The Human Rights Alliance Media Release:
On October 27, the WA state government for a two hour event at Government House in Perth will spend at least $338,480. This is not the full cost of the two hour event!
Our homeless folk continue to increase, not only in numbers however and in terms of despair and various clinical conditions.
WA has 15,000 homeless folk, acute and abject, on our streets, in parks and squats and alley ways, in the harshest, dankest and chilliest of conditions. 7,000 are under the age of 18 and 1,500 under the age of 12. The majority of those homeless on our streets are not on public housing waiting lists, and there are 25,000 public housing applications in WA, with waiting lists between 2 to 16 years.
How better could $338,480 be spent? The government has claimed that recently it invested $112,000 to NGOs to help the homeless during the CHOGM, and so 30 of them could sleep on a floor at Tranby House - what an insult - firstly the numbers in the 'exclusion zones' for the CHOGM are more like ten fold the '30'.
$145,000 of the $338,480 is to be spent on 'catering'. This is now criminal misconduct - The homeless rely on soup kitchens, food vans and small hand outs each week - $145,000 for nutrition and better health would make a great difference.
$193,000 of the $338,480 is to be spent on a 'tent' in the Government House gardens for the guests. $193,000 could have been better spent on transitional accommodation, laundries, showers, storage facilities, safe spacies, treatment centres for our homeless.
Why is anyone paying $193,000 for a tent? This should be CCC stuff - no tent should be valued, and including its set up, at $193,000.
Millions are being spent on upgrading Frasers Restaurant in Kings Park, which was just fine, for a visit by our international guests during the CHOGM, some of them brutal dictators, and millions are being spent on statues around town, and millions spent on Premier Barnetts office and on the Cabinet offices - when all they need is what they already have.
These millions would have gone a long way to remedy homelessness Perth and in WA. The state government which neglects the homeless in ever state budget can never find the money to help our neediest however it can always find the money to misspend it on those that don't need it and to lay out the facade of red carpets and that all is well.
I invite the Premier of WA to walk alongside me as I walk the streets at night with our Streeties and to witness what they endure.
THE HUMAN RIGHTS ALLIANCE
Gerry Georgatos Convenor, Human Rights Alliance
Contact: 0430 657 309
Working towards a Better Future.
We acknowledge and respect the traditional custodians whose ancestral lands we are now part of. We acknowledge and remember the horrific atrocities inflicted upon them. This is and will forever be their land.
Comments
Gerry, What Can You Do With These Issues ??
THE COMFORT ZONE OF VICTIM-HOOD. WHY MOVE ON !?
(1) WA has 15,000 homeless folk.
Gerry, These 15,000 “Homeless Folks” in WA.
Do they include Aboriginal Peoples that live
a Traditional or semi-Traditional lifestyle?
Are the “Streeties” ( those that live on the streets but don't actually sleep there ) lumped in there too ? Those that “don't own a house”?
(2)The majority of those “homeless on our streets”
are not on public housing waiting lists,
Gerry, I will spell it out for you !
The same as in Sydney, Melbourne,
Brisbane and Adelaide ( no difference )
Many of these so-called “Homeless”
ain't on the “Waiting Lists” because they
“Don't Want the Responsibilities” that
go with a house or flat !!
Many have “been there done that” !!
And they “don't like it” !!
And have now “Discovered” and “Embraced” this
“Laid back” and “Responsibility Free”
Lifestyle of this so-called “Homelessness” !!
And with the Support and Encouragement
of People like you Gerry !!
And the “FOOD” !!
Gerry, Seriously, how many “Hundreds of Millions” of people from all round the world give
“Almost Anything” to come and live in Perth
“in parks and squats and alley ways,
in the harshest, dankest and chilliest of conditions” be given a “blanket and a tent”
plus $A700+ a fortnight ( dsp ) or $A474+( dole )
and be fed In the morning, at 8.am
Soup, Sandwiches, Pies, Fruit Juices, Tea and Coffee at Supreme Court Gardens. 8.30am Wellington Sq.
Brekky at Tranby House between 7 & 11 am. Weld Sq.
A meal at Manna Ministries at 5.00 pm.
Soup patrols 7 days a week.
At night, 6.45 Perth Esplanade. 7.00 Wellington St. near YHA. 7.15 Red Cross H.Q. 7.30 Wellington Sq.
7.45 Northbridge Slyth St.
“Food Food Food” and even “More Food Food Food” !!
And if that aint enough, it seems all they have to do is ring you Gerry and you will organise easy,
at least 100 lunch packs ring your friends and they will bring even “MORE” FUCKEN FOOD !!
Gerry, you seem to have an almost,
“Un-healthy Obsession” with this issue and Food !!
Is there something we don't know ?
Gerry, What Can You Do With These Issues ??
Besides write an article in the N.I.T. ?
A publication that nobody “reads”
let alone "take seriously" !!
>>CHINA-WA DEAL BYPASSES CANBERRA.>China “forging closer links”
WA and China set precedence with Pact.
Level of Chinese Investment.... decided by Govt.
and National Development and Reform Commission
( NDRC )
Talks will Boost “Chinese State Investment”
Increased Investment in WA's resources industry
and other Major Sectors.
Barnett a “Staunch Defender of Chinese Investment”
offers
“Swag of Multi-Billion liquefied natural gas projects” to China.
China “Offended” after being “Left Out” of “Oakajee”
Japanese corporate giant “Mitsubishi” has
“Given” Barnett “Green Light”for China to Invest in WA.
China “Wants” several iron mines in WA's Mid West .
