A man who has been squatting on Crown land at Lake Macquarie for six years has been given a little more than a fortnight to leave the property.
Mark John Taylor told Toronto Local Court on Tuesday that he moved onto the land after he was released from jail, when he was allegedly told he faced a nine-to-12-year wait for social housing.
The Department of Planning and Environment began investigating in late 2022, after a tip from Lake Macquarie City Council that a person appeared to be living on a piece of state-owned land at Edgeworth.
According to court documents, representatives of the government department and police visited the site several times and told Mr Taylor on at least two occasions he could not live at the site.
The court documents said a shed measuring about nine by five metres had been erected on the site, along with fencing and a gate.
They also found a small garden, a table, an area shaded by a tarp and waste strewn around the area.
In court on Tuesday, a visibly angry Mr Taylor said he would not be removed from the site and repeated "you won't make me homeless".
He told the court he had maintained the land for six years and was not connected to power or water supplies.
"No one's moving me. This is where I take my f***king stand mate," Mr Taylor said in an outburst while the matter was being discussed.
"All I'm doing is putting myself somewhere safe instead of folding up at shop doors and shop windows where the police would move me on," he said.
"I don't want your land... I don't want the bastard at all."
Magistrate Peter Barnett, SC, gave Mr Taylor until November 28 to leave the site.
