source : the age
One person was charged in a lowkey police operation to move on the remaining rough sleepers on the street on Memorial Drive in Rockingham.
On Wednesday, the remaining 50 or so rough sleepers on Memorial Drive were given 24 hours to vacate the area, where some have been camping for months.
There were still between 10 and 15 campsites along the road and in a nearby field on Thursday morning.
Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions contractors began removing materials and rubbish left at camp sites along the verge and in the bush.
About two dozen police and DBCA officers began speaking to the remaining campers around 10.30am to advise them they would be moved on, which was met with general acceptance from most rough sleepers this masthead witnessed.
Most had either packed up their belongings or were in the process of packing up.
As police and DBCA officers moved down the road, followed closely by assembled media, a black Ford Falcon did a burnout on the corner of Memorial Drive and Safety Bay Road.
WA Police said Rockingham Police had charged a 35-year-old man with trespass and would appear in court on October 9.
One motorhome was towed and put into storage while two vehicles were towed, one of which was abandoned, and the other one had been put into storage.
Homelessness Minister Matthew Swinbourn said everyone still there on Memorial Drive on Thursday morning were directed to support services in the area, and almost all people had now accepted support and accommodation offers.
“All those who were on Memorial Drive site have now left, and no camping signage has been installed,” he said.
“We have taken a compassionate approach from the start of this, and for several months, outreach services have been down at Memorial Drive five days a week, providing access to housing, healthcare, and other support.
Swinbourn said offers of support and transitional accommodation remained in place.
“But ultimately, we’ve reached the pinch point now where the more formalised actions to clear the site need to be taken,” he said.
“I want to be really clear: it has been months of outreach services that have been working with them to try and get them on a pathway to a different alternative to Memorial Drive.”
Swinbourn said DBCA would make the site less accessible to vehicles with fencing, so people can’t park on Memorial Drive’s verges.
Homelessness advocate and moderator of the Homeless Perth Facebook page Nicky, who asked her last name not be used, was packing down abandoned camping equipment in good condition so it could be donated to other homeless people.
She said the size of the response from police was intimidating to the remaining rough sleepers.
“They’re all scared. They’re intimidated. They don’t know where to go,” she said.
Nicky said the government needed to open up disused caravan parks or utilise the Bullsbrook quarantine facility – an idea which has been emphatically rejected by the government because it is not close to services.
“[The quarantine facility] is going to get turned into a jail because that’s so important,” she said.
“But don’t worry about the 79-year-old lady that’s got cancer. Don’t worry about her.
“She’ll be fine in her little motor home and travelling everywhere, not knowing where to go.”
Hamish Hastie is WAtoday’s state political reporter and the winner of five WA Media Awards, including the 2023 Beck Prize for best political journalism.Connect via X or email.
