Name and Address Withheld, ‘Letter to Editor: Vagrancy laws needed’, Northern Territory News, 10 March 2003, p.12.
5.
See LangtonMarcia, ‘The Long Grass People of Darwin’ (1998) 11(4) Parity24; GriffithMary-Lynn, ‘By the By!’ (1999) 24(5) Alternative Law Journal245; HughesJohn, ‘Homelessness and Crime: Community housing issues and the criminal justice system’, Paper presented at the Garma Festival 2001, Yirrkala, Northern Territory, 2001; Darwin Community Legal Service, ‘Annual Report 2001–2002’ (2002), p.33; GoldieCassandra, ‘Living in Public Space: A Human Rights Wasteland?’ (2002) 27(6) Alternative Law Journal277; Longgrass Association, ‘Longgrass Assocation (Darwin and Palmerston) Vision Statement’ (2003) 1(1) Longgrass Magazine1. From 1 February 2001 to 31 January 2002, Council officers observed or warned people for infringing by-laws 100 and 103 on 33,805 occasions. 94 people were issued a formal infringement notice.
6.
Gosley, Anne and others, ‘Stop and Listen … Don't assume: Why the Homeless People's Association was Formed’, paper presented at the 3rd National Homelessness Conference ‘Beyond the Divide’, Brisbane, 6–8 April 2003.
7.
MacqueenChris, ‘Developing a Vision to Address Indigenous Homelessness’ (2003) March Australian Federation of Homelessness Organisations News6, 7.
8.
LynchPhilipStagollBella, ‘Promoting Equality: Homelessness and Discrimination’ (2002) Deakin Law Review15, 16.
9.
See, eg, LangtonMarcia, ‘The Long Grass People of Darwin’ (1998) 11(4) Parity24.
10.
See ChamberlainChrisMackenzieDavid, ‘Understanding Contemporary Homelessness: Issues of Definition and Meaning’ (1992) 27(4) Australian Journal of Social Issues274; ChamberlainChrisJohnsonGuy, ‘The Debate about Definition’, Victorian Department of Human Services, 2000; and ChamberlainChrisJohnsonGuy, ‘The Debate about Homelessness’, (2001) 36(1) Australian Journal of Social Issues35.
11.
See ColemanAnne, Five Star Motels: Spaces, Places and Homelessness in Fortitude Valley, Brisbane, PhD Thesis, School of Social Work and Social Policy, The University of Queensland, 2000.
12.
Gosley, Anne and others, above, ref 6.
13.
FernandesKenneth, ‘Why Not Involve the Homeless? Housing Rights and Community Building’, paper presented at the 3rd National Homelessness Conference ‘Beyond the Divide’, Brisbane, 6–8 April 2003.
14.
It is arguable, for example, that a general prohibition on sleeping in public places infringes Article 7 (right to freedom from cruel, inhuman or degrading treatment) and Article 12 (right to freedom of movement) of the ICCPR. See, eg, in Pottinger v City of Miami 810 F Supp 1551 (SD Fla 1992), where it was held that the City of Miami's practice of arresting homeless people for sleeping — an act that was essential and life-sustaining — when they had no where else to go was in breach of the US Constitution's Eight Amendment prohibition on cruel and unusual punishment.
15.
State and territory authorities have developed a range of policies that place conditions on eligibility for public housing. For example, Territory Housing, a Department of the Northern Territory Government provides public housing, under the Commonwealth State Housing Agreement Bilateral Agreement between The Commonwealth of Australia and The Northern Territory 1999–2003, operative from 1 July 1999. It had a policy that required people to provide character references in order to be provided with a standard term lease. If references could not be provided, a person was only eligible for a short-term lease. It may be arguable, for example, that this policy is contrary to principles of administrative law that require decision makers to take relevant considerations into account, including international human rights standards, such as non-discrimination in Article 26 of the ICCPR in accordance with the principles in Minister for Immigration and Ethnic Affairs v Teoh (1995) 183CLR273.
16.
For an excellent overview of the scope for this advocacy, see OttoDi, ‘Homelessness and Human Rights: Engaging Human Rights Discourse in the Australian Context’ (2002) 27(6) Alternative Law Journal271.
17.
SackvilleRonald, ‘Homeless People and the Law,’Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, 1975.
18.
See, DevereuxAnnemarie, ‘Australia and the Right to Adequate Housing’ (1991) 20Federal Law Review223; AustinCassandra, ‘Rights for the Homeless: Working Paper 5’, Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute, 1996; SidotiChris, ‘Housing as a Human Right’, paper presented at the National Conference on Homelessness, Melbourne, 4 September 1996; GaudronMary, ‘Human Rights for the Homeless’ (1999) 8aHuman Rights Defender17; also BiondoSam, ‘Homelessness and the Law’ (2000) 13(6) Parity5; NicholsonSarah, ‘Do Children and Young People have any Legal Rights?’ (2000) 13(6) Parity10; and generally, the 13th Volume of Parity entitled ‘Homelessness and the Law’, 2000.
19.
HarveyDanae, ‘No Loitering Laws in Port Kembla, New South Wales’ (2000) 13(6) Parity15.
20.
See Longgrass website (undated) <http://longgrass.tripod.com/> at 11 February 2003. See also, Darwin Community Legal Service, ‘Annual Report 2001–2002’, 2002; GriffithMary-Lynn, above, ref 5; HowseChris, ‘Towards a Dealing Just and Kind’ (2000) 25(3) Alternative Law Journal108; GoldieCassandra, above, ref 5.
21.
See, eg, OttoDianneLynchPhilip, Australian Submission to the UN Special Rapporteur on Adequate Housing: Questionnaire on Women and Adequate Housing, Public Interest Law Clearing House, October 2002, p.8; GoldieCassandra, ‘Homelessness, Public Housing and Racial Discrimination in the Northern Territory’ (2002) 15Parity18; LynchPhilip‘Begging for Change: Homelessness and the Law’ (2002) 26Melbourne University Law Review690; GoldieCassandra, ‘Living in Public Space: A Human Rights Wasteland?’ (2002) 27(6) Alternative Law Journal277; WalshTamara, “Waltzing Matilda' One Hundred Years Later: Interactions Between Homeless Persons and the Criminal Justice System in Queensland' (2003) 25Sydney Law Review75; LynchPhilipColeJacqueline, ‘Homelessness and Human Rights: Regarding and Responding to Homelessness as a Human Rights Violation’ (2003) 4Melbourne Journal of International Law (forthcoming). Tamara Walsh is undertaking PhD research at the Queensland University of Technology about clients of SAAP Services and legal issues. Cassandra Goldie is undertaking PhD research at the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law (UNSW) about homelessness (particularly in public space), human rights and legal strategies.
22.
Contact Philip Lynch at the Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic in Melbourne at projects.pilch@vicbar.com.au or Dianne Otto at the Faculty of Law, University of Melbourne at d.otto@law.unimelb.edu.au.
23.
See, eg Council to Homeless Persons, ‘CHP Homelessness and the Law Forum’ (2000) 13(7) Parity4; ‘Housing as a Human Right Workshop’ held on 10 September 2002 in Melbourne, as a collaboration between the Council to Homeless Persons' Support & Accommodation Rights Service, the Council on Housing Rights and Evictions — Asia and Pacific Programme. Workshop notes available <http://www.chp.org.au/sars/SARS_news.htm> at 4 February 2003.
