Queensland’s police move-on powers need to be amended to protect homeless people according to a new law report.
The report on the impact of police move-on powers on homeless people in Brisbane, said the current powers disproportionately affected young and/or Indigenous homeless people but could be improved by updating police procedures, reviewing maximum fines and ensuring police only intervened when a person’s behaviour threatened public safety.
The University of Queensland and Queensland Public Interest Law Clearing House (QPILCH) Homeless Persons’ Legal Clinic report, substantially researched by law students on clinical legal placement at QPILCH, said police should avoid enforcing move-on powers based on a person’s presence rather than their behaviour.
“Homeless people in Brisbane report being unduly interfered with by police in situations where they are not engaging in any unlawful behaviour,” report editor, UQ law lecturer Dr Tamara Walsh, said.
“Homeless people are amongst the most disadvantaged in our society. They should be assisted and protected, not harassed,” she said.
Dr Walsh, a law reformer who specialises in public order, poverty and marginalised people recommended a statutory defence of reasonable excuse be available to persons charged with contravening a move-on direction to protect these people.
The report, entitled "Nowhere to go", was based on a survey of 132 people experiencing, or at risk of, homelessness in Brisbane.
The survey asked respondents to comment on the use of move-on powers against them, including the frequency, the circumstances surrounding, and the efficacy of their use.
Of the homeless people surveyed, 76.5 percent had been told to move-on one or more times in the previous six months.
Homeless people sleeping rough or in squats were most susceptible to being moved-on with 90 percent of respondents who were sleeping rough reporting being moved-on in the previous six months.
In relation to general interactions with police, 73.5 percent of respondents stated they had been approached by the police on various occasions when in their view they had not been doing anything wrong.
The report recommended that a process for public reporting of move-on directions be introduced to include data about a person’s age, housing status, whether they are of Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander descent, and the location, timeframe and reason provided for the move-on direction.
Media: Dr Walsh (07 3365 6192) or Sam Ferguson (3365 6662)
