Story by The Pig’s Arms cub reporter (Carlton United Breweries) and political communist columnist Ray Deoshockjock
This photograph was taken Monday 31 July, 2017 in Martin Place Sydney. How these good folk pitch tents on solid brick paving is beyond me, but good luck to them and their ingenuity
Not visible off the right of the photograph is their amenity block and kitchen where a formerly homeless chef prepares free food out of his working hours.
On the left, is Australia’s Reserve Bank.
Behind the photographer on the prestigious Macquarie Street is the NSW Parliament Building, replete with security shed out the front.
And on TV last night was the unedifying spectacle of the NSW Premier Gladys Bokonon bagging out the Sydney Lord Mayor Clover Leaf for not removing these inconvenient reminders to a government with a multi-billion dollar surplus (ironically raised from a rapacious and grasping stamp duty (aka tax rip-off) – to sort out their fucking affordable housing policy and implement the damned thing.
Clover, in her inimitably reasonable co-operative style (full co-operation just short of actually doing anything) asserted that she lacked the power to remove the tents and their occupiers. Hands clearly tied, shoulders hunched. Mea definitely not culpa.
Then we had the NSW Housing Minister – now part of “Community Services” Poo Goward, doing a dressed-down impression of Cruella de Vile, flashing her rat-like pointy teeth and saying, exasperated that “THESE PEOPLE had been offered temporary accommodation until they could find permanent accommodation – and spitting vitriol that they had not accepted the generous offer of 28 days’ respite” – off the street until they would be forced back out there.
The Rt Hon Minister for Housing the Poor was seething with anger that these inconvenient folks (aka her clients) were refusing to accept a bum deal. It looked like she really wanted to smack them and send them home…. no wait, that’s not going to work……
So, clearly, patrons de la salle de porc, these are not real people with a serious inability to cope with the ridiculous Sydney rental prices. These homeless people are a bloody inconvenience and an embarrassment.
Well, parliamentary representatives of the people of Sydney and NSW who would prefer to spend billions on new freeways that the residents of the Inner West absolutely do NOT want ……
Get off your fat arses and do something effective to help homeless people – and DO IT NOW !
This has been Ray Deoshockjock for the Pig’s Arms
Window Dresser's Arms, Pig & Whistle 
I was unaware until today that the boy loving parrot was behind the moving of the homeless from Martin Place, Apparently he squawked about it our Gladys and she bowed to the boy lovers demands. Disgraceful.
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I’d expect little more from Shit Glowworm, she’s taken a leaf out of husband, old blimpy’s notebook on how to be a complete and utter turd. Gladys go and talk to them, the homeless won’t bite. He deputy brother of an alleged rapist sold off social housing in the Rocks and Millers Point to his private school mates for a knock down price and wanted them out of Sirius, can’t have social housing people with harbour views now can we. Fortunately the courts thought otherwise.
Utterly pathetic. These morons cannot get that the homeless often feel safer on the streets than in hostels and the like. These are violent places.
To be fair Clover did want them out of Martin Place when they were under the hording however was powerless to do anything because it wasn’t part of the road that the council.
As for those over at 2 Gutless Bastards, who cares what the boy loving parrot and the violent thug and the rest of the skid marks on the bed sheets think.
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Tactless windbag. Next.
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Place for me to tent err tank err be sent err Vent.
I recently watched a shocking example of the crudity of the echelon Chas Dickens would have advised to watch out for… the do gooders … it was a reality television show where poor unsuspecting suckers no fault of their bleedin’ own volunteered to sleep rough and among them was a daughter of a well known boxer and a son of a well known television journo, both of whom for example started off with well cultured and protected naivety on their side. CONGRATULATIONS by the way to the fortunate in the end certainly parents for keeping these young adult kids up to this period in their lives pretty well it appeared occupied in childhood activities and certainly free of misery in the form of homelessness etc. Well, the smart ARSE pseudo-psychologist off one of these carpy style get-it-together relationship programmes teamed up with …to my astonishment Indira Naidoo … to present it and I could only see what was coming. I have some years of experience both sides of the fence.
