Brisbane Lord Mayor Adrian Schrinner has been heckled during a council meeting over his bid to move long-term homeless people out of city parks.
Tuesday’s meeting had to be adjourned after people in the public gallery interjected as Schrinner sought to answer questions from councillors about the LNP policy.
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Last week, Schrinner announced Brisbane’s rough sleepers would be given 24 hours to move on – with empty tents removed from parks – as he claimed all had rejected offers of accommodation.
While service providers insist some rough sleepers are turned away from crisis accommodation because they do not have ID, Schrinner doubled down on Tuesday, defending his position.
“You’d have to be pretty heartless to allow people to stay in squalid and dangerous tent encampments when there is crisis accommodation available now,” he told the meeting.
As the interjections continued, council chair Sandy Landers asked for the gallery to be cleared, and the meeting was adjourned.
One observer called out: “Have you talked to anyone who works in crisis accommodation? Have you talked to homeless people? No. You stand around and say that people are ‘choosing to sleep in parks’. You’re a joke.”
Schrinner put the issue on the state election agenda when he warned that some parks were becoming “no-go zones”.
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