Brisbane charity refuses to take tents for homeless away as Brisbane City Council calls for them to be removed from parks

March 15 2025
ABC News

A couple embracing from the inside of a homelessness support facility.
Steve Schubert and his girlfriend Rachel Fraser were woken by police on Thursday and told to move on. (ABC News:)


A Brisbane charity is refusing to take tents away from homeless people as the council warns it is breaking a law that holds a maximum penalty of more than $8,000.

Northwest Community Group president Paul Slater received a letter on Wednesday, informing him his tents violated Brisbane City Council's local laws.

A man standing with a tent
Mr Slater has donated more than 1,000 tents to rough sleepers.

"It is an offence for a person to deposit any article on council land without a reasonable excuse,” the letter read.

"Council intends to exercise its powers under the [local law] to ensure compliance with all relevant laws."

Brisbane mayor vows to evict homeless campers within 24 hours

The decision was made after the City of Moreton Bay made homeless camping a crime on public land, with the Brisbane mayor saying the city can no longer take a "compassionate and flexible approach".

Mr Slater said he had given more than 1,000 tents to homeless people over the last two years in addition to food, clothes, and help with paperwork.

He said he would temporarily stop putting up new tents while he sought legal advice, but he would not take any down.

"I'm not going to pull tents down on people that have nowhere to go,"  he said.
"They're not living there because they want to, they're living there because they have nowhere else to go and there's no affordable solutions."

'I'm not choosing to be homeless'
On Thursday the council announced it would give homeless people 24 hours to pack up their tents and leave.

Homeless man Steve Schubert said he was woken by police on Thursday morning and told he must vacate the bridge he was sleeping under.




Steve Schubert has been sleeping under a bridge for the past five years, waiting for accommodation to be made available.

He said he had no idea where he would go next.

"I'm not choosing to be homeless, I want to be housed, me and my girlfriend,"  Mr Schubert said.
"I've got a swag, an air mattress, some belongings, and I've been waiting five years for housing."

Raymond Carr, who is homeless, said he had applied for social housing, but was told he could expect to spend at least two years on the waiting list.

An older man with light-coloured facial hair.
Raymond Carr could be on the social housing waitlist for years before securing accommodation.

The 84-year-old said he might die of old age by the time he is approved for social housing.   

Mr Carr said the homeless people would move to another city, but it would probably not be long before they were moved on again.




Mr Carr wonders where rough sleepers are supposed to go if council evicts them from parks.   

"They don't care what the homeless people are going to go, the council doesn't care, the police don't care," Mr Carr said.

"They will go up to north Queensland and then get told to move on again up there."
Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner said people were sleeping in the city's parks after refusing offers of accommodation and assistance from support services.

"This is something that really concerns me because I do not want to see people living permanently in parks when there's accommodation available," he said on Thursday.

"We should be thinking about what's in the best interest of people that are going through tough times, and it is certainly not leaving them living indefinitely in our parks."


Adrian Schrinner says he doesn't want to see people living permanently in parks when there's accommodation available.

Mr Schrinner said he did not want fines to be issued, but the situation needed to change.

"If tents are put up in parks they will be taken down and removed. I don't want to see fines issued but I don't want to see any more tents put up in parks either," Mr Schrinner said.

The maximum penalty for depositing articles on council land under local law is 50 penalty points, which equates to $8,065.

Police 'won't be evicting rough sleepers'
Queensland Police Acting Commissioner Shane Chelepy said officers would accompany council officers when they issue the move-on orders.

Police officer staring at camera
Shane Chelepy says the enforcement of move-on orders and fines will be handled by the council. (ABC News)

However, Acting Commissioner Chelepy said the enforcement of move-on orders and fines would be handled by the council and not police.

"The QPS's role won't be evicting rough sleepers, that's not our role," he said.

"Our role is to make sure those engagements take place and we keep the peace while that's happening."
A Department of Housing spokesperson said they were engaging with the region's homeless population.

"Every individual who is willing to talk with us, has been either offered temporary accommodation through the department.