I watched it in HORROR as these innocents with eyes like saucers so terrified were they were booked into various hell holes around the place where utterly sometimes demented people suffering untold and complex outcomes of drug addiction and deprivation go apeshit in the lonely hours of nights terrorising fellow homeless. The daughter of the boxer started to crumble. I was so impressed she stood up for herself and walked out of the experiment as I was willing that they all do prematurely and go home leaving the producers of this programme up the creek with their own paddles. My god, when this beautiful, beautiful young woman with a beautiful, beautiful soul near as begged that she wanted to go home, this horrendous woman with her jaw almost jutted out carped on at her about what about her learning curve, what was she going to learn about the situation if she threw in the towel. What an authoritarian deluded and if I was the young woman’s parent i would be having a heart attack watching the terror and discomfort the young woman was dealing with trailing around with a camera pointed at her that was probably under orders not to intervene short of her being murdered. I was so bloody disgusted.
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Yes, shoe, they have a celebrity sleepout in Newcastle once a year, all safely huddled up together while the real homeless get chased out of every bit of decent shelter around the place. By all accounts there seem to be about a dozen beds available for the homeless, here, but most are havens for drug dealers who prey on such people. There are a couple of pubs that will rent one or two rooms to homeles men, but onechas to join a queue.
Of course, Melbourne has cured homelessness by outlawing it. Fuck knows where all those people are now.
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I read 20, 000 homeless in Melbourne, of course not all necessarily originally from Melbourne per se it is not lost on me; who knows how many are from regional Australia in such dire economic straits not assisted by the debacle of the cutting of shortwave and the removal of the facility of even a telephone for some achieved by the mess the NBN is creating of telecommunications, especially for small business opportunity. O what a mess and the pittance Newstart Allowance is. Who knows.
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Too true, nothing now for the regions, except the occasional town has fibre to the home.Many towns are shrinking, yet house prices are buoyed by Sydney and Melbourne. I don’t know how people in ordinary, I mean, sales attendants, postal workers, cleaners, and so on, can afford a roof over their heads. They are probably contributing to the 20000 cited above. In some ways I’m glad to be closer to the epilogue than the prequel.
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I avoided the show. Glad I did with that review.
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I avoided it like the plague too, Viv. Arseholes on SBS have form in exposing plushy conservatives to the realities at the rough end of life by way of some vague moral lesson. It is SO unethical, for so many reasons (got them between the eyes, ‘Shoe) it should be boycotted and criticised at every turn.
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They put the participants in harm’s way. I did not feel so stricken with horror for the older players, but that was pretty rugged nevertheless.
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I doubt that this show constitutes some kind of TV celebrity resurrection for Indira, despite apparent attempts to bring her back from beyond. It’s a disgrace and she should not have had a bar of it.
Pity the crazies didn’t kill and eat a cameraperson.
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Nobody could imagine anything more stupid, really instead of a properly undercover article by investigative journos on what it is to be homeless. The solution, anyway is housing and services. We know what the problem is.
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Agree. The sight of Poo Goward made me puke. Local Government don’t have the power. Here in Albury the local Women’s Health Clinic is plagues with religious nuts at the front of the building, praying and holding weird photos of aborted babies. Been going on for years. The Police say they can’t do anything either. It’s up to the State Government to change the law. Gladys is totally up herself.
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Our nearest abortion clinic is also a minor procedure clinic, so the sill God bothering counts hold up pictures of aborted embryos in front of folk who are clearly NOT going in for an abortion!!
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‘silly’ god-botherers.
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Poo is a great disappointment. I have squirmed before considering how absent she can be from an exchange. You can read all the books in China and never ever get it together in engagement with the brain. Goes to show.
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