Baby found dead at Wagga beach homeless encampment as mother and another infant taken to hospital

A baby has been found dead in a tent in regional New South Wales , prompting renewed calls to address homelessness across regional Australia. Police were called to a homeless encampment near Wagga beach on the Murrumbidgee River on Saturday, where they found a 37-year-old woman with two infants, one of whom was deceased. The surviving baby and the mother were taken to hospital, where the infant remained in a critical condition on Monday afternoon, authorities said. Police said there were “no suspicious circumstances”, while local media reported the woman had recently given birth. Local councillor Richard Foley said the death was a tragedy and showed the housing crisis had gotten “out of hand”. “We’ve now had a death of a young baby, a newborn baby, in a tent,” he said. “A newborn child is deceased, and another one is in a serious condition. The mother was escorted to hospital on the weekend, which is just unacceptable.” The encampment at Wagga beach. Photograph: Richard Foley Foley said the river encampment had grown bigger each year, as the city of Wagga Wagga saw a substantial rise in people sleeping rough. In 2024, a local council paper indicated there were 257 homeless people in the area, a 71% increase from eight years earlier. “Let’s face it, we’ve seen this type of thing across all cities,” Foley said. “But it’s growing in number out here. And the rental availability in this city is beyond a crisis. …