{"id":506746,"date":"2026-07-02T20:14:15","date_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:14:15","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/506746\/"},"modified":"2026-07-02T20:14:15","modified_gmt":"2026-07-02T20:14:15","slug":"theres-gonna-be-a-war-former-rough-sleepers-on-move-on-orders","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/506746\/","title":{"rendered":"‘There\u2019s gonna be a war’: Former rough sleepers on move-on orders"},"content":{"rendered":"

Former Wellington rough sleepers are saying there\u2019ll be \u201ccivil war\u201d on the streets if the Government\u2019s proposed police “move-on orders” go ahead.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s gonna be a big war,\u201d Brucey, a former rough sleeper told 1News, when asked about his concerns about the amendment to the Summary Offences Act<\/a>. <\/p>\n

\u201cI reckon crime will increase, and it won\u2019t be just rough sleepers to blame, it\u2019ll be other people coming into town causing trouble and leaving and then blaming it on the rough sleepers,\u201d said another former rough sleeper, who goes by the name Papa Smurf.<\/p>\n

The Bill, announced by the Government in February, will give police the power <\/a>to issue “move on orders” to people displaying disorderly, disruptive, threatening or intimidating behaviour; obstructing or impeding someone entering a business; and those breaching the peace.<\/p>\n

Former rough sleepers warn move-on orders could spark ‘war’ – Watch on TVNZ+<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Former<\/p>\n

Former Wellington rough sleepers Brucey and Papa Smurf (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

The orders could also be issued for all forms of begging, rough sleeping, and behaviour “indicating an intent to inhabit a public place”.<\/p>\n

An order would require a person to leave a specified area for up to 24 hours and move a “reasonable distance from the area” as specified by the officer.<\/p>\n

Refusing to comply with a move-on order could be punished with either a fine of up to $2000 or a maximum of three months in prison.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow are they gonna afford that? Dude, they\u2019re homeless,\u201d said Brucey.<\/p>\n

Another former rough sleeper, Lyric, who ran away from state care when he was 14, told 1News he went to Wellington\u2019s CBD for safety.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen we\u2019d be sleeping in doorways and stuff like that, we knew we had cameras watching us, we knew that it was a lit-up area, it\u2019s a whole lot safer,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Speaking from experience, he said the police treated him like he\u2019d already committed a crime<\/a> when he was rough sleeping. <\/p>\n

\u201cThe last thing we need is for our government, our police, telling [rough sleepers] to move on and them turning around and making the police, making the government an enemy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul’s electorate office has been collecting submissions on the bill from both rough sleepers and those with lived experience.<\/p>\n

\"Wellington<\/p>\n

Wellington Central MP Tamatha Paul (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

\u201cThis will just make the problem worse,\u201d said Paul. <\/p>\n

She told 1News a big worry was the growing number of women and young people within the rough sleeping community.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt is more unsafe for women to not be in well-lit areas like town and for kids as well, for them to be moved on into darker, dingier parts of town,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n

Justice Minister Paul Goldsmith said he did not agree that the changes would lead to violence.<\/p>\n

“It gives the power to police to issue a move on order for somebody who is acting in a disorderly way in our towns and cities, and that\u2019s appropriate, and the simplest thing for people to do is follow that order.”<\/p>\n

He said there were many opportunities to help those in need, but what was lacking was a tool to deal with anti-social behaviour in towns and cities. <\/p>\n

\"Retail<\/p>\n

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n

Retail NZ chief executive Carolyn Young said retailers wanted the focus to be on disruption, not people.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo as long as we’re focusing on the behaviour and not whether someone’s a rough sleeper or begging, then we’re okay with that because we know there are situations where you do need to break the cycle.\u201d<\/p>\n

Submissions to select committee on the move-on orders Bill closed at midnight.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Former Wellington rough sleepers are saying there\u2019ll be \u201ccivil war\u201d on the streets if the Government\u2019s proposed police…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":506747,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[67,42,43,135,550,40,38,41,39,52],"class_list":["post-506746","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-politics","tag-social-issues","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories","tag-wellington"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506746","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=506746"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/506746\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/506747"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=506746"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=506746"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=506746"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}