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Friday, November 11, 2005

Hypocrisy for the homeless

They're an ungrateful mob of wretches over at the Homeless People's Association. I recently posted on $60K given by the Victorian Government to provide accommodation for the homeless during the Commonwealth Games. Now the HPA has the hide to look a gift horse in the mouth. They think, like me, that it is a ploy to get the homeless out of sight and out of mind for a couple of weeks while a major international event is on. There is a bit of competition in the hypocrisy stakes in all this.

Victorian Premier, Steve Bracks, says there will still be homeless people on Melbourne's streets during the Games. "There will still be, even though we reserve and set aside accommodation, some people who choose not to take up those options," he said. This is only excelled by the statement of that great friend of the homeless, Robert Doyle, Leader of the Opposition. He said that the Government needed to find permanent homes for the homeless, not short-term solutions. "This is to hide the homeless, not to fix the problem of homelessness," he said. "This is cruelty — this is saying, 'We'll put a roof over your head for the Games, after that you're back on the streets.' " Note, please, that he has not actually told the homeless that HE, if he gets to government, will put a roof over the heads of the homeless.