Access to adequate housing will become a human right in the ACT in a nation-leading expansion of the territory’s rights law that the bill’s architect said amounted to a “paradigm shift”. Source: Canberra Times.
Greens leader Shane Rattenbury, who introduced the bill, said the Legislative Assembly had achieved something that was a long time coming and would make a real difference in the community.
“This moment is more than legislation. It is a victory for fairness, justice, