Ninety per cent of rough sleepers at Fremantle’s ‘Tent City’ genuinely homeless

Ninety per cent of the rough sleepers at Fremantle’s ‘Tent City’ are genuinely homeless, a leaked document has revealed. The list, obtained by The West Australian, catalogues the circumstances of 89 people living at the makeshift camp at Pioneer Park who have been assessed as genuinely homeless. It was circulated to a working group — comprised of the departments of Communities and Health as well as a range of service providers — by a project officer at Ruah Community Services on Wednesday. The people on the list ranged in aged from 21 to 71, although not all had dates of birth recorded. The West Australian understands that a further 11 people staying at ‘Tent City’ already have long-term housing available to them. It come as homelessness advocate and one-time Extinction Rebellion activist Jesse Noakes confirmed he was behind the Boxing Day meal service that has morphed into Pioneer Park’s ‘Tent City’, now the centre of an explosive blame game between the Premier, Fremantle Mayor and Mr Noakes himself. “First and foremost the camp was about providing a service for highly vulnerable people at the most critical time of year when few other supports are available,” Mr Noakes said. “But I'm not denying that there are certain political alignments in in the mix here.” Highlighting the need for a swift resolution to the settlement — which is directly opposite the office of Community Services Minister Simone McGurk — WA Police yesterday linked the camp to an alleged sex attack by two men, aged 44 and 41, on two girls, aged 13 and 14, in the early hours of New Year’s Day at nearby Fleet Street. Police also connected a spate of violent crime in the port city over the past three weeks — including a woman threatened with a knife, another hit with a rock and the assault of a cop — to the makeshift site. Officers have responded to 77 calls for help associated with Pioneer Park since Boxing Day but the force said it “will not act unilaterally” or help with removing the homeless without “direction” from the City of Fremantle and the Department of Communities. On Wednesday, WA Police said they would not “assist in the removal of the homeless without a viable relocation plan” — but that line was dropped from yesterday’s statement. After meeting with Acting Police Commissioner Col Blanch, Premier Mark McGowan said he had been told there were “very, very disturbing” crimes linked to the camp, that members of the public had been “victimised” and local businesses “attacked”. The Premier, below, said authorities were “hamstrung” from acting because those living at the camp were not technically trespassing as the City of Fremantle has “authorised” them to stay. “This has come about because the council invited the organisation to set up there for a day or two and then they’ve allowed them to continue on now for the best part of a month,” he said. “The council needs to step up here... the council has created a difficult and dangerous situation. Both the council and the protest organisers need to pull back and they need to understand that people living there need to get supported accommodation and supported help — that's what the State Government is trying to achieve.” Fremantle mayor Brad Pettitt, who steps aside from the position next week to run as a Greens candidate for the Upper House at the State election, said the Premier’s claims were “entirely inaccurate”. “They were never invited, it has never been authorised and it’s never been supported. We have been explicit and upfront about that from day one,” he said. “I don’t know why he’s saying that but it’s entirely inaccurate. “We are meeting regularly with the police in terms of how they deal with it. “They are quite clear they have no interest in resolving this by going in with force. “Police very much see that for this to be resolved, there needs to be somewhere for these people to go.” Fremantle Council will next week vote on whether to give staff two weeks to develop a plan to clear the site. But Mr McGowan said he wanted it shut down now as he doubled down on his claim that the homeless were being “exploited” by “professional protesters” linked to the Extinction Rebellion climate change group. Mr Noakes denied anybody was being exploited, insisting homeless people chose to congregate at ‘Tent City’ because it gave them a sense of security and community. “As far as owning it as a political stunt — I reject the terminology stunt,” he said. “It is far too important to be a stunt. I think the government is trying to paint it as simply a stunt because then they can just dismiss it. “Everything happening to these people in that park has been happening for a very long time in Western Australia but has reached a particular crisis point in the last several years — and particularly in the last nine months. And the only difference now is that everyone can see it.” Fremantle Chamber of Commerce chief executive Danicia Quinlan said the political blame game was not helpful. “Whether it’s State government, local government or community service sector, they have to work together, they have to draw a line in the sand and they actually have to find a solution,” she said. “It’s an incredibly complex and challenging problem, regardless of wasting energy trying to work out who's at fault is just the last thing that’s required.” Noongar elder and former Derbarl Yerrigan Health Service chief executive Ted Wilkes said the Premier’s “disgusting’ comments distracted from the failure to respond to a homelessness crisis.