Source: Radio New Zealand
A ‘move-on’ law will provide police with the power to issue ‘move-on’ orders against people who display disorderly, disruptive, threatening or intimidatory behaviour; obstructing or impeding someone entering a business; breaching the peace; all forms of begging; rough sleeping; and behaviour “indicating an intent to inhabit a public place”. Nick Monro
Legal and social services experts say sweeping the streets of vagrants won’t make them less homeless – and we should be ashamed of the way we’re treating society’s most vulnerable New Zealanders
Cities worldwide have a habit of clearing out their homeless in advance of big events – think Atlanta, Moscow, Los Angeles, Rio, Tokyo and Paris, ahead of hosting Olympic Games.
2026 is supposed to be Auckland’s year, according to Heart of the City boss Viv Beck.
“And the government’s talked about that too,” says RNZ political reporter Giles Dexter. “You’ve got the CRL [City Rail Link} coming on, the brand new convention centre … cruise ships coming in … we’ve got the State of Origin next year.
“All these things that are happening to Auckland, and first impressions count.”
By the end of this winter, new legislation will have been passed that gives, according to government politicians, “another tool” to police to deal with what’s become an increasingly sad and scary problem in the central city – rough sleepers, abusive vagrants, homeless people who are frightening off shoppers, workers and tourists.
It comes in the form of a ‘move-on’ law, which enables officers at their discretion to shift people away from their trouble spot for 24 hours. The Summary Offences Act will be amended to provide police with the power to issue these orders against people who display disorderly, disruptive, threatening or intimidatory behaviour; obstructing or impeding someone entering a business; breaching the peace; all forms of begging; rough sleeping; and behaviour “indicating an intent to inhabit a public place”.
The law will apply nation-wide, not just in Auckland where the biggest problems are.
There have been widespread complaints about the plan, with people in the social services sector calling it “criminalising homelessness”.
Questions have been raised about where people will be moved on to, and how they can be helped, when the relevant services just aren’t there.
Today on The Detail, Dexter explains what’s behind the move-on move, and what it’s expected to achieve.
It’s been in the pipeline since about October last year, sparked by increasing complaints from city business owners and workers about anti-social behaviour. The number of rough sleepers in Auckland has nearly doubled in the last two years.
“The government had been hearing from business communities that despite some of the interventions already in place, this was still a problem,” he says.
In November the Prime Minister told journalists a law was under consideration but they had to look at what supports were in place when people are shifted.
Christopher Luxon says other measures, such as extra police on the beat and a new station in the city have been effective in bringing victimisation numbers down. He told Morning Report the government spends $550 million a year with different social service organisations to support the homeless, $5b on housing support, and has taken 6000 people off the social housing waitlist and out of emergency housing situations.
“They’ve mentioned that there has been more investment in Housing First solutions,” says Dexter. “So they opened up 300 more places specifically for homeless people and they’ve not all been taken up. But some of those development organisations you speak to, and City Missions, will say they just need more resources. They cannot at the moment cope with the way things are.”
The details of the legislation will be worked out in the legislative process, and the law is likely to be pushed through before the election.
“We’re not going to know what happens to these people until this legislation comes through,” says Dexter.
‘There are no options for places to take them’
Carmel Claridge is the co-ordinator for the New Beginnings Court, Te Kooti o Timatanga Hou, in central Auckland. Low-level offenders are referred there by the judiciary, and they’re put through a programme aimed at getting their lives back together. By its definition, a lot of those going through it are homeless.
“These are the people who are regularly turning up in our courtrooms, and are regularly coming to the attention of police,” she says.
“The simple fact is there are no options for places to take them. So it’s all very well to say, ‘oh police can issue a removal order and if someone fails to comply they can take them to a social service … I’d like to know which one the political commentators have in mind.”
She says there simply are no beds for people with complex needs, such as those seen often in the type of people who live rough.
Professor Mark Henaghan Otago University.
Auckland University family law academic Professor Mark Henaghan says homelessness is one issue, and people who are violent or threatening on the streets is a different one – and it’s one that already has legal measures in place to deal with.
“You should feel safe on the streets,” he says. “If someone punches someone, the police can’t just walk by and ignore it … they may happen to be homeless but that’s not the real issue here. Any threatening behaviour, that’s already in the Crimes Act, it’s very clear – they’re offences. That’s been there for a long time and so it should be, our physical security is very important.”
Henaghan says we need other solutions.
“You can’t just say [to Parliament] ‘don’t do it’, because that doesn’t give them other solutions. One of the things I have found quite surprising in the statements and interviews with ministers [is that] they don’t seem to have any options. You move them on but what happens next? And they say ‘oh, well something will happen’. Very vague.
“I’d have thought if you’re moving people on you’d be moving them on to a social service that will actually help them but it’s all very vague and I don’t think they’ve corresponded with social services.
“It’s always bad law if you react very quickly to something and try and pass something through very quickly in election year so you can say ‘we’re at least doing something in this situation’ … I think that’s not good.
“Passing a law doesn’t solve the problem. It doesn’t make people less homeless. It just makes them more vulnerable actually.”
Check out how to listen to and follow The Detail here.
You can also stay up-to-date by liking us on Facebook or following us on Twitter.
– Published by EveningReport.nz and AsiaPacificReport.nz, see: MIL OSI in partnership with Radio New Zealand
