The Senate Economics Legislation Committee has today failed to ensure Australians’ human right to housing is protected, following the release of its report on the National Housing and Homelessness Plan Bill 2024 (No. 2).
The Committee did not recommend passing the Bill, which called for housing to be recognised as a human right and required the development of a national housing and homelessness plan, despite acknowledging support for recognising housing as a human right.
The Bill comes at a critical time, as Australia’s housing crisis reaches breaking point.
The Committee acknowledged Australians’ concerns about housing affordability and noted that the Albanese government was working on a plan to address housing challenges across various sectors.
Disappointingly, the Committee failed to recognise the importance of protecting housing as a human right in this plan.
Amnesty International Australia urges the Albanese government to act now by introducing a federal Human Rights Act that recognises and protects housing as a fundamental human right, alongside the right to health, education, and more.
A human rights-based approach to housing would centre the voices of those affected by homelessness, as advised by human rights advocates experts. By centring lived experience, this approach promotes policy making free from stigma and affirms people’s inherent dignity.
Nikita White, Amnesty International Australia’s Strategic Campaigner says:
“Like many human rights, the right to housing is not protected in Australia’s laws. Successive governments’ failure to recognise housing as a human right has left people across the country sleeping in their cars or couch surfing.
“Countries such as Finland have shown that policies recognising housing as a human right reduce homelessness.
“A federal Human Rights Act would protect the right to housing, alongside the rights to health, education, freedom from degrading treatment, and more. An Act would require the Government to consider human rights when creating laws, policies and services, and would give the public with a tool to take action if their rights are violated.
Nikita White, Amnesty International Australia’s Strategic Campaigner
“A federal Human Rights Act would protect the right to housing, alongside the rights to health, education, freedom from degrading treatment, and more. An Act would require the Government to consider human rights when creating laws, policies and services, and would give the public with a tool to take action if their rights are violated.
“By implementing human rights in a Human Rights Act, we can create an Australia where people’s rights are upheld, everyone has a safe and secure place to call home and pave the way for a fairer future where everyone can fully enjoy their human rights.”
Background
Australia’s housing crisis has hit marginalised groups hardest, including refugees, migrants, children, people with disabilities, elderly people, and Indigenous people. According to the 2021, 14.4% of homeless people were children under 12, 15.8% were over 55, and one in five were Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. Women are also the majority among those newly homeless.
The International Covenant on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights asserts housing as a human right and requires governments take concrete steps to ensure everyone can enjoy that right. The Committee on Economic, Social, and Cultural Rights, experts who monitor the Covenant’s implementation, have emphasised that national housing plans are essential to making the right to housing a reality.
Australia ratified the Covenant in 1975, yet there are no federal protections for housing as a human right, or for many human rights, in Australia’s federal laws. On the 30th of May 2024, a Parliamentary inquiry recommended the government legislate a Human Rights Act to recognise and protect human rights in federal law.
Amnesty International Australia calls on the Albanese government to enact a Human Rights Act and protect the right to housing in Australia’s federal laws alongside all human rights.
