14/03/2025
Musgrave Park - a place of refuge and respite for the homeless and the vulnerable for many many decades and a gathering place of significance to Traditional Owners long before that - has become the exact opposite.
It’s been heartbreaking to see the most vulnerable people in our society used as political fodder and pawns in people’s agendas over the past couple of years. To see our community become a place where vulnerable people are criminalised and rough sleepers - who have traditionally been safe in these spaces - fearful for their safety and victims themselves of escalating violence is devastating.
Putting people in tents should always have been the last option after all other accommodation and support options had been exhausted; never the first choice.
With the callous and tone deaf announcement from Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner, we as a community find ourselves in a strong position to advocate for real, meaningful change for people sleeping rough in our community and across our city; We must apply pressure to the LNP state government to step up and provide as-long-as-needed, suitable, stable, supported crisis accommodation to everyone sleeping rough until such time as affordable permanent housing can be sourced. The government has the means and the resources to do this without leaving vulnerable people sleeping rough to become collateral damage in this mess - it’s a choice not to.
We will update you in the coming days around how you can support.
(Photo of the south-eastern end of Musgrave Park showing the first tents set up in Musgrave Park at the beginning of the housing crisis in 2022)
