Lord Mayor raises concerns over state decriminalisation of begging

0:00Well, the man who never upsets anybody is our Lord Mayor of Melbourne. Nicholas Reese, good morning. Good morning, Tom. Great to be with you and the listeners. I know you're at the G. What's the mood like? It's unbelievable, Tom. This is a great day for Melbourne. It's a great day for Australia. Actually, first time an NFL 4 points game has been played in this nation. And of course, it has to be here in Melbourne. This will be the biggest sporting event in the world by capacity. This weekend with the MCG and 100,000 people. And in fact, it's going to be the biggest NFL home in a way game this year as well. It's incredible. But energy here is amazing. You see all the colors, all these tens of thousands of people in the NFL gear. They look amazing and Melbourne is looking great as well. I must say I had a bit of a walk after the CBD after the program yesterday, so early afternoon. And I was struck by the number of American accents I was hearing. And of course, you know, we're wearing the 49ers and the Rams and other teams. Sure. So clearly, a lot of Americans have made the trip here.

1:03Yeah, there's a lot of American accents around Melbourne. It may probably the biggest influx of Americans who have had since World War II. I would guess over 50% of the tickets at today's game from international or interstate. So like tens of thousands of visitors to Melbourne. And then of course, this is the opening game of the NFL season. It's been broadcast on Thursday evening into the US. So you'll get 20 to 30 million people watching the game and watching Melbourne. So it's fantastic for us to now. We've still got some work to do that. I don't know if you noticed this, but it was brought to my attention two days ago. The San Francisco 49ers website had a picture promoting the game. And they have one of their, I think it was the running back with the ball. But the backdrop was the Sydney Opera House, which suggests they've got a little confused about which city the game is being held in. Well, look, I mean, look, that's nice of them to throw a bone to Australia's second city, city. But obviously the game has been played in Melbourne. And no other city in Australia does major events like we do.

2:04And it's the way we bring it all together. You know, think about the Fanzone in Fed Square or Melbourne Park or down by Crown Promonade. The way we've lit up the city buildings like Town Hall, Flinders Street Station, it all just comes together in an incredible way. And I know having spoken with the senior leaders at the NFL, they are absolutely wrapped with how it's gone so far. And let's hope they're back next year and we can do it bigger and better again. Well, I'm pretty sure we've signed a three game deal. I think it's $15 million a game for three years. And anyway, now look, there's two other issues I want to talk to you about. One, I guess possibly negative and one possibly quite positive for the CBD. Now, the first is a negative one. It's been reported today that begging is going to be decriminalised in Victoria to bring it into line with other states. Now, this is one of those laws, which I don't think we actually enforce very often. I mean, I didn't realise begging was a criminal offense, but there's a lot of beggars around. And I don't say them being rounded up and arrested. Is it a good or a bad thing that we did criminalise begging? So we were caught by surprise by this at Melbourne Town Hall yesterday,

3:09which is the phone call to say, oh, this was passed through the parliament. I believe it was moved by the legalised cannabis party. Part of a justice bill. And so, you know, long behold, we've now been criminalised begging in Victoria. I'm aware that other states have done this, but from the city of Melbourne perspective, there are issues that we do need to work through. And I'm pleased that this won't take effect as I understand it until September next year. And we will need that time to understand what this actually means in practice. Totally. I don't think it should be against the law to beg, but I also know that in practice, our community safety officers and police use that as a mechanism. A lever, if you like, to say to beggars, hey, come on, mate, you can't do that. And let's get you connected with some services and get you some help. So without that lever, we are concerned about what that will mean for city streets. I mean, do you think we'll end up with even more beggars on the city streets?

4:13Look, I really hope we don't, but I also know from our police and from our community safety officers that they do find the fact that it is illegal. And as you said, it's not really enforced. It's just a mechanism that can be used to say, hey, mate, come on, you can't stay there. Yeah, they are concerned about what the impact for this will be. I am conscious that other states have decriminalised. So let's have a look at how that has worked there. I'm also aware that in Queensland where they decriminalise begging, they did a carve out for the central city and said, no, it's still not allowed there. So maybe that's something that could be considered for Melbourne. Okay, now another change that's occurring in the Victorian Parliament, which I think is probably positive. The Premier of Ben Carroll was trying to get the work from home laws passed before this year's state election. And instead, there have been referred to some parliamentary committee, which means they'll be delayed, which means, well, they certainly won't be voted on before the election. And after the election, I suspect they'll die a natural death. So it may well be that it's human right to work from home

5:16is no longer going to be a thing. Yeah, so look at the city of Melbourne. We have at a long-standing position of saying, we don't think this is something that should be subject to legislation. So the fact that it will now be reviewed by a committee is a positive thing. Our position is that life is best in person. Workplaces are at their best when people turn up. And as the municipality representing the central business district, we think the CBD and the city is its best when people are turning up as well. So we support flexible work arrangements, family-friendly workplaces, 100%, but we didn't think that legislation was the right way to go. Finally, who's going to win the game today? Well, look, I've got an LA Ram staff on Tom. So I'm hoping it's the Ram. They're the Red Hot favourites of a Super Bowl. And of course, they have said that Melbourne is their home city in Australia. And we're a welcoming city, as you know. So I'm on the Rams. Well, I'll go for the 49ers there. Nicholas Feast there.

6:16A lot of hair of Melbourne. What about three, six, nine, three? I don't particularly care. I mean, to the extent, in the 1980s, I went through a phase that had been quite interested in American football. And because when I was young, we lived in Chicago for a couple of years. I went for the Chicago Bay. So we actually won the Super Bowl in the mid-80s, but they've done very little since. Nicholas Feast there. So, well, it looks like working from home probably won't become a human right, because I still think being Carol probably doesn't win the election. And I don't think the Liberals are going to push too hard on this. If they win the election, they're not going to bring back this legislation. But the begging issue concerns me. I just think if we decriminalise it, we will see more beggars on the streets. And what we do with that, I just don't know.