It’s the fourth day of Homelessness Week 2017, and we’re running pretty short on compassion for the homeless, to be honest. Last night, NSW Parliament passed new legislation giving police the power to “move on” people on Crown Lands without a warrant, clearing the way for them to remove the homeless tent city from Martin Place.

Says so much. National Homelessness Week & State Govt is in Parl hardening laws to forcibly move homeless people from #MartinPlace. #HW2017

— Clover Moore (@CloverMoore) August 9, 2017

The bill allows police officers to remove people from public reserves in Sydney, such as Martin Place, if that police officer “believes on reasonable grounds that the person’s occupation of the reserve: (a) materially interferes with the reasonable enjoyment of the rights of the public in relation to the reserve, or (b) is unlawful”. It also enables police to seize property such as tents and belongings, if the officer believes doing so would be “necessary or expedient” to move people on.

Previously, police wanting to move people on from Crown Lands required a warrant from the Local Court. However, Liberal MLC Scott Farlow said (bizarrely) last night that “issuing of warrants is an extreme course of action for dealing with this situation”, and while “the City of Sydney might think this is an appropriate way to deal with vulnerable, homeless people but we do not” (preferring, apparently, warrant-less removals whenever a politician feels “uncomfortable”).

The bill was rushed through Parliament in less than 24 hours. It was passed by the Upper House last night 18-15, with the support of the LNP, Shooters Fishers and Farmers, and Christian Democrats. Labor, the Greens and the Animal Justice Party were opposed.

This Seems, Ah, Not Great?

Labor MLC Mick Veitch slammed the bill as “a poor piece of legislation that is using homeless people as a political pawn”, and called on the government to “spend some of the significant surplus it keeps talking about on long-term accommodation needs for the homeless people of Sydney”. Greens MLC Mehreen Faruqi agreed, in a fiery speech last night, describing the bill’s lack of concern for homeless people as “heartless” and “shameful”.

“The only reason you are passing this bill is because these people are inconvenient. Inconvenient to the politicians on their way to work, inconvenient to the bankers in Martin Place,” she said.

“We aren’t in here passing laws to address the rental crisis, we aren’t here putting more funding and more money into refuges for women who are fleeing domestic violence. But we are in here today debating a law to punish homeless people and take their belongings.”

Another Greens MLC, David Shoebridge, also cautioned that the Upper House had not had adequate opportunity to examine and amend the bill, given how quickly it had been passed.

“This legislation was introduced in the Lower House yesterday. The standing rules in that place—which are often grossly abused—state that legislation has to lie on the table for five days before it can be debated. The government introduced this legislation, which was warm off the photocopier, suspended standing orders and rammed it through the other place in less than 24 hours.”

The bill’s supporters, meanwhile, described it as an “appropriate and measured response”, and reiterated that officials from the Department of Family and Community Services had visited the tent city multiple times to offer accommodation to residents.

Who Is This Going To Affect?

If you’re worried about your right to protest on Crown Lands, the new legislation does include protection for industrial action and protests that are authorised public assemblies.

How this will play out in practice at this stage is pretty unclear, though. For example, whether the homeless tent city interferes with the public’s ‘enjoyment’ of Martin Place is pretty fiercely contested.

While the Liberal’s Scott Farlow flagged last night that the space “operates a 24/7 open kitchen which includes barbecues, gas bottles and knives”, which is “not authorised or appropriate under the Crown Lands Act”, earlier this week the Government’s complaint was as vague as Gladys Berejiklian feeling “uncomfortable”.

Last night, tent city resident Lanz Priestley slammed the bill’s supporters for “voting against… having the right to decide for yourself how freedom looks, and how safety looks”. He reiterated that residents of the tent city who have rejected offers of accommodation have often done so for valid reasons, and called for progress towards long term solutions to homelessness and housing affordability.

“They have all the facts, but they have none of the solutions,” he said of the government. “If the problem’s getting worse, your programs aren’t working… you need to throw them in the rubbish bin.”

The chairwoman of Homelessness Australia, Jenny Smith, agreed, telling The Guardian yesterday that evidence of move-on powers being effective was thin on the ground.

“If you look internationally you can see that introduction of laws like these are completely ineffective,” she said.

“Homes fix homelessness, not laws.”