And in overnight news, City of Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas has hit out at the State Government again for the continued closure of the Ruah safe night space for women, a situation which say it was “mind blowing”.
Perth Mayor Basil Zempilas.Credit: Peter de Kruijff
It's been three months since Homelessness Minister John Carey made back-to-back calls between the city and Ruah before going through the State Administrative Tribunal over operating conditions at its James Street facility which the service provider called “unsustainable”.
The saga ended in November when a city-funded pilot, Ruah, which had been running from the Rod Evans Center in East Perth, ceased amid complaints from residents.
And the political upheaval in the months since has only heightened long-standing tensions between the city and the state, with the Seven West Media personality now also the Liberal candidate for Churchlands.
Zempilas used his public deputation time at last night's meeting to highlight that it had been 112 days since the council unanimously approved the plan, a situation he said was “impossible to believe”.
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He rejected claims that the operating conditions were “heavy-handed”, insisting that the requirement for a security guard to be present and the service to operate to the city's satisfaction was only logical.
“We still have no results, 112 days later … and that's mind-blowing to me, absolutely mind-blowing,” he said.
“It is our jurisdiction, it is logical that these conditions were there, but apparently these conditions were unsustainable.
“So for 112 days, the safe night space, now in June, cold, wet, is not providing the service that we've heard so consistently is so important.
“I find it almost impossible to believe and will continue to update until the safe night space has had a more sensible outcome than what we currently have.”
