Gladys Berejiklian asks Sydney lord mayor Clover Moore to ‘move them on’, saying people in dozens of tents are refusing emergency accommodation

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

The New South Wales premier has said homeless people sleeping rough in Sydney city centre made her “completely uncomfortable” and were refusing emergency accommodation, as state ministers called on lord mayor Clover Moore to clear tents from Martin Place.

“I’m concerned that some [homeless] people there are not there for the right reasons and that’s why we’ve written to Clover Moore asking her to do what’s in her powers to move them on,” Gladys Berejiklian told reporters in Sydney.

“We have made sure that anybody who needs emergency accommodation is given that and unfortunately some people are choosing not to take that up that offer,” she said. “I don’t think that’s appropriate.”

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The family and community services minister, Pru Goward, accused Moore and the Sydney city council of not doing enough to remove dozens of tents that have been erected in the Martin Place forecourt since December.



The council was failing to taking public safety or compliance requirements seriously, Goward said.

“I call on the mayor of this city to do so,” Goward said in a statement. “The public expect her to act.”

Department staff had visited the site 41 times to offer services and accommodation to those sleeping rough, with about 60 now in permanent housing, Goward’s statement said.

“Just yesterday and again today, [Family and Community Services] housing staff visited the area to help people experiencing homelessness find accommodation and spoke with every person sleeping in a tent.”

The minister said it was “ludicrous” her department had to apply for a council permit to erect a tent for the homeless in the camp opposite the Reserve Bank.

In June the council moved away much of the previous camp, which includes a kitchen, on the Macquarie Street end of the thoroughfare.

Moore has responded to the criticism, saying that the state government had fostered the homelessness crisis in Sydney and controlled “virtually all the levers of power and responsibility”.

“What we’re seeing in Martin Place is the direct consequence of decades of gutless inaction from successive state governments. Instead of investing in more social housing in our area, they’ve kicked people out of their homes and sold them to the highest bidder.

“The fact is you can’t solve homelessness without housing – we need long term solutions and we urgently need the NSW government to step up and do their bit.”

Moore said the NSW government could solve the problem by reopening the Sirius public housing building to house all of those in Martin Place, plus support a plan for a second Common Ground development.