SA government to create ‘safer place to gather’ at Edwards Park for visitors from remote communities

A “safer place to gather” for people travelling to Adelaide from remote communities will be created in the city’s parklands.

The South Australian government said the site at Edwards Park in the western parklands should be operational by the end of the month and will run until early next year, or “longer if required” and it has committed $490,000 to the initiative.

“It’s contingent on us to ensure that we provide the safe and secure areas that are comfortable [and] culturally appropriate for people travelling from various parts of the country,” Human Services Minister Nat Cook said.

Ms Cook said the site would include cooking facilities and sleeping provisions such as tents and bedding.

“The benefit of this [site] is that there are already some good pieces of infrastructure in that area of the parklands that we can now add to in order to provide services for these members of the community,” she said.

“There are already toilet facilities, there’s power, there’s shelter, there’s opportunity for us to set up additional shelters and provide for cooking and community activities in that area.”

A shop-front “hub” will also be created within the CBD offering “a range of supports” including trauma counselling, banking, and assistance accessing government services.

Ms Cook said art, music and sport activities would be available through the hub, as well as support to “connect people to an earning pathway”.

“We welcome visitors to Adelaide and we’re really interested to see the journey now that we’re providing a much safer place for people to stay,” Ms Cook said.

Kaurna elder Jeffrey Newchurch welcomed the initiatives. 

“It can work if Aboriginals help in being part of the problem solving with our people,” he told ABC Radio Adelaide.

“It’s always been a long-term problem, not only with Kaurna people but with the parklands where Aboriginal people have been quite transient like other non-Aboriginal people.”

Mr Newchurch said people from remote communities often gathered in the city looking for a different lifestyle, particularly when housing and employment in remote communities were not always available.

Drug and Alcohol Services South Australia’s Vicki Scott said 10 beds at its inpatient withdrawal service at Glenside would be used in the short-term to offer “appropriate treatment interventions to this group as needed”.

“During COVID we set up a similar facility that was very successful,” she said.

The new measures comes after the state government announced a joint approach between government agencies and police that would include “wrap-around” support services in response to concerns around rising anti-social behaviour in Adelaide’s CBD.

An increased police presence was also introduced to the CBD late last month and from Tuesday, police will be also be able to “invoke special authorities” in certain areas during prescribed 12-hour blocks under a widened declared public precinct order.

South Australia’s Police Minister Joe Szakacs said the latest initiatives would “directly support the extension” of the declared public precincts. 

“This provides our police with the additional ability to facilitate movement across and out of troubled areas into areas where acute support can be and will be available for people that need it the most,” he said.

Opposition leader David Speirs said he would “broadly welcome” any changes to address “the significant community safety challenges that have been experienced in the CBD in recent times”. 

However, he called for more support for policing and additional services such as health and housing, and said he hoped the new initiatives were not “just moving the problem from one part of the city, being North Terrace, to the parklands”.

“We need to see a really detailed and comprehensive response here from the government,” he said.

“It feels all a bit piecemeal at the moment, moving people around and not getting long term solutions in place.”