Queensland council blocked from evicting homeless people sleeping in tents at city park

Police tore down a homeless shelter at Eddie Hyland Park in Lawnton in April after the City of Moreton Bay banned homelessness. Many of the residents moved to another park, where they received eviction notices in June. Photograph: Paul Hilton/The Guardian

Queensland’s supreme court has temporarily ordered a council not to evict homeless residents from sleeping in a park, warning those sleeping rough faced “serious risk of harm” if denied shelter.

Justice Paul Smith issued the injunction on Friday as part of an ongoing human rights challenge by 11 residents of Goodfellows Road, a park in Kallangur. It prevents the City of Moreton Bay from evicting anyone from the park while an application challenging the council’s homelessness policies continues.