homeless man is slapped with a $652 fine for spending the night in a bus shelter

A homeless man has been slapped with a $652 fine for sleeping under a bus shelter in Queensland, sparking outrage online.

The 50-year-old was given an infringement notice by a Gold Coast City Council officer for 'illegal camping' at the Warner Street bus shelter in Coolangatta on November 25 at 2.26am.

'This is totally rubbish, as in human rights you can't fine someone for sleeping when he has no home,' the homeless man said.

'Do you think if he had $652 ... he'd be sleeping in a bus shelter ... pull your head in,' one online user wrote.

'If he is homeless how on earth is he to pay a fine like that. Maybe we need more homeless shelters instead of erecting stupid Gold Coast lights on the highway that you can't even read,' a user said.

The infringement notice also stated the 50-year-old lived rough between Pottsville and Coolangatta.

The man has said he will challenge the fine.

'They can tell them to move on but where are they moving on to? There needs to be places for them to go,' he told the Gold Coast Bulletin.

But a council spokeswoman said they would never issue fines unless they knew they had somewhere else to go.

Another homeless man and his two dogs were reportedly living in disabled toilets at Rainbow Bay and Greenmount.

A police spokeswoman said they were aware of the man in the Rainbow and Greenmount area 'and have been working to put him in touch with relevant agencies for assistance'.

Founder of You Have A Friend John Lee, whose organisation feeds about 300 homeless people in the area each week, said the Gold Coast and Tweed had the highest concentration of homeless people in Australia.

But he said nothing is being done about it.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-6559457/Outrage-homeless-man-slapped-652-fine-sleeping-bus-shelter.html

"...you can't fine someone for sleeping when he has no home,' the homeless man said".

Obviously, they can.

If this was initiated by a police officer, then I feel utterly ashamed at the 32 years I put into law enforcement!

Laws don't allow for moral judgement ! People could make moral judgement at the Ballott Box but invariably nearly 50% choose not to.

To me in Australia fines and penalty notices are now used as revenue raisers rather than a deterrent for unsociable behavior.

$652 for rough sleeping, one council wanted to put a penalty of $2500 for not bringing in your rubbish bin.

I was present when a Project Engineer was discussing the removal of building materials with a Council EO as to how much they should charge the builder for taking rubbish to the dump.
The Engineer said "how about a Grand per cubic metre ?" The Council EO replied without hesitation " Nah, we'll charge him two grand". I could not believe my ears how these overly well paid simply pulled figures out of thin air thus instantly raising the cost of the project to the taxpayer by tens of thousands.