Should begging in the streets be illegal?

When you see someone begging at a train station, park, or outside your local supermarket... what goes through your head? 

Maybe you ask yourself - what should I do? Or you try to remember if you actually have any physical money you could give them.

What you're probably not asking is ... "is this legal?" Across Australia, the laws around begging vary from state to state.

In Victoria - where begging is illegal - its become an issue of public debate, following an inquest into the death of a Melbourne woman who was forced by her abusive partner to beg for food, cigarettes, and money.

A Victorian coroner didn't criticise police, but said officers responding to complaints about her begging seemed to treat it as an individual issue rather than considering it in a broader context.

And that's really the heart of it. Begging isn't just about someone asking for spare change ... it's a visible symptom of much deeper social problems.