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Speaker 1: A woman shelter has been announced to be open on

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Speaker 1: James Street and North Bridge, almost three months after the

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Speaker 1: shelter right opposite us here in Ease Perth was closed.

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Speaker 1: Debra Zanella is the CEO of Ruher Community Services, which

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Speaker 1: does amazing work with family and domestic violence, mostly women

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Speaker 1: and children.

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Speaker 2: Is with us. Good morning, Debra, Welcome deb goodnight morning.

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Speaker 1: So Deb, this shelter, the one here in East Perth,

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Speaker 1: it was a safe night space. Is this the same

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Speaker 1: situation a night space?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's to replicate the service because the demand for

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Speaker 2: women who are unable to access other forms of support.

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Speaker 2: So yes, it provides a service overnight for women to

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Speaker 2: seek shelter and for us to begin to try to

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Speaker 2: address some of their you know, the needs that they're

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Speaker 2: entering the service with.

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Speaker 3: Because of the location of the Hay Street site, it

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Speaker 3: was right over the road from our work, so we

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Speaker 3: saw a lot, Yes there, I saw a lot of

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Speaker 3: the activities at that location, but the disturbed just greatly.

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Speaker 3: This serves me greatly that this has become a political

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Speaker 3: football for so long. Do you think that's part of

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Speaker 3: what's the delay with finding the new site? Is how

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Speaker 3: are you feeling about it.

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Speaker 2: I don't think it's a delay in finding the new side.

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Speaker 2: I think the issue of the new side is always

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Speaker 2: that everyone, you know, public commentary becomes we all really

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Speaker 2: want to support women, but we just don't want them here,

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Speaker 2: and so that is the experience of any service provides.

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Speaker 2: And I understand how community feels vulnerable about those things,

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Speaker 2: but the reality is we just can't have a area

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Speaker 2: that we put all people who are facing complexity in.

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Speaker 2: So that's the first issue. Look, I think that this

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Speaker 2: has been highly politicized, and I think that you know,

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Speaker 2: obviously people have seen the news that the council approved

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Speaker 2: the development application for us to use our existing James

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Speaker 2: Street property that we use during the day and then

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Speaker 2: use it at night to this service. But there are

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Speaker 2: difficulties with the recommendations and the conditions that have been included.

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Speaker 2: And I think I've said, well, I know that I've

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Speaker 2: said publicly on the record. I feel as though it's

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Speaker 2: an attempt to shut us down by stealth. It feels

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Speaker 2: a little bit like a Clayton's approval. And whilst I

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Speaker 2: understand that counselors make decisions in the best interest of

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Speaker 2: Blue rate payers, I'm not sure that that decision enables

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Speaker 2: us to provide a service that is safe, that's a

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Speaker 2: quality service, and responds agilely to the unknown needs that

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Speaker 2: women present with when they come in, you know, as

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Speaker 2: simple as for a woman who has the first time

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Speaker 2: in sixty years left her abusive partner to a woman

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Speaker 2: who is and you would have seen some of these women,

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Speaker 2: a woman who has come in dropped off by the

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Speaker 2: police after being sexually assaulted. So that's part of the

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Speaker 2: difficulty that we face currently.

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Speaker 1: And I mean we saw women having to still fend

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Speaker 1: certain people off as they follow them there, you know,

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Speaker 1: from there in the mornings.

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Speaker 2: And of course this is all part of it.

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Speaker 1: As you said, one of the main concerns with the

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Speaker 1: East Perth site was neighboring residential properties. They were very close.

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Speaker 1: How do you feel about the James Street Northbridge location.

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Speaker 1: Is it a bit further away from you know what

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Speaker 1: that issue they had here.

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Speaker 2: Well, let me just put something on the record here.

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Speaker 2: Whilst comments by the Lord Mayor in terms of the

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Speaker 2: decrease in antisocial behavior as a result of us leaving

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Speaker 2: while we were at the property across the road from you,

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Speaker 2: and this will be disputed by the City of Perth.

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Speaker 2: We had one complaint. There were multiple calls that we

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Speaker 2: made to city watch and to police when we were

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Speaker 2: all to the ambulance when we were concerned about people

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Speaker 2: hanging around it ought not to be there. So there's

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Speaker 2: a distortion about what gets said publicly. My second point

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Speaker 2: is that RUHA has operated in the entertainment precinct area

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Speaker 2: apparently that is James Street for sixty years. So our

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Speaker 2: original service was there in nineteen fifty nine. So I

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Speaker 2: just want to be clear that we don't bring the

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Speaker 2: issues of women experiencing vulnerability or people that are homeless

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Speaker 2: to the city. They are there and we respond to them,

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Speaker 2: and so we are conscious of our neighbors. And we

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Speaker 2: have already begun to set up an advisory committee. It's

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Speaker 2: going to be chaired by a woman called Liz McCleod,

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Speaker 2: who used to be the previously of these Metro Health service.

