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The Government’s class prejudices are now on clear display. In the same week as news emerged that the Government is considering a ban on rough sleepers in major urban town centres further news emerged that it is subsidising Michelin to award Michelin stars to local restaurants. The news of the proposed ban leaked out at an unfortunate time, right after Luxon had denied in Parliament that this was happening. This is the text from Hansard outlining the denial. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Is the Government considering a law change to ban homeless people from central business districts; if so, why? Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: Our Government’s doing everything we can to support people who are in homeless situations, and that’s why you’ve seen 300 more places made available through Housing First. A hundred of those 300 homes and accommodation have already been built; 200 in Auckland. But, of course, our Government, our Ministers, will work with lots of people to see what we can do. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Point of order, Madam Speaker. It was a very straight forward question: is the Government considering a law change to ban homeless people from central business districts, if so; why? I didn’t ask the Prime Minister, what does he think about homelessness; I asked him specifically whether they’re considering a change to the law to ban homeless people from CBDs. DEPUTY SPEAKER: The Prime Minister did say that the Government will do what they can. I would like to know if the Prime Minister could elaborate on that to answer that specific part of the question. Rt Hon Christopher Luxon: I’m quite comfortable I’ve answered one of those legs of those two legs in that question. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Is the Government considering a law change to ban homeless people from central business districts? Rt Hon Christopher Luxon: There have been no Cabinet decisions or discussion on that topic. Rt Hon Chris Hipkins: Has the Cabinet discussed a law change to ban homeless people from central business districts? Rt Hon CHRISTOPHER LUXON: In answer to the answer I just gave the member for his last question: no. Nek minut … From Radio New Zealand the day after: Government ministers have confirmed they are considering measures to move homeless people out of Auckland’s city centre – but the exact details remain unclear. Opposition parties and housing advocates have raised alarm over the prospect of an effective ban on homeless people in CBDs, warning that such an approach only displaces the problem and causes more harm. Asked about the possibility on Tuesday, Prime Minister Christopher Luxon told Parliament there had been “no Cabinet decisions or discussion” on the topic. But on Wednesday, he told reporters the government was in discussion with “lots of different stakeholders” in Auckland to improve the state of the city centre. “Move-on orders would be one of the things that you’d want to be considering. But obviously… you’ve got to make sure that you’ve got the right support structures in place to support people as well.” So the Government has had no cabinet discussions on the topic of banning homeless people from central business districts but has been in discussion with lots of different stakeholders about the topic. How does that work? And it appears that they have tasked Paul Goldsmith to ensure police had the tools they need. He is the person who as long ago as 2008 when he was an Auckland Councillor sought advice on how homeless people could be removed from the central city area and arrested. Their cruelty is not a one off occurrence. All year they have been crowing about how they have solved the homelessness crisis by throwing people out of motels onto the street. They then changed the rules so that it is much more difficult for someone in dire housing need to get any help. Their rhetoric has changed from they have solved the problem to the problem is very complex. It is when you shut the homeless off from help. And the problem is not that compex. All it requires is resources and some compassion. This heart warming story from earlier this week about a homeless shelter in New Plymouth shows what can be done if you actually want to address the problem. From the story Shannan descibes his situation in these terms: “My story is that I was placed on the streets due to family hurts and basically that has lead me to the streets again and this place actually came to me. This place found me.” He said the shelter was a godsend. “This is perfect I mean this is beautiful. This is better than sleeping out on the streets or sleeping in a tent definitely, or having to sleep on the footpath like I see a lot of my brothers and sisters out there that are struggling and sleeping on the streets. Blessed are these people for helping us, you know, when no one else would help us.” And Cedric sums up his situation beautifully and succintly: “Unfortunately I’ve been living humbly, I would put this as living humbly, the last 70 months. That’s correct, seven zero, 70 months now. “I’d also like to mention the fact that, yes, I’ve been a beneficiary for quite some time, but I haven’t acquired any additional debt through that.” Meanwhile the Government is revelling in news that it has spent $6 million in getting Michelin to rate New Zealand restaurants. Letting their supporters know which resturants they should eat at is clearly more important to them than working to solve the homelessness problem. $6 million is a whole lot of bed nights for homeless people in shelters. If you did not previously know what this Government’s class priorities were this week has made them abundantly clear.
