Games 'cleansing' feared
3 June 1998Social welfare groups reacted angrily yesterday to reports that Sydney City, Liverpool and Waverley councils were seeking wider powers to deal with hawkers, beggars and loiterers before and during the Sydney Olympics.
Though each of the councils denied they were targeting the homeless and disadvantaged, social welfare workers such as Ms Beth Jewell, policy and community worker for the Redfern Legal Service, felt the proposals were in line with prevailing trends to clean up the city before the Games.
She said the increase in rents, especially in places such as Homebush and Auburn - traditionally low-cost areas - the clearing of "The Block" at Redfern and laws against youths congregating were part of the trend.
"One of the issues we are looking at is the proposed legislation that was brought in in Atlanta prior to the Games, which led to thousands of homeless people being imprisoned for things," she said.
"In Atlanta, an extra 150 police were patrolling the area. They used capsicum spray to move people to other streets and they arrested others. They called it "street cleansing', or "poor cleansing'. It was just outrageous behaviour but the councils are talking about it here." Mr John South, operations manager for adult accommodation services for the Sydney City Mission, said: "There is talk that the homeless will be moved out and even the derelict areas will be whitewashed to make them look new.
"These people will be bussed out to somewhere where there will be no support, no friends. Many have a mental illness."
A spokesman for Sydney's Lord Mayor, Councillor Sartor, said the proposed controls had been misinterpreted.
"We are talking about street vendors and hawkers, not the homeless," he said. "Last year, 21,000 people contacted our Homeless Persons Information Service. We spend $500,000 a year funding agencies to provide emergency accommodation for people."
The Mayor of Waverley, Cr Paul Pearce, said that matters raised with the Minister for Local Government, Mr Page, "related solely to street vendors and hawkers, and how these operators could be managed during the Olympics".
The Mayor of Liverpool, Cr George Paciullo, would not comment directly but said he would agree with Cr Sartor.
The Rev Harry Herbert, chairman of the Olympic Co-ordination Authority's Social Impact Advisory Committee, said the push was against people such as ticket scalpers. An anti-loitering policy could be abused.
Mr Rod Plant, executive officer for Shelter NSW, a community-based housing policy organisation, said: "I am really concerned. I think there is a potential to go beyond what the intention is and start pushing people away without providing services for them."
