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- 15 November 2000
Homeless People Protection
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About this Item
Speakers - Cohen Mr Ian
Business - Adjournment
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Page: 9935
The Hon. I. COHEN [6.11 p.m.]: I wish to speak about Tony Costello, aged 41, who had been living on the streets in Tom Uren Place outside the Woolloomooloo police station for several years. On Friday night it is alleged that local young people walked around the square poking people with sticks. Tony is said to have grabbed the stick and given them a poke back. Apparently, after waiting until he was asleep, several of them attacked him. He was stabbed four times with a large knife, collapsed into the arms of several mates from the square and died quickly of massive bleeding. Some homelessness activists spent part of last night and this morning in solidarity with the homeless people left traumatised and fearful by the death of their friend.
Mr Rod Plant from Shelter New South Wales informed me this morning of the situation. They call on the New South Wales police to develop ways to provide protection to homeless people, such as non-intrusive patrolling of areas like Tom Uren Place. Non-intrusive patrolling would mean that police would not hassle homeless people in search of minor offences but would merely pass through and check whether they are all right. In another incident on Saturday night a group of youths threw petrol over a homeless man sleeping in the Domain. He was lucky to escape with no worse than burns to his hands, after being set alight. A clear message is needed from the Minister for Police and the Commissioner of Police that attacks on defenceless, homeless people will not be tolerated and that police will seek new ways to work to defend homeless people from becoming victims of crimes of hatred.
Only a week ago the Hon. Janelle Saffin, Kevin Rozzoli, MP, and I hosted a conference on homelessness. Homeless people addressed politicians and experts in the community. The conference was very successful and problems were acknowledged involving the homeless in our society. It is a sad indictment that only a few days later such a tragedy should befall a person in those circumstances. There was much talk at the conference and in various circles that in looking back on the Olympics period there is little doubt that many potentially negative social aspects were mediated by positive policy initiatives.
We need to capture the preparedness of those in government and the community who went all out to make the Games work and apply this to some of our most pressing social concerns. Many of the initiatives developed and funded during the Olympics should be extended and expanded to address the housing and homelessness crisis in New South Wales. It is estimated that there has been an 8 per cent loss in the boarding-house stock per annum in the inner city and Sydney's inner west, with estimates of more than 700 people sleeping rough on any night in Sydney. Government resources that were used to give us the best Games ever should now be diverted to address what could possibly be our worst social problem—homelessness and lack of affordable housing in New South Wales.
It is too late for Tony Costello who, days ago, met a brutal death. However, we need to keep revisiting the issue and working on the code of conduct that operated during the Olympic Games. This code of conduct required police to recognise that people have rights to be in public places and should be treated with respect. Considerable progress was made in improving relations between police and homeless people during the Olympics. This progress should now be built on by police negotiating a permanent code of conduct. This and other concerns have been raised by the Council of Social Service of New South Wales [NCOSS] in a letter to the Minister for Housing. As yet NCOSS has received no reply. The relevant Ministers need to make a clear statement that homelessness is a social, not a criminal, issue.
In response to concerns raised by the local member of Parliament, Clover Moore, a special task force was set up to assist homeless people in Tom Uren Place. We need to know the results of that work and what plans there are to continue and strengthen that work. The shocking reality is that if something had been done earlier, Tony Costello might be alive today. These are vulnerable people in the community who need our protection. They are literally on the verges of Parliament House. They sleep in the streets and we see them lining up for food as we leave Parliament. If we wander through the parks we see them, just a few steps from where we work in this cloistered and protected environment. These people need help. Before other similar deaths occur, I ask honourable members to consider communicating with those who have the power to change these people's lives. It would involve only a tiny expense to society to give these people safety and a roof over their heads.
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