In Queensland, the City of Moreton Bay used to be known as the Moreton Bay Regional Council. It is less of a city, and more of a bureaucratic conglomeration of Bribie Island, Caboolture, Deception Bay and Redcliffe. All traditionally poorer outer-suburban working class areas north of Brisbane.
This is a council map of the region for those unfamiliar with the area. https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/Council/Our-Moreton-Bay
Gentrification has seen the price of housing in beachside Redcliffe skyrocket to become out of reach of the average worker. Traditionally poor areas like Woody Point have turned into the stomping ground of millionaires and the upper-middle class. The old fibro shacks and worker cottages are going, going ….
Woody Point, at the southern end of Redcliffe, is where the homeless camp. There is a documented history of the new wealthy residents violently attacking the homeless, harassing them and attempting to drive them out. Literally this is a Class based turf war, as demonstrated in this string of news articles:
- https://www.news.com.au/national/queensland/news/affluent-brisbane-suburb-at-war-with-homeless-tent-city/news-story/d7005f1bbd154d2c3279f428507be168
- “Tamieka Brittnee, who became homeless in May shortly after her 27th birthday, said she had been pelted with eggs and called “scum” and a “filthy animal” by people passing her tent in Woody Point.“ https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-12-15/woody-point-homeless-removal-campaign/103227620
- https://redcliffetoday.com.au/woody-point-navigating-disparities-between-affluence-and-housing-insecurity/
- https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-7347791/Frustrated-residents-claim-homeless-man-set-illegal-camp-beach-TWO-YEARS.html
- https://au.news.yahoo.com/councils-bizarre-move-near-infamous-tent-city-sparks-wild-theories-030312807.html
- https://www.abc.net.au/news/2024-08-22/council-tells-homeless-to-move-moreton-bay-food-wine-festival/104252810
The next round of harassment of the homeless by the Moreton Bay City Council was voted on and passed unanimously on Thursday 12 December 2024. Anyone found sleeping in vans will be fined up to $8,065. More horrendously, anyone who is homeless in Redcliffe can now be fined up to $8065 for keeping a pet, effectively making it illegal to keep your pet with you.
The Mayor, Peter “The Pig” Flannery defended this decision by saying that they receive 1500 phone calls every year complaining about homeless people. And to be fair, that is a lot of cashed up Karens to deal with.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Peter_Flannery_(politician)
https://www.moretonbay.qld.gov.au/Council/Councillors/Mayor
There is now a large volume of scientific research that demonstrates the positive effect of pets on mental health. In situations of homelessness, often your only friend is your pet. When you risk violent attack for sleeping rough, your dog is also your self-defence. This new regulation is all about compounding the cruelty of homelessness, from the people who made them homeless in the first place through gentrification.
It is also a fact that the City of Moreton Bay has a chronic homelessness issue, with rates rising 90% since 2021 according to the census, and referrals to the council rising 250%. https://www.moretondaily.com.au/news/funding-call-as-homelessness-hits-record-high
So the issue is clearly structural, and the structural response by the local government and Peter the pig Flannery is to further brutalise the homeless.
SEQLD IWW publish this article as wobblies, and wobblies have traditionally been about direct action and working class solidarity. So the open question here has to be, what are we and the rest of the community able to do about it? Cause something has to change.
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