Police operation under way to move on last Memorial Drive rough sleepers

Contractors have disposed of abandoned camping materials on Memorial Drive in Rockingham as a police operation began to move on the remaining rough sleepers on the street.

On Wednesday, the remaining 50 or so rough sleepers were given 24 hours to vacate the area, where some have been camping for months.

There were still between 10 and 15 campsites along the road and in a nearby field on Thursday morning.

Department of Biodiversity, Conservation and Attractions contractors began removing materials and rubbish left at camp sites along the verge and in the bush.

About two dozen police and DBCA officers began speaking to the remaining campers around 10.30am to advise them they would be moved on, which was met with general acceptance from most rough sleepers this masthead witnessed.

Most had either packed up their belongings or were in the process of packing up.

As police and DBCA officers moved down the road, followed closely by assembled media, a black Ford Falcon did a burnout on the corner of Memorial Drive and Safety Bay Road.

On Wednesday, Homelessness Minister Matthew Swinbourn said about 16 rough sleepers had refused support.

He said authorities had approached the issues on Memorial Drive with compassion from the beginning, when more rough sleepers started moving onto the road earlier this year.

“We recognise that many people experiencing homelessness face complex challenges, and our focus has always been on helping people access safer and more stable long-term living arrangements,” he said.

“However, the growing and changing encampment at Memorial Drive cannot be allowed to continue for the safety of the people who have been rough sleeping there, and for the surrounding community as well.”

Swinbourn said offers of support and transitional accommodation remained in place.

“But ultimately, we’ve reached the pinch point now where the more formalised actions to clear the site need to be taken,” he said.

“I want to be really clear: it has been months of outreach services that have been working with them to try and get them on a pathway to a different alternative to Memorial Drive.”

Swinbourn said what remained on site would be logged and then securely stored, and people would be able to make arrangements with DBCA to collect their possessions at a later date.

“So we won’t be destroying unless it is clearly rubbish,” he said.

Homelessness advocate and moderator of the Homeless Perth Facebook page Nicky, who asked her last name not be used, was packing down abandoned camping equipment in good condition so it could be donated to other homeless people.

She said the size of the response from police was intimidating to the remaining rough sleepers.

“They’re all scared. They’re intimidated. They don’t know where to go,” she said.

Nicky said the government needed to open up disused caravan parks or utilise the Bullsbrook quarantine facility – an idea which has been emphatically rejected by the government because it is not close to services.

“[The quarantine facility] is going to get turned into a jail because that’s so important,” she said.

“But don’t worry about the 79-year-old lady that’s got cancer. Don’t worry about her.

“She’ll be fine in her little motor home and travelling everywhere, not knowing where to go.”

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