The Wiggles are great! William and I watch them daily, on repeat. He loves the bright colours, crazy characters and the litany of catchy tunes, albeit, over and over again. Being 15 months old, he seldom tires of seeing the same skits. He soaks it all in with his big brown eyes open wide until he falls asleep in my arms. It’s a win-win. William gets Daddy/Wiggle time and, aside from some gorgeous William hugs, Daddy eventually gets a break when William starts pushing out the Z’s.

This week, my attention was turned to The Wiggles, yet again, only this time, it was for reasons more sinister than just a sneaky way to get some “me time”.

Catherine often brings the smaller news headlines to my attention. I know she is horrified with what she is reading when she commences, “Did you see this!” followed by a slow head shake or two. Next thing, “Bing” and I suddenly have the reason for her tone sitting in my WhatsApp messages.

Yesterday, Catherine sent me an SBS News article entitled, “The ‘deeply problematic’ methods some councils use to deter homeless people‘. The article explains how Bunbury council, in Western Australia, are playing The Wiggles, very famous ditty, Hot Potato, on repeat, to drive homeless people away from a community space. At the Wiggles own request, the council turned off the famous tune, after “careful consideration”.

The article goes on to explain that the council says that it is a commonly used practice to deter antisocial behavior. These days, I am a peaceful man having turned my back on all things antisocial and damaging for many years now. However, play Hot Potato in my bedroom, on repeat, while I am trying to sleep, and even I might be tested.

The sentiment expressed by council, in this article, speaks to a wider problem; the idea that homelessness is simply an issue we can either ‘move on’ or ‘hide away’ from the good and proper folk. The good and proper folk, of course, would simply like to enjoy a Sunday bike ride in the park without the god awful reminder that this type of human actually exists. After all, a Sunday morning soy latte could seriously be compromised by the sight of jumbled limbs poking from beneath worn sleeping bags.

My attempt at humour, here, doesn’t overshadow my utter disdain for councils who, although generally adept at using the right language around homelessness, actually do very little to assist or to prevent it from happening. Even more curious, is the fact that the average Australian council worker salary, according to Seek.com, is between $55,000 to $65,000 p/a. This would indicate that any one of the council’s workers are literally one or two pay cheques from their own hot potato boudoir.

Equally, I feel councils who are actively trying to assist their rough sleeper community should be applauded. I work with several councils in the Nothern Rivers area of NSW and the work they do in their communities for homelessness is nothing short of admirable.

Homelessness is not sexy. It doesn’t fit with the ego stroking and narcissistic nature of what’s popular on social media. It does not pretty our community spaces, nor does it make an economic contribution. As a result, homelessness is very easy to dehumanise. We look away. We move the problem on. We use the right language but take little action. Furthermore, when not being able to afford rent becomes ‘anit-social’, I think there are serious problems with our society. It is dinosaur thinking and not in the Dorothy way.

If I am able to achieve anything in this life, it would be to give a face to homelessness. Having lived as a homeless man for most of my life, I can tell you, homeless people are people as well. For many of us, all we want is a chance to contribute and not be passed on like a hot potato.