Moruya business operators say they are ready to rise up and march in the streets over the lack of action on people living illegally in bushland near the town centre.
Police were called last week after a women’s surfboat crew were verbally abused and threatened while training on the river adjacent to the dozen or so illegally placed caravans, cars and tents.
Business Chamber President Rob Pollock was on the boat in his role as trainer.
“I can’t tell you the exact words but it was get off our river and what the F were you doing there? You knew I was there, you were doing it on purpose. Why were you doing that in front of me and when with a lot of swear words attached,” Mr Pollock said.
“It was quite, it was very disturbing because there was a lot of young kids down at the wharf at the same time and there was a swimming carnival going on over at the river,” he said.
This journalist went with Mr Pollock to the area in question adjacent to Riverside Park, literally just metres from where a sizeable number of people were attending the weekly markets, and saw first hand a vast number of people who it appeared had been living in various structures set up within bushes along the river.
He said something has to be done.
“There would have to be over a dozen places have been set up in that area and they’ve been there a long time,” he said.
“They’ve even got Christmas decorations up. You can see the rubbish, you can see the shopping trolleys you can see the way they’re living.
“I mean there’s caravans down there without windows in them and people living out of them.
“I do feel sorry for the homeless people.
The business leader said this is not the first incident involving anti-social behaviour from the area.
“I’ve had a lot of phone calls from business owners and they you know they’ve said that we’ve got to take our town back,” Mr Pollock said.
“We’ve got to bring it back to what Moruya is and Moruya is a very community minded town and it’s a good sense of community and we can’t have people being threatened in a public park so close to our township,” he said.
The chamber has called on Eurobodalla Shire Council to take a lead on addressing the long running issue.
“This has to cover across the three tiers of government to fix,” Mr Pollock said.
“The police are telling me that their powers are limited and there’s too much legislation that protects these people, we just can’t move them on willy nilly under the current legislation,” he said.
“The rangers are also feeling threatened as well and you know they’ve reached out to the police so it’s a situation where we need to get some common ground with all three tiers of government and work strongly to eradicate this problem.
“We’ve had a housing crisis for a long time. It’s not just the housing for those who can’t afford housing, it’s housing right across the board. It’s our short term accommodation, it’s a long term accommodation. it’s housing for the new workers at the new Eurobodalla Regional Hospital. It’s a massive problem and it’s hitting hard here in Moruya.
“We won’t be the only community to be struck down by this and I know that it’s right across the nation but here in Moruya we cannot have a situation where we’ve got people that are homeless and threatening people.
“Knives have been seen in trees along the park. It’s very disturbing!
“I’m asking the council to work with the three tiers of government and police and for us to try and get a gathering to get something done.
“We’ve got to clean this park out we’ve got to make it safe again for the public and we’ve got to bring it back to what the park should be.”
