Pass the Mic – The Martin Place Community
Dan Kelly
26/08/2021
The Pass the Mic series works to provide a voice to the silenced and unheard in our community. We work to let people speak on the issues that are impacting them in their daily lives and to highlight the flaws of the Australian state and its system. To empower and uplift our communities, we must help give them a platform from which to voice their concerns.
Overview
We conducted an interview with a member of the Martin Place community that attends the weekly street kitchen hosted there by the Community Union Defence League and the Australian Communist Party. We discussed the flaws of the state and federal governments in providing meaningful assistance to the most vulnerable members of our community, and how this has been compounded with the COVID lockdowns and relief programs introduced by the government.
D: How do you think the government has been handling COVID and the current lockdown in relation to the homeless and near-homeless population of Sydney? Would you say its satisfactory?
S: No. Damn no. Strongly disagree. They need to do more. The police and welfare services need to be doing more than just what they do for publicity. Their harassment and attacks target the homeless and disadvantaged in the city, rather than the rich people walking around. The people being harassed are just trying to access essential services they often don’t have in their own areas to meet their needs. They often don’t have access to what they need in their suburbs, which are often the outer suburbs. This is worse for people with disabilities whose travel is impacted and who are reliant on the services they receive in the city. Even today, just before we saw the police sending people home for trying to access services in the city.
D: It’s downright disgraceful. The state has been trying to highlight how it is helping the homeless population with temporary housing during the lockdown. What have your experiences been with these measures?
S: Seriously what does that even mean. Why don’t they give them proper housing and long-term solutions. These short-term solutions don’t solve anything. People who want a better life and want to improve their situation aren’t helped by these short-term solutions. Myself and other people have gone to services like Wayside and have been totally ignored and left hung out to dry, with little information. We’re treated like a piece of shit, not as people but as problems.
“All the people they put in those arrangements, they’re all going to be back on the streets and left to fend for themselves”
D: Do you feel that this issue is inherent in these organisations?
S: Some places are decent and more welcoming. They inform you of what’s going on and give you a bit of insight as to what they do as an organisation and walk you through it. But a lot of workers and volunteers won’t take the time to really talk to you unless they’re telling you what they want. They often don’t listen to your requests, whether for conditions with safety and privacy, and they turn you away if you won’t take what they give you. But we have a right to better living conditions and deserve to have a say in where we go.
D: It seems to be a common point of contention amongst the street community in Sydney that these organisations have a lot of issues in how they work with and relate to the community. Have you found this to be the case?
S: Well a lot of these organisations need to be more organised to function properly. A lot of the charities are not organised properly. They’re not really focused on addressing the problem. They just throw you a bone in the short term if you’re lucky, but a lot of people don’t understand how the system works. They can’t access the information since they often don’t have the technology and connection needed to get the information they need to improve their situation. But at least some of these charities and organisations are more organised and efficient than the fucking government. Seriously I don’t know which is worse. It’s like a 50/50 thing between them.
With housing now you have to book an appointment to go in and talk to someone and you’re just directed in roundabouts, and turned away if you’ve had any issues in the past. And for these people who often have their own issues to overcome, you’re just like well what’s the point?
D: An ongoing trend is the lack of long-term solutions to help break the cycles people are stuck in. Do you feel that there is at least a bit of efficiency in addressing pressing cases to respond quickly and help people in problematic situations?
S: They should have spaces and centres set aside so that people can safely be put into immediate care, but they also need to take the time to process and check in with people and make sure they are okay. A lot of the time, after a long delay, they’re putting people in spaces where there are drug, alcohol and criminal issues in the housing, and you’re forced to shut up or move out. When you try and be safe, you can’t as you’re stuck in an unsafe environment. So it’s no wonder a lot of people then turn away from these services and come back on the street. Because they don’t want to go back to their units and be scared of getting stabbed or robbed. They go ‘alright, you want housing here’s this, and if you don’t like it get fucked’. Then if you leave, it takes years to get back on the list for another place if you’re lucky.
D: Yeah and that definitely relates to a trend where a lot of people have spoken about how the communities and housing provided by the government in Sydney have been allowed to fall into disrepair to then justify getting rid of them and pushing people out west.
