Criminalising panhandlers is not the answer, says peak housing body for the homeless

This article is more than 6 years old

This article is more than 6 years old

A push by Perth city council to make begging a crime has been criticised by a peak housing body for the homeless.



Perth wants the West Australian government to bring back a law that would see begging banned in the CBD. The Gallop government in 2004 repealed its anti-begging laws following a recommendation from the Law Reform Commission. Begging is outlawed in Victoria, South Australia, Tasmania and Queensland.

The CEO of Shelter WA, Chantal Roberts, whose organisation offers housing for homeless people, said banning begging wasn’t the answer.

“The question we would ask is why people are begging in the first place,” she told Guardian Australia.

“It is possible that people begging on the streets need support to engage with services, but is a punitive approach the best way to deal with the issue? Is it likely to drive the problem underground, or to another area, or are there other risk factors with making begging illegal?”

Roberts said if the city council wanted to do something about beggars it should pool resources with the Barnett government into “appropriately resourced interventions”.

“Shelter WA believes a better approach would be to engage with people begging on the streets and find out the reasons they feel they need to beg, without presuming it is because they merely want more money,” she said.

“Do they feel excluded from our community, do they know about social services, emergency relief etc and are they eligible for those existing supports?”

Salvation Army communications and fundraising officer Warren Palmer said making begging a crime wouldn’t work.

“By itself, it is not the answer,” he said. “We had a situation last night where a lady who was six months pregnant was begging at the overpass.

“We could only find that lady crisis accommodation for one night. So banning begging isn’t the long-term solution.”

Des Womersley, 40, says he barely makes $20 a day sitting on an overpass above the city’s train station for seven to eight hours a day.

“It’s absolute bullshit,” he angrily said about the plans. “It’s a bad move, because there are so many young people on the street.”

Womersley said he had been living on the streets for almost a year after losing his job.

He said trying to get the dole from Centrelink was just “too bloody hard” when homeless.

Womersley scoffed at claims by Perth lord mayor Lisa Scaffidi said that “professional beggars” were making hundreds of dollars a day.

Tom, 16, who did not give his second name, says no one would stop him begging.

“Good luck with that,” he said. “I’m just here to make some money. Now, will you just leave me alone so I can make some money.”

Scaffidi said begging was a problem.

“The city is receiving many complaints and also our rangers are confronted

with a lot of aggression and antisocial behaviour from an unprecedented

number of beggars apparent in the CBD,” she said.

“The city of Perth does care and feels the need to act responsibly and definitively to bring people into a better space.”