‘Breaks the soul’: Homeless tents cleared from Brisbane park by police
By William Davis and Felicity Caldwell
David Hurding says he worked with some of the world’s biggest musicians including Metallica, Coldplay, Rihanna and Roger Waters from Pink Floyd.
About eight months ago he moved into a tent at Musgrave Park in South Brisbane.
“I’m a stage technician that’s travelled with all the biggest acts, and I’ve been lowered … that cripples your thinking of yourself,” Hurding says.
Stage technician David Hurding at Musgrove Park in Brisbane. Credit: William Davis
“People don’t get that we beat up on ourselves enough, we’re our worst critics, and, because of that, a lot of us get stuck in drug loops and feel like we can’t escape.
“It breaks the spirit, it breaks the soul, eventually you give up and you become what they say you are.”
The 42-year-old became homeless with his partner after a brief stint in jail, and the death of his mother weeks later.
He’s one of at least a dozen people who made Musgrave Park home in recent years.
Brisbane City Council officers issued notices to homeless people camping in Musgrave Park on Wednesday.
On Wednesday, council stickers were affixed to tents telling people to remove belongings and leave. On Thursday at 6am, police and council officers began the clearout.
The council has repeatedly said responsibility for addressing homelessness falls on the state government, and it will only intervene in cases where people have been offered a place to stay.
While the policy debate has flared in recent months, documents obtained under the Right to Information Act show the government relies on data that is several years old.
Tents in Musgrave Park at South Brisbane earlier this year. Credit: Courtney Kruk
Hurding says he understands the desire to clear tents from the park, but believes more needs to be done to support people who feel they’ve been left with no other options.
“It’s a beautiful park … it’s not fair on the public.
“Governance of this city and state don’t want to create easy solutions for us, they want us to sweat.
“I feel sometimes … like they’re punishing us.”
In a statement, Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner made no mention of the upcoming Panyiri Greek Festival in the park, instead referring to his firm stance on the issue.
“Brisbane residents have grown increasingly concerned about the violence, drug use and anti-social behaviour occurring in tent encampments in parks,” Schrinner said through a spokesperson.
“As a result, we’re taking a calm, measured and considered approach with the Department of Housing, Police and Queensland Health to get people out of dangerous encampments and into safe accommodation.”
Bec Pring, lead organiser of the Community Union Defence League, was at the park on Thursday as a team of police and council workers arrived to clear out tents.
“They woke everybody up and said they had 30 minutes to pack up their belongings and leave,” she said.
“The people sleeping rough in the park at the moment would prefer not to be, but this is the safest place that they have.”
Pring suggested the evictions were to clear the park for the upcoming festival.
“What I witnessed was incredibly distressing and upsetting,” she said.
Rough sleeper Corey, who did not give his surname, agreed, saying “no-one chooses to be here, on the streets”.
“It’s a little inhumane, you know, these people are at the end of all their possibilities,” he said.
Corey has also lived at the park in South Brisbane. Credit: William Davis
“I ended up on the street and I’ve stayed here before, I’ve crashed in parks, I’ve crashed on benches. I’ve got a quiet little spot that I don’t tell anyone anymore, so I stay safe.
“We’d rather a rough set of walls around us than a tent, just having that place to charge your phone, being able to wake up and flick the kettle on.”
Data on long-term trends is difficult to come by, but Hurding believes homelessness is becoming more prominent across the city and services are increasingly stretched.
“There seem to be a lot of middle class to higher class women exiting domestic violence,” he said.
“That’s telling me that it’s basically growing through the ranks of society like a disease.”
At the 2021 census more than 2000 people across the state were believed to be living on the street, and about 22,000 did not have a secure residence.
The housing department doesn’t gather its own data on the number of people sleeping rough in Brisbane at any one time.
This masthead requested data in November last year. It was not provided, and internal correspondence obtained under the RTI Act shows the department was reliant on the census data from 2021.
A draft response outlining the department’s efforts to respond to homelessness was prepared but not sent. The office of minister Sam O’Connor intervened to instead provide this masthead with a statement blaming the former Labor government.
Queensland Housing Minister Sam O’Connor.Credit: Jamila Filippone
“After a decade of dwindling housing approvals and the least productive construction sites in the nation under the former Labor Government, Queensland is in the grip of a housing crisis,” his spokeswoman said at the time.
The spokeswoman has since told this masthead the final response provided “broader context” into the issue.
“It’s not unusual for ministerial offices to provide input when media responses touch on whole-of-government priorities or are likely to attract significant public interest,” the spokesperson.
“The key drivers of homelessness in Brisbane – as across the state – include Queensland’s strong population growth, limited housing supply, not enough social and community housing built over the last decade, record-low vacancy rates, rising rental prices, cost-of-living pressures, and ongoing capacity constraints in the construction sector.”
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