FORMER WA chief justice Wayne Martin has warned that without urgent action the challenges facing families today “will only be greater tomorrow”, as St Patrick’s Community Support Centre marked the start of construction on its long-awaited Fremantle redevelopment.
Speaking at a ceremony on Beach Street on Friday, Mr Martin said Fremantle had been a place of belonging for thousands of years.
• Getting a VIP tour of the construction site were some of the Catholic sisters who’ve been supporting St Pats’ outreach for years.
“It’s brought disparate people together, be it for trade or commerce, perhaps a welcome stop after a long journey, or the start of a new one.
“For some people, it’s also been the final stop in lives which have been overshadowed by the spectres of racism and disadvantage.
“However… one thing remains the same, and that is that whoever you are, you are welcome in Fremantle, even if you support West Coast or even if you support Collingwood, such is the inclusivity of this place.
“It’s the kind of community where belonging is an embrace of difference, not conformity.”
But he said the city — and the state — faced mounting pressure.
• Minderoo chair Nicola Forrest takes part in a smoking ceremony to start proceedings. Photos by Steve Grant
“I’m sure I don’t need to elaborate to this group on the pressure being exerted upon thousands of people right now by systems which are fragmented, over-stretched and often built on structural inequities.”
“There is, I think, now, a risk that we’re sacrificing the future for a more comfortable present, with worrying numbers of children being born into poverty and far too many Western Australians who don’t have a place to call home.”
The Beach Street warehouse will be transformed into a purpose-built engagement hub offering meals, showers, health and dental care, legal assistance and other frontline services.
• Homelessness minister Matthew Swinbourn and Fremantle mayor Ben Lawver put their signatures to an agreement marking the launch.
Mr Martin, who is patron of the redevelopment, said those services weren’t the solution to the crisis facing society, but were “vital in providing people in crisis with the dignity and respect that they deserve”.
He said the project — more than a decade in the making — would modernise the way St Pat’s serves the community and, in later stages, deliver 28 apartments for people experiencing chronic homelessness and restore its heritage Queen Victoria Street building for specialist services.
Mr Martin thanked the project’s major partners and donors, many of whom were in attendance — including the Minderoo Foundation chair Nicola Forrest.
“We’re not quite there yet. There’s still work to be done finding the last of the funds needed to make the final stages of this vital redevelopment a reality,” he said.
Homelessness Minister Matthew Swinbourn said the hub would allow people “to come in here and receive the respect and dignity and the assistance that they need. It’s not simply enough to provide shelter or a place; we must help these people to move beyond the circumstances that they now face it, to find ways so that we can have sustainable change in their life,” he said.
by STEVE GRANT