The other week it was announced by Auckland Council that they were going to count the homeless people inAuckland, and I thought that’s probably not an original idea because very little that comes out of the council is remotely original.

Turns out it’s not – Melbourne’s done it overnight, and the answer is 400.

We can see here, in a city of Melbourne which is around five million, that you’ve got 400 people homeless in the parks.

400 trained volunteers went out to the streets, the parks and the laneways. They officially got 392 people, mostly men, 78 per cent were men.

So Auckland is about 25 per cent about the quarter of the size of Melbourne, so a quarter in direct comparison there should be no more than 100 homeless people when they eventually do the count.

Majority men. More than 50 per cent between 26 and 40, 35 per cent between 41 and 60.

So Auckland’s doing the numbers, Melbourne’s done the numbers.