Well said Bobby, but I think its more than that.  Both governments both labor and the coalition, have not built anywhere near the social housing Australia has needed.  Both labor and the coalition are not honest, about the real level of unemployment.      

Australian Unions slam Dutton’s threat to axe 36,000 public service jobs
Media Release - February 25, 2025 ACTU. 
Australian Unions warn if the Coalition goes ahead with its plan to cut $6 billion from public services, it will wipe out up to 36,000 public sector jobs.

Australian Unions say the cuts would result in 1 in 5 public sector jobs being lost around the country, impacting services from pensions and veterans’ payments, to the operation of regional weather stations.

Coalition Leader, Peter Dutton, yesterday declared he would look for savings of $6 billion a year by cutting public sector jobs to match the Government’s investment in Medicare.

More than 20,000 of the new public sector jobs are based outside of Canberra, including frontline health and community workers, with large workforces in communities including Townsville and Geelong.

The cuts to public sector jobs will not save taxpayers’ money. When in office, the Coalition relied heavily on private consultants, particularly the Big Four accounting and consulting firms, awarding them contracts totaling $21 billion in the final year alone of the Morrison Government.

The cuts risk creating growing claim backlogs at Services Australia, the Department of Veterans Affairs, and the ATO which could delay essential payments and weaken tax avoidance efforts.

Shadow Education Minister, Sarah Henderson, also signaled that the Coalition would save money by opposing Labor’s $16 billion pledge to waive 20 per cent of tertiary student debts.

Denying the Albanese Government’s 20 per cent debt relief would cost an Australian with an average-sized student loan $5,520, adding to their cost-of-living pressures.

The Coalition also voted against the Government’s free TAFE legislation, which has saved students up to $20,000 in total course fees.

Quotes attributable to ACTU President, Michele O’Neil:

“Job cuts mean service cuts to all Australians. The only winners from Peter Dutton’s cuts are big consultants that will profit from this outsourcing, as well as multinational companies that will have weaker oversight on their tax avoidance.

“Australians need an effective public service that supports their communities. For Australian veterans, students and pensioners, Dutton’s cuts mean longer wait times and fewer people to help you if you need assistance with your payments.

“Sixty per cent of public service workers are based outside of Canberra. Cutting 20,000 of those jobs means we lose the expertise, services and incomes these workers provide to local communities across Australia.”

Quotes attributable to CPSU National Secretary, Melissa Donnelly:

“The only people who win from Peter Dutton’s plan to slash public services are the consultants from places like PwC and KPMG.

“Sixty per cent of public service jobs are being done in places like Townsville, the Blue Mountains and Goulburn.

“Peter Dutton’s plan to rip 36,000 jobs out of the public service is a plan to rip money and jobs out of local economies, and good local services out of communities.

“In the final year of the Morrison Government, the Liberals had employed an external labour workforce of 54,000 employees at a cost of $21 billion.

“Peter Dutton’s plan to gut our public services is a plan to sack highly skilled APS employees and give their work to his mates in big business.”

aquascoot wrote on Mar 15^th, 2025 at 7:12am:


However, a lot of that "hard sweaty work" could be easily avoided.

Prefab housing promised 50 years ago as solution to housing supply crisis

Quote:


50 years later and still no 'action'. Yep, sure sounds like Australia.

I'll bet the Chinese could put up thousands of these in the time it takes a western public servant to finish gossiping at the water bubbler. eh, aquascoot?

Bobby. wrote on Mar 15^th, 2025 at 5:16am:


And replace him with Dutton?

Opposition Leader Peter Dutton walks back promise to cut net migration

The Coalition will not set a target for net migration until after the election, Opposition Leader Peter Dutton has said.

Bobby. wrote on Mar 15^th, 2025 at 10:05am:


Are you saying Dutton has gone back on what he went back on?

Link?

Bobby. wrote on Mar 15^th, 2025 at 10:20am:


Dutton isn't going to stop immigration, Bobbi.

"Opposition Leader Peter Dutton walks back promise to cut net migration".