City of Sydney exposing Homeless & Public to needless health risks

  The City of Sydney Council have for years taken homeless peoples bedding packs and personal belongings -and when able to be identified returned the property to its owner. We have asked many who have recovered property over the past eight months and NOT ONE PERSON has been told of the health risks associated with removal of property in rubbish trucks. 

 The City also forcibly removes tents being used by our Homeless Community to Shelter forcing people to sleep in less healthy conditions exposed to inclement weather. 

 Street washers, using high powered truck mounted mobile gernis fail to deploy any safety equipment. We have seen members of the public knocked over and sprayed with water as this process is being effected.

 The Current Clover Moore Council has lost its lustre in its quest to appease the Citys Elites and Corporate occupants. 

 We call for an immediate review of all health and safety procedures within Council by an Independent Assessor.

City of Sydney War on Homeless : Fourth Attack on Sydneys only 24/7 Homeless Support Service.

Today City of Sydney with heavy armed police support stole the resources Occupy Sydney supporters had put in place to feed and keep Sydneys Homeless Community warm and fed especially on cold winter nights.
Occupy Sydney are responding by reestablishing this vital Homeless Community Service as quickly as possible. Will definitely be back up and running tonight.
  Blankets Food and 20l plus pots are now our priority. Especially sauces fresh veg meat suitable for soup.
  We will not allow Corporate serving Councillor Christine Forster or Mayor Clover Moore the luxury of burying the collateral damage from the Corporate mischiefs they endorse to be buried anonymously out of Sydney City.
Rebuilding is already underway.
Call 0410722000 urgently if you can help with blankets food and resources or just bring to the corner of Martin Place and Elizabeth St. Occupiers and Homeless community rallying there.

FREE FOOD for Under-Paid Centrelink Claimants

Since 1994 Sydney Homeless have provided non invasive on-the-street food and support resources to the Sydney Homeless Community. We do not accept government support or intrusion in our work.

Since January 1st our Sydney Homeless sites have noticed a marked increase in the numbers of

• Destitute single parents forced into homelessness by callous Federal Government cost cutting measures. Each of these single parents has stated that they have been forced out of their homes due to reductions in income when forcibly transferred from single parenting pensions to the unsustainable Newstart.
• Many Single Newstart Claimants are simply unable to afford the combined cost of Housing Utilities and Food in Sydney. Yet under Newstart parameters if they move where they can afford to live (but there are no jobs) they will have their payments cut.
• While Government at Federal State and Council levels work to disenfranchise and disempower the family as the basic building block of society Sydney Homeless and alliance partners will continue to work to keep families as the basic building block of society.
• A spokesperson for Single Parents is available this week and weekend at Occupy Sydney.

We welcome all Single Parent Families and Newstart Claimants to eat with the Sydney Homeless Community from 4-30 pm to 9pm at Martin Place near Philip St. If arriving with Children please go to Occupy Sydney near Elizabeth St.

.......................................................................................

end of day or end of shelf life food needed for 

immediate distribution to Homeless, low-waged and

Centrelink Claimant Families.Not sold.Cooked and served or given away.drop at Occupy Sydney 24-7.

we found Rally against Centrelink happening in Marrickville this Friday --FREE Barbie!! 12pm 

https://www.facebook.com/events/563768560323457/

Sedonas Sleepout 4 the Homeless

Hey everybody, Im Sedona and Im 12 years old. 
Im holding a Onesie Sleepout for the Homeless on the 25th of May in Kibble Park, Gosford, to raise money to buy swags for the homeless to protect them from the cold and harsh winter. 
To join us you will need a sponsor (or u can sponsor urself) and a registration form which will be available soon, and a Onesie (all in one jumpsuit) but dont be too worried if u dont have one.
 Im 12 and I care enough to give up my bed for the night, will you?? Some amazing entertainment will be provided to keep us occupied through out the night., confirmed so far..Gambirra & Co, Novakayn (unplugged), Kiam Robertson
PLEASE DO NOT CLICK 'JOIN' UNLESS YOU ARE DEFINITELY COMING! Thank you
This page is monitored by 4 caring grown ups at different times, who just want to help me help the homeless. Some posts are from them, but not all of them! So Im not talking to myself when you see many posts by me in one status xx
Please 'like' my page
https://www.facebook.com/pages/Sedonas-Sleepout-4-the-Homeless-25th-May-Kibble-Park-Gosford/183139151835932?ref=hl

Join the Gosford Event Here

Get Up Get Real about Coles Woolies & Gambling

Supermarkets and pokies? If you're shopping at Coles or Woolies, the two are more closely related than you might realise.  

Wesfarmers (Coles) and Woolies don't want us to know that shopping at their stores means buying from companies that own and operate the largest number of electronic poker machines in the country. Together, they own more dangerous high loss machines than the top five Las Vegas casinos combined.^[1]  

Worse still? 40% of that revenue comes directly from problem gamblers, people gambling not out of choice and for fun, but out of addiction.^[2] 

Right now, Coles and Woolworths executives are considering whether to do the right thing by the community by making their poker machines safer. They'll only do the right thing if we, their customers and shareholders, demand it. We're already getting their attention - on Wednesday night our controversial new TV ad was featured on Channel Ten's The Project, sparking a debate about the power of this campaign. 

The impact of this campaign depends on how far and wide we spread it. Check out the video and share it today: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-reform/pokies-people/spread-the-word 

There's nothing voluntary about a gambling addiction but Coles and Woolworths can easily clean up their machines and take the lead on this important issue. 

There is a sensible solution that would be simple to adopt. Right now, it’s possible to lose up to $10,000 an hour on a typical machine owned by Coles or Woolworths, the kind found in clubs and pubs all over Australia. The Productivity Commission recommends that these high loss machines be converted to $1 maximum bets, changing the maximum potential loss to $120 per hour.^[3]  

It’s a reform the vast majority of punters wouldn’t even notice, because Productivity Commission research found 88 per cent of people don’t bet more than a dollar per spin anyway. But for gambling addicts, it would make all the difference.  

After we've grabbed Coles and Woolies attention, we will use everything in our arsenal to exert our power as customers and individuals, beginning with working together to take our issue to our local supermarkets.  

Will you help to spread the word? https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/pokies-reform/pokies-people/spread-the-word 


 The Sydney Homeless community fully endorse this Get Up campaign and call for a complete Federal Australian Government ban on pokies. Pokies and other electronic Gaming systems are primary drivers of marginalisation in Australia as families and people of modest means become indebted before they realise that the quick fix to their financial woes is a mirage.

1000 children a year die in US State Custody

Over 1000 children die in State custody every year in the USA. A system eerily reminiscent of that here in Australia would cause many , like myself, to consider that unless critical harm is being done to a child they are much better served in a current undesirable care arrangement than under the risk ridden care of the State.

Part 1

Part 2

We know some horrific things happen to children but nobody has yet stood accused of killing a thousand children a year. 

Housing a Transient Workforce

It should NOT be rocket science.It should not require too much thought to understand that mobile homes solve the dilemma of permanently housing workers with transient living needs.  In the depression era and in earlier colonial times "swagmen" trod the long dusty roads between country towns eking out a meagre existence on what they could earn in one place and moving on as their luck ran out in a place-or,as often happened someone who hired them refused to pay or shortchanged them.  

 The 1950s saw the growth of mobility in Australia thanks in no small part to post WW2 prosperity,driven in no small part by Australia's now questionable participation in Korean and Malayan Wars. Mobility was perhaps personified by the FJ Holden and caravan.Rugged construction for rugged roads in a harsh rugged country--or so the legend goes.This was Australia as Australians first saw themselves on television back in 1957.Of course I don't remember that-but many do.

The 1950s also saw the rise and rise of that relic of motoring history and reminder of Nazism,the Volkswagen Kombi, immortalised by hippydom in the 60s and 70s as the vehicle of choice of the flower power movement.In water deprived Australia there was the mechanical advantage of an air cooled engine,which if a transplant was needed took an amateur about half a day-with a minimum of tools a manual and a bit of luck.

 There was the preferred ride of the generation of Aussie Surfers the CF Bedford surfmobile -often radically customised to meet the status aims and girl pulling desires of the surfer or surf wannabe owner. Other surfwagons included the long defunct Valiant/Dodge Wayfarer Ford Falcon and Holden Panelvans. 

These relics of days gone by were the result of a society with surplus disposable incomes, affordable housing and finanacial security -and governments which governed for and feared the wrath of the voting public. Like these vehicles legendary vehicles governments who cared one scintilla about people are also a relic in the past as at State and Federal Levels people choose between the pro business Coalition and pro business Labor Parties -like selecting which brand of cigarettes to kill yourself with.

 Todays Australia is one of Politicians fixated with serving the interests of international economics .A national government allowing corporate exploitation of a hapless and increasingly helpless Australian public drowning under the combined effects of greedy international (and local) banker and industrialist types. A government allowing ripoff merchants masquerading as businessmen carte blanche to exploit people mercilessly. Industrial commercial and financial interests-aided and abetted by anti-worker anti-environmental laws mercilessly and cheaply raping the countrys resources for short term capital gain. In todays Australia we frequently hear the voices of the bush lamenting the lack of labour -but the bush has an earned reputation for underpaying. Not of course according to wageslavery awards, but according to what is fair necessary and equitable for diligent workers to earn to enjoy the fruits of their labour. This bush mindset has successfully permeated its way into the mainstream of Australian Workplace Relations thanks in no small part to the  with the attendant negative social consequences as more workers daily fall beneath the ever rising bar which is the real poverty line -that confluence point between wageslavery regulated incomes and unregulated living costs. Inevitably under these circumstances, there is a rise in homelessness and at risk of homelessness. 

 This is the light in which we must view housing affordability as well as the affordability of Taxpayer Funded social housing.If adequate social accommodation acceptable to homeless people is to be provided, then we need to reposition our perspective of what constitutes adequate housing. For transient workers,the obvious solution is Mobile Homes. As a social housing alternative,they may well provide governments with a viable solution to the escalating costs of housing.The unit shown at left is for sale at less than $100,000 and sleeps 2 adults and two children comfortably-with all the bells and whistles- compared with at least $300thousand to provide a basic home. In fact,theres an abundance of 2/4 person mobile homes available between $50thousand and $100,000. Options such as rent-to-own can provide the security of tenure and ownership absent for todays marginalised.Such an option  could logically target those with itinerant work lifestyles or ambitions who follow seasonal or other itinerant work cycles across the country, boosting worker availability in the remotest locations. 

Help Sydney Homeless Direct -Accommodation

  Due to unprecedented demand from newly Homeless families we urgently need hotel-motel Private Hotel rooms or flats ,units houses in the Wollongong to Newcastle area. Preferably close to public transport.

• Donors (owners/managers) can simply contact @SydneyHomeless  stating the address & duration available.
• Owners/Managers wishing to notify availability of Family Accommodation rooms /units at discounted rates please notify  @SydneyHomeless urgently, incl location size price business name.
• Donors seeking tax deductible donation of rooms please follow @SydneyHomeless and DM us when we follow back.
• Businesses and individuals wanting to help Homeless people? Preventing homelessness by assisting with one-off room donations -or paying rent mortgage arrears - can have the effect of stabilising families and people who are at risk of homelessness. Please contact @SydneyHomeless to discuss these or other options. 

Help Sydney's Homeless Direct - Food

   For the past 28 years Sydney Homeless have collected and distributed Cafe Fast Food and end-of-day surplus from shops direct to our Sydney CBD Homeless Community providing a nourishing and sought after non-invasive alternative to the government funded organisations whom so many who become homeless quickly reject. Our Martin Place distribution system is a for the homeless by the homeless FREE FOOD service operating successfully for 28 years.Food is available from about 4pm -7pm Monday to Fridays.Other SydneyHomeless sites cater to different demographics and people attending at the Martin Place venue

 The changing dynamic of our homeless community has recently seen our Sydney Homeless Community successfully replicate the Martin Pl model utilising surplus food from some Asian Food Facilities -the springboard for our Haymarket Asian Homeless Food Site.

 In 2011 Sydney Homeless will offer Shopping Centre Managers the opportunity to help the Sydney Homeless Community Direct - while reducing Food Court waste at their shopping centres. Sydney Homeless will assist Shopping Centre Management and Store owners by organising and managing the timely safe and unobtrusive removal of food from the FoodCourt location for immediate distribution direct to Sydneys Homeless Community.Full compliance assured. Businesses donating their unstorable end-of-day surplus in this way can be assured that their donation does not go to benefit a Charity which is funded to provide the services it provides by government programs or Corporate Donations. Donor are guaranteed that their donation goes directly to Sydney's Homeless (or at risk of homelessness) Community.

 Contact @SydneyHomeless on Twitter for further info or email us