The closure of Darwin’s 300-bed YiSSA homeless shelter is pushing vulnerable people on to the streets, back into unsafe relationships or away from essential medical care, Indigenous Australians Minister Malarndirri McCarthy has said.
Speaking in the federal parliament on Tuesday night, Senator McCarthy described the shutdown as a “deep day of shame” for the Northern Territory government, which declined federal funding to keep the facility operating.
“They’re sleeping rough on the streets of Darwin or in the long grass. They’re sleeping rough on the streets of Palmerston or in the long grass,” she said.
“They’ve returned to partners that it’s not safe for them to be with. They’ve returned to remote communities where they can’t get dialysis that they need for their renal needs, and these decisions could be fatal.”
Senator McCarthy accused the Northern Territory’s Country Liberal Party government of making a “callous and heartless decision” by closing YiSSA.
The federal government had offered $3.5 million to help buy the shelter’s demountable buildings from their owners, Ausco. Instead, the territory government went ahead with a plan to move residents to another facility in Batchelor, about 100km south of Darwin.
Senator McCarthy said Batchelor, a community of about 500 people, had limited policing and access to medical services, no public bus service and taxi fares to Darwin costing hundreds of dollars.
“I suggest that the priority was an out-of-sight, out-of-mind approach,” she said.
About 30 of the hundreds of people housed at YiSSA had agreed to move to the $18 million Batchelor facility.
Northern Territory Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro defended the relocation, saying the YiSSA facility was a “waste of money”.
NT Children and Families Minister Robyn Cahill said NT Health was working to find accommodation close to Darwin for YiSSA residents who required dialysis.