S: Well they need to address these issues. They let these places become overrun by criminals who they often throw back onto the street to continue the cycle. They need to help these people and at least send them to rehab and help them break out of the conditions they’re in. They don’t want to address these issues. Housing puts this pressure on people where they’re scared to criticise and speak out. Even as someone who is independent and responsible, when I do need to ask for help where am I supposed to go? And for someone like me who’s from overseas, it’s very difficult to find what help you can access and you’re left to figure it out yourself, which often drives people back onto the streets.
D: There definitely seems to be a trend of entrenching these cycles of poverty and degradation in communities of the disadvantaged. And with what you’ve talked about in accessing welfare, it just highlights the issues this sort of faceless bureaucratic machine has created, especially for people who have English as their second language.
S: The onus is put on us, and in my own case when I arrived in Australia, it took me like a fucking year to get on and get the correct information and access to services. And we’re seeing that for a lot of people stuck here now in Australia. They struggle to access services because they aren’t easy to find, and people need to know where they can go to get things like groceries, welfare and healthcare. People need accessible information on where to get help.
D: Most definitely. And as you were saying earlier, even if you do know where to access this help, there are often issues with the short-term nature of it. For example the short-term accommodation provided during lockdown, do you think that these people are going to be looked after when the lockdown is ended, or right back to square one back on the street?
S: That’s the thing. All the people they put in those arrangements, they’re all going to be back on the streets and left to fend for themselves, facing the time limitations and all the other restrictions. If you’re going to put homeless people in housing, do it for the long term and help keep people off the streets. Make the housing areas safe and with good conditions, because if you don’t do that people are going to stay stuck on the streets. Especially people with schizophrenia and other mental issues, it’s extremely hard for them in these unsafe environments. And once you’re in, you’re stuck in places that are falling apart and it takes housing months to come and fix it if they ever do. And they always find excuses to not do it and bleed you dry for repairs.
D: So overall the housing situation is fucked for the people in need once again. How about the COVID relief payments? Do you feel that vulnerable people have been able to be taken care of during the lockdown?
S: My major issue is that people who are well off and own small businesses or companies, and who aren’t on Centrelink already receiving benefits, they can get payments. But people who are already on Centrelink they can’t access anything. How is that right? If you’re vulnerable and can only access one payment, and you can’t work otherwise, what is that one payment going to get you? It’s shit. You’re flat out paying rent, bills, transport, and groceries. It’s not right. I think that they should match the payments to the expenses people have to pay for today. Maybe 40 years ago you could survive off what they give you, but nowadays its one or the other. No wonder people come here to the street kitchen for free food and other services, because once you get your pay-check, it’s gone in two days and you’re fucked for the rest of the fortnight. And they wonder why there’s so many people in the streets, when these payments don’t match what’s needed to survive. What is rent assistance going help when the max is $190? What can you get a shed? You can hardly buy 3 packs of smokes with that. It’s disgraceful. It’s shit.
Conclusion
In reflecting on this interview, I was reminded once again of the callous disregard with which the capitalist state treats its most vulnerable. In our modern cities, we are seeing the state and its forces trying to push working class and vulnerable people to the fringes of the metro, to keep them out of sight and out of mind from the tourist-centric and overpriced CBDs. As we see all over the country at our street kitchens, these members of our community are suffering and are trapped in cycles of poverty and abuse by dismissive government policies. How can one justify a state that allows its leaders to make millions of dollars off the misery of millions of its citizens? When we walk through our cities, we see ourselves becoming priced out of our homes and communities by the sweeping tide of gentrification and development, whilst social and public housing deteriorates and is built shoddily on the edge of town, without access to vital services. We must listen to the oppressed in our society and community, and work to address the issues they suffer every day under this brutal system. May the lessons from the most oppressed in our community inspire our humanity towards those who suffer, and ignite the anger towards those who cause this suffering. So long as someone who wants a home and a bed is sleeping rough, or is forced to choose between food or rent, our anger will not subside. Let us serve the people. Let us empower the people. And may the twin flames of love and anger guide us in righting these wrongs.
To fight back against this shameful behaviour, find out how you can get involved in the Australian Communist Party and Community Union Defence League below: