The ‘knee-jerk’ council proposal that has angered Major Brendan Nottle
- deansimpson7
- 1 day ago
- 5 min read
BY LERISSE SMITH
Homelessness should not be criminalised.
That’s the strong message from Salvos Melbourne Project 614 Team Leader Major Brendan Nottle, who has spoken out against a City of Port Phillip proposal to fine rough sleepers in the community.
“Rather than viewing them as a problem, they need to actually see rough sleepers as human beings,” he says.
“And rather than knee-jerk reactions such as considering proposals to fine people for being homeless and therefore criminalising homelessness, what we would encourage councils to do, and other forms of government, too, is to actually engage with the services that are on the ground working with rough sleepers and together form a response. Knee-jerk responses never work. All they do when we engage in that sort of behaviour is cause more angst and more issues.”
The City of Port Phillip recently put through a motion to investigate changing local laws to prohibit people from sleeping rough on council land, roads or footpaths. Under the proposed laws, infringement notices could be issued to those who breach them.
Brendan said The Salvation Army had an obligation to speak up and speak out on behalf of the voiceless when hearing proposals such as the council’s.
And he had a direct message for any council or government.
“Think very carefully about these sorts of suggestions or these sorts of proposals of fining people that are extremely vulnerable,” he says.
“Because it was Socrates who said that societies will be judged by the way they treat their most vulnerable. I think he would have a very dim view of societies, of communities, of local state or federal governments, that fine people for their disadvantage because, in fact, what it is doing is criminalising homelessness.”
Additionally, the concern about fining people for rough sleeping or giving out a transport fine to the vulnerable was that it would never be paid. This often led to court appearances, warrants for arrest, and further hardship, leaving the person’s life literally on hold as they became worried they would be found out and locked up for a transport fine or minor offending.
As a result, Brendan said they avoided seeking support and did not share their details because they did not know who to trust, making it harder for them to get the help they needed. Listening to people who are rough sleeping is critically important, he added, as their experiences may differ from the assumptions policymakers make about the solutions they need.
“When we actually sit with people with sleeping rough, they may well give us a very different response to the one that we’re thinking is the correct path to go,” he explained.
“Our encouragement would be for councils to work with services, to work with those that are rough-sleeping and together, try and come up with a response which is compassionate and caring and which will actually hopefully deliver a positive outcome.
“It’s so critically important that we actually take time to listen and then allow rough sleepers to actually speak into policy development, rather than us imposing policies on them.”
“People who are facing disadvantage and vulnerability do not need our judgment, and they certainly do not need our fines. What they need is our compassion and our care and our understanding.” – Major Brendan Nottle
Some people tell the Salvos that they need help with their mental health or addiction issues as their primary concern, rather than needing a roof over their head at this stage, since they feel unable to maintain it.
Brendan remarked that often, accommodation is secured merely to tick a box rather than invest in addressing the root causes of homelessness. Consequently, individuals tend to cycle back into homelessness, making it more challenging to approach them in future attempts to help them find a place to stay, as they have already tried and found it unsuccessful.
“It’s simply because we didn’t take the time to listen and to actually address the drivers for their homelessness,” Brendan reflects.
“It’s about being respectful and actually saying to all human beings, regardless of whether they are homeless or dealing with complex mental health issues, I want to listen to you. It may not be easy for them to articulate what’s best for them. May not be easy for us to listen. But I think it is so critically important the consumer or customer, if you want to call them that, are actually the ones that drive and shape policy rather than having them being imposed on them by people who are sitting in an office.”
Lack of communication The City of Port Phillip did not consult Brendan about its proposal despite his extensive experience working with rough sleepers in Melbourne.
He noted the lack of communication was a key issue, as he understood another part of Port Phillip Council was looking at implementing a policy that would place all of the resources necessary so rough sleepers could actually have access to not only housing but also the supports they needed to help them get back on their feet.
“There seem to be two parts of council working in opposition to each other,” he said.
“As a city in Melbourne and as a state, I think we’ve historically as a nation made sure that we have looked out for the outsider. We have always made sure that we are a society that has looked out for the most vulnerable. And the danger with this sort of proposal is that it actually says to certain groups of people, ‘You are not welcome in certain parts of our city or certain parts of our neighbourhood’, and that’s not who we are as Melbournians, Victorians or Australians. We have never been that way historically, and we should never be that way in the future.”
Brendan emphasised that it was vitally important to remember that God's favoured people were the most vulnerable and, therefore, they had historically been the favoured people of The Salvation Army.
“We need to make sure they continue to be, and not only are they the favoured people of God, that they are a voiceless people,” he says. “The Salvation Army is called to be a movement that is the voice for the voiceless.”
And after many years of working supporting and caring for rough sleepers, Brendan has a key message for the public as to why they find themselves sleeping on the streets.
“A person that is rough-sleeping or a person that is dealing with some vulnerability in their life are a human being, just like all of us, and they need to be treated as such,” he emphasises.
“People who are facing disadvantage and vulnerability do not need our judgment, and they certainly do not need our fines. What they need is our compassion and our care and our understanding.”
