Wednesday, 19 March 2025

 Will FOWLES (Ringwood) (19:14): (1077) My adjournment this evening is for the Premier, and the action I seek is for the government to amend the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities to recognise housing as a human right. In my inaugural speech to this house I said that I simply do not accept that a city and a state and a nation as wealthy as ours should have such high levels of homelessness and housing stress. Six years and one pandemic later it is still completely unacceptable that so many Victorians are denied access to the most basic of human needs – a safe, secure home. This is not so wicked a problem that it cannot be solved. Indeed during the pandemic rough sleeping was completely eliminated. It requires, though, some passion, some vision and a willingness to take the tough decisions to put housing at the forefront of government decision-making.

Make no mistake, Victoria is in a housing crisis. Our community is suffering from unaffordable rents, housing insecurity and homelessness. Tens of thousands have waited years and years for public housing, all while our public housing stock has declined to the lowest levels in the nation. As former Supreme Court judge and Yoorrook commissioner Kevin Bell KC has said, what was once the great Australian dream has now become the great Australian nightmare. Housing instability robs people of their dignity, it robs them of their health, it robs them of opportunity and it robs them of their future. This is both an economic issue and a social one. It is about productivity but also about dignity, security and safety.

The Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities protects key rights like the right to life, equality before the law and freedom of expression, yet it fails to protect the right to housing, leaving those most in need vulnerable to a system that continues to fail them. It is time for change. That is why this morning I launched a petition calling on the government to amend the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities to include the right to housing. Housing is not and should never be seen as a privilege or as a commodity or as just an investment. It is a human right. Recognising this right in the charter will send a message that every Victorian deserves the stability, security and dignity of a safe home. It will ensure the government prioritises more secure, affordable housing for all and that it has to consider the housing implications of each and every bill brought to this Parliament. The change is simple, but the implications are enormous. Victoria can only be at its best when every Victorian has a place to call home.