Barnett “Reluctant” to “Offend China”
We are “Focused” on China not Canberra.www.whitc.info
well done for telling it like it is Arthur
Arthur I have read a lot of you comments on indy media this comment is like all your others, spot on the money well done for telling it like it is Arthur
I'm with Gerry and people like him
Well I disagree with Arthur and Ross and agree with Gerry.
Gerry does an awesome amount of work for people and he more than just writing for the NIT, he writes everywhere,
he changes lives, he changes laws, he gets outcomes and he should be prime minister like several others have said.
Arthur I don't really think you understand homeless stuff and you seem to think that everyone has it the same from the start
in Australia and just because others are trying to get here from overseas doesn't mean they want to go and stay with the homeless
or those in Aboriginal areas in the NT where their lives are smashed by racism.
I'm with Gerry and people like him.
Sue.
People have told “me” that “I” should be the “Prime Minister
Sue, I have been told that
a lot of the work I did ( do ) was ( is ) “awesome”
Having changed a lot of lives and even saved some.
People have even told “me” that “I” should be the “Prime Minister” !!
Recently ( 1999 up to 2009 ) I created ( alone on the dole ) and ran from home ( rented houses and flat )
a service, Drug and Alcohol Rehabilitation Support
( DARS ) And accommodated people from the streets.
Some of whom were refused entry at even,
Aboriginal hostels here in Brisbane.
So we are looking at some irresponsible people. People that owed money everywhere. Black and White.
I doubt that Gerry did ( does ) that,
( accommodate-ed ) drunks and drugos.
But I could be wrong. Having experience as a drug and alcohol rehabilitation counsellor and been employed as such, I called my (?) program, “Responsibility”
I used to and still do, wear “combat boots”
( from army disposals ) and tell people that I have to and do. “kick start” them ( my clients )
Boot them up the arse to “get them going, to be responsible” ! When they used to play up
( including trying to get out of giving some money to help with expenses ) I used to tell them, listen don't try that fucken bullshit here !! Don't fucken play Jacky-Jacky with me !! You know I'm a counsellor so I don't put up with this shit,
“oh I'm Drunk so i'll just piss here, shit here, smoke these ( someone else's ) cigarettes drink this
( someone else's ) I don't know what I am doing
( attitude ) I am a victim ( attitude )” They were
( are ) so used to getting away with being irresponsible at St Vinnies and the Salvoes and elsewhere. I used to tell them, listen, I don't get big money off the government to look after youse and put up with your bullshit ! So Stop it or fuck off back to the streets !! This generally used to pull them in line, because the people I dealt with,
“no one else” would “put up with them” I also bought a computer (1999)to be more effective in helping people. And taught myself to use it. With my own letter-head I used to write court reports and referrals for food and accommodation for "homeless, streeties and others.
( still do ! never got or wanted anything for it !! and paid for everything out of my Dole ! now DSP ) This was after living and existing as a streetie or homeless in Melbourne and Adelaide in 76-80, Sydney 86-96, St.Vinnies and the Salvoes, Aboriginal hostels for the homeless, on and off, between 97-2003 until Mica and Brisbane Boarders gave me a flat in Spring Hill so I could continue the work I was doing with the homeless and streeties. A lot of Aboriginal clients were fucking up terribly at St. Vinnies Sth. Brisbane and I with Colin Curry was trying to deal
with them. The difference between me and Col was, that he was employed and getting a good wage, I was getting “Fuck All” !! Was it voluntary work ?
No, it was “Fucken Involuntary” !! At that time, living outside St. Vinnies and sleeping in a cardboard box I was dragged into a lot of conflict because people was aware that I had experience in this area and that I would do something !!
( what ever was required ) Also Sue, I used to volunteer my services as a D&A Counsellor at Mathew Talbot Hostel in Woolloomooloo in Sydney in the early nineties up to about 96 along with Bob Belair the first Aboriginal District Court judge who used to give a couple of hours a fortnight there with free legal advice. Ross Bourk was a manager at the time.
Many times I have intervened with coppers talking to Black-fellas on the street and got them out of being “locked up” with “fuck-all” in it for me other than abuse and being throw in the wagon as well for “interfering” sometimes !! Adding to my already imposing “record” !!
So Sue, forget this “Bull-Shit” “Arthur I don't really think you understand homeless stuff”
As for my comments and communications to Gerry ?
My motivation is to try and direct his obvious energy, passion and talent to something more productive and positive. Nothing else. There is no competition, no, who is right or who is wrong. Gerry seems like a good bloke and “well intentioned” But we all know about the “road to hell” being “paved with good intentions” !! I don't think that I am “Kidding” myself Sue, but I know that I have “Far More” Experience, Knowledge and Wisdom than Gerry has or ever will have, in this area. ( I sometimes wish I didn't ! just get and stay pissed and stoned and let someone else worry about the consequences ! Just play Jacky-Jacky like so many people that I have dealt with and observed over Many Years ! ) Also my view or perception of these people is not “one-dimensional” as Gerry's seems to be. ie. I don't view them simply or purely as Victims as Many seek out this life and encourage and counsel others and set a bad example in their irresponsibility. I also pursue and encourage, a True and a Just “Reconciliation” !! So I need to and do take a broader view of things and also I deliberately Counter the well established “Blame Apportioning Culture” that exists and is encouraged, in Aboriginal Society.
I would probably produce a lot more stuff and respond more quickly if I had more than an eighth grade education ( 62 ) and was better than a one fingered typist !! plus not much stamina ( COPD ) and half blind in one eye !! ( took me from 9 this morning to write this !! )
A lot of this stuff is on my website. www.whitc.info
Arthur Bell.
what a pack of bludgers
Yeah lets support the homeless so they can break in to our cars, rob our houses and shop lift.Put them in the army, make them work and pay for their up keep what a pack of bludgers they are.