{"id":521770,"date":"2026-03-06T04:48:12","date_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:48:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521770\/"},"modified":"2026-03-06T04:48:12","modified_gmt":"2026-03-06T04:48:12","slug":"evictions-of-homeless-campers-by-city-of-moreton-bay-violated-human-rights-supreme-court-rules","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/521770\/","title":{"rendered":"Evictions of homeless campers by City of Moreton Bay violated human rights, Supreme Court rules"},"content":{"rendered":"

The City of Moreton Bay council violated the human rights of evicted homeless campers, a Supreme Court has ruled today.<\/p>\n

The south-east Queensland council fronted court this morning to defend a legal challenge mounted by Basic Rights Queensland on behalf of evicted homeless campers.<\/p>\n

It comes after the council made all homeless camping illegal in March last year, prompting a series of evictions throughout 2025.<\/p>\n

Justice Paul Smith ruled the council had made several “errors of law”, including disposing of homeless tents and other possessions without their consent.<\/p>\n

The council had previously argued the homeless people tacitly consented to having their property seized and destroyed.<\/p>\n

\"Workers<\/p>\n

Justice Smith found Moreton Bay Council did not give the campers a reasonable period of time before the evictions began. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

Justice Smith found the council did not give the homeless people a reasonable period of time before enforcing their evictions, and said the number of homeless people “far exceeded” the social housing capacity in the region.<\/p>\n

“The applicants are homeless people because they could not afford to pay rent for suitable accommodation, and they were sleeping rough in public parks in the Moreton Bay area,” Justice Smith said.<\/p>\n

“If people are moved on without alternative accommodation, the outcome is likely further hardship and the psychological toll can be severe.”<\/p>\n

However, Justice Smith did not grant a request for a permanent injunction that would have prevented the council from evicting more people in the future.<\/p>\n

It means the council will be able to continue their evictions in future, provided they do so within the bounds of the law.<\/p>\n

The Queensland Human Rights Commission joined the case to argue that the council had violated the human rights of the evicted homeless campers.<\/p>\n

The parties are due to return to the Supreme Court in three weeks to discuss what this will mean for both parties moving forward.<\/p>\n

Financial compensation sought<\/p>\n

Basic Rights Queensland director Sam Tracy said he would seek financial compensation from the council for the homeless people whose belongings were destroyed.<\/p>\n

Speaking outside the court, Mr Tracy said this case would set an important precedent in how councils treat homeless populations in future.<\/p>\n

“Today is a victory for Queensland’s most vulnerable people,” he said.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Sam Tracy says he will seek financial compensation for homeless people whose belongings were destroyed. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

“This is accountability for local councils to oblige with the Human Rights Act, and the court found that Moreton Bay council did not do that.”<\/p>\n

Evicted camper Debbie Bobeldyk said this was a vindicating moment for Moreton Bay’s evicted homeless population.<\/p>\n

Ms Bobeldyk said she had always maintained that homeless people had not consented to having their belongings destroyed by the council.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Debbie Bobeldyk says she feels as though she has been stripped of her dignity.\u00a0 (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

“Our daughter’s ashes have gone missing and we still can’t find them,” Ms Bobeldyk said.<\/p>\n

“It was her birthday last month and to not have the ashes there \u2014 it hurt.”<\/p>\n

Beau Haywood, founder of the charity Nourish Street, said he hoped this verdict would mean homeless people would be treated with greater compassion.<\/p>\n

Mr Haywood, who initiated the court case with Basic Rights Queensland, said other councils should be on notice.<\/p>\n

“I’ve seen some absolutely shocking behaviour from councils, and I really hope this puts them in their place and puts a stop to it,” Mr Haywood said.<\/p>\n

“These are people I see everyday and I see their struggles, and it’s really good to know that there’ll be more human rights considered when it comes to moving people on.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Beau Haywood said the decision should put councils on notice. (ABC Radio Brisbane: Kenji Sato)<\/p>\n

Moreton Bay chief executive Scott Waters said councils across Australia were not funded or resourced to provide public housing or shelters.<\/p>\n

“Sadly, today’s determination does not grant homes for people sleeping rough, yet significant ratepayer resources have been consumed by this matter,” Mr Waters said.<\/p>\n

“City of Moreton Bay considers the Human Rights Act 2019 (Queensland) is not a licence to do what is otherwise unlawful.<\/p>\n

“It should not prevent the enforcement of council local laws made for the safety, health and amenity of the community.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The City of Moreton Bay council violated the human rights of evicted homeless campers, a Supreme Court has…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":521771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[64,63,214813,1108,55690,260201,7694,12337,260202,260200,44,94,701,119747,1049],"class_list":["post-521770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-australia","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-camps","tag-court","tag-homeless","tag-homeless-camps","tag-homelessness","tag-human-rights","tag-justice-paul-smith","tag-moreton-bay-council","tag-news","tag-qld","tag-queensland","tag-queensland-human-rights-commission","tag-supreme-court"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=521770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/521770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/521771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=521770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=521770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=521770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}