themselves.
I do not see the homeless asking for a job. I see plenty to cardboard signs saying they need a plane fare to get home, or they are hungry, or the self-evident truth that they are homeless. But asking for a job? Nope. Never.
There is a Melbourne health risk. Pedestrian intimidation and mental illness is one thing. Food scraps bring rats. Syringes on the street, bongs, broken bottles, unwashed bedding and low sanitation is quite another.
I am not sure the homeless will go into the accommodation that the City of Melbourne and State Government are hoping to provide. They can get on the street enough money for alcohol and drugs, takeaway food and more.
I have a friend who is a Big Issue seller. He is making a go of his life by selling the Big Issue and earning an income. He is dismissive of many of the homeless. He says they are not all homeless at all but they beg and make good money.
The homeless need to be assisted. Some have mental health issues, or drug, alcohol and domestic violence problems that, rightly, need to be addressed.
Maybe they need to be actually managed. Yes, managed to get off the streets — moved on, in other words — and into something that returns their dignity and purpose.
I teach in a school where much amount of effort is put into social causes. All good and worthy.
But we do young people a disservice if we do not give them an opportunity to voice an opinion that may be politically incorrect.
It just might be an inconvenient truth. The homeless are not entitled to trash Melbourne.
Christopher Bantick is a Melbourne writer and senior literature teacher at a Melbourne Anglican boys’ grammar school
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