03/06/2026
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Not One known Government Evacuation Centre Opened for Homeless People During Severe WA Weather Event.
As Western Australia experiences one of its most significant weather events in years, a disturbing question must be asked:
Why wasn't a single know government-managed evacuation centre opened specifically for rough sleepers or homeless, our most vulnerable people?
While emergency warnings were issued, residents were urged to stay indoors, and communities were told to prepare for dangerous conditions, tens of thousands of Western Australians had no home to go to, no shelter from the storm.
People sleeping in tents. People living in cars. People sheltering in bushland. People with nowhere safe at all. Families with little kids even.
Yet the responsibility for providing emergency shelter fell not to government agencies, but to ordinary members of the public.
A small country town, and a few community members came together, sourced a building, organised volunteers, established basic rules, and created a temporary refuge for people needing protection from the storm.
The public did it.
The question is: Why didn't government?
Western Australians have watched elected representatives attend functions this evening, events, dinners and media opportunities while some of the state's most vulnerable people faced severe weather with little more than a tent, tarp or vehicle for protection and some nothing..
Emergency evacuation centres are routinely opened for communities threatened by fire, floods and cyclones. Why was homelessness treated differently in such an event?
Why was there no coordinated state response?
Why were local communities left to solve a problem that government agencies are funded to manage?
This is not a criticism of emergency services workers, volunteers or frontline staff. It is a criticism of a system that appears to have no emergency plan for people who are already homeless when severe weather strikes.
No person should be left exposed to dangerous weather simply because they do not have an address.
The Country town response has shown what can be achieved when communities care enough to act. It should also serve as a wake-up call.
If a handful of volunteers can organise emergency shelter within hours, surely governments with billion-dollar budgets can do better or get out of our way and give us emergency community funds and powers to do this ourselves if you won't!
YOU HAVE DAMN WELL DROPPED THE BALL WA Govt!
Western Australians deserve answers why the hell we dont have availablebeds or options for people desperate!.
People experiencing homelessness deserve protection, dignity and safety during emergencies just like everyone else.
