I totally agree with David Heilpern (Echo, 4 June 2025) that police need to be involved with the problem of van-lifers camping on the street and in parks.
Surely the other group with a role to play are the three Bruns Reflections holiday parks? They are state government owned so should have a social as well as commercial responsibility.
If someone sleeping in their van or car is a local (easily proven via a drivers licence or other ID) and homeless, they could be offered a heavily discounted rate for a week at Reflections and then connected with workers in health, homelessness and other relevant services.
I get that these services don’t have magic wands and that a week is not long enough to solve entrenched issues that lead to homelessness, but this at least means homeless locals are being offered help and relative safety rather than hassle.
For travellers, both from overseas and other parts of Australia, police could communicate with Reflections about available spaces and give van-lifers the option to move there rather than being fined and/or arrested.
I agree that $45-50 is a lot for one night on an unpowered site but that’s the current reality and is not so expensive when there are two people in a van. No matter how tight their budget, travellers are here by choice so need to pay their way, just like we all do when on holiday.
For four decades The Echo has printed the stories some people loved, some people hated, and some pretended not to read. If you want us to keep telling the truth, the real truth, not the sugar-coated version. We’ll need your support to keep the presses rolling. 