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Speaker 2: We want to be good neighbors. We want to try

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Speaker 2: and balance what our neighbors need and what we need

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Speaker 2: to be able to exercise our duty of care to

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Speaker 2: our clients and our staff.

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Speaker 3: Debraah, this is a last chance accommodation. This is the

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Speaker 3: desperate people are desperately for a roof over the head

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Speaker 3: in a safe space. So how challenging has that been

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Speaker 3: so far for three months? For a lot of these women,

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Speaker 3: it must be they're in great peril very often, aren't they.

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Speaker 2: It's a great question. So we know that on the

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Speaker 2: weekend after we closed rod Evans, three women, three of

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Speaker 2: the women who had come to us over that period

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Speaker 2: of two and a half years, experienced sexual assaults. We

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Speaker 2: know that people journalists have asked me, oh, well, I

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Speaker 2: followed it up with the police and I couldn't. They

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Speaker 2: couldn't confirm it, And that's absolutely right. Many of our

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Speaker 2: women who are experiencing great volubility will not report sexual assault.

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Speaker 2: People like me may not report sexual assaults because of

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Speaker 2: the fear associated with it, so they have gone back

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Speaker 2: to living on the street. Some we've continued to work

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Speaker 2: within this additional funding given to us by the state.

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Speaker 2: We've got some into refuges. But as you will have

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Speaker 2: here heard through all other comms channels, you know, demand

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Speaker 2: is absolutely exceeding supply, and so the reality is they

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Speaker 2: remain on the street.

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Speaker 1: So what happens now, Debra, when do you hope this

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Speaker 1: new safe space opens?

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Speaker 2: Well, therein lies a flight Lem. So obviously we're just

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Speaker 2: completing some conversations and I'm seeking some legal advice because

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Speaker 2: I'm not convinced that the conditions that have been applied

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Speaker 2: to the approval will actually allow us to do the

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Speaker 2: work that we need to do. My original desire had been,

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Speaker 2: you know, in a period of four to six weeks

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Speaker 2: to open it, but that remains on what that remains uncertain.

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Speaker 2: What I don't want to have to do is open

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Speaker 2: a service closer service, open a service closure service. Because

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Speaker 2: of the lack of clarity.

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Speaker 1: Do it have been a perfect world? What would be

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Speaker 1: the one thing that would make your job easier?

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Speaker 2: Wow, even eight o'clock.

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Speaker 1: At having to you're talking about having to sort of

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Speaker 1: work out the bureaucratit tape and stuff. Well, just one

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Speaker 1: thing that could happen that would make it easier for

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Speaker 1: you to get the job done.

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Speaker 2: That people that partner with us, like the City of

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Speaker 2: person local government, saw this as equally their responsibility and

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Speaker 2: genuinely wanted to get in there and help us create

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Speaker 2: the best possible service in a hands on approach, insteams

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Speaker 2: of making facilitating that collaboration. That's what makes it easier.

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Speaker 2: The community understanding. Yes, there are difficulties, and I really

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Speaker 2: do value what their concerns are. But working with us

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Speaker 2: and wanting to be part of the solution rather than

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Speaker 2: making us the problem.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, and perhaps without some of these know the things

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Speaker 3: that have been suggested that may make it more complicated,

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Speaker 3: because you've.

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Speaker 1: Got to think an easier way, don't you.

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Speaker 3: Yeah, like I mean, somethings have been stipulated, haven't all Right.

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Speaker 1: Well, keep doing the amazing work that you're doing. Thanks

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Speaker 1: for chatting to us.

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Speaker 2: Today, pleasure, Thank you so much for having.

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Speaker 3: Come for another coffee for you.

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Speaker 2: It's not funny.

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Speaker 3: The situation is definitely not funny.

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Speaker 1: But it's got to be less complicated to just help people,

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Speaker 1: doesn't it.

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Speaker 3: And you hope after three months since hay Street is

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Speaker 3: Perth closed, it's not another period of time that lingers

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Speaker 3: on too long. I hope it was opening tonight, but

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Speaker 3: it's not going to happen, so there's more. Watch their

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Speaker 3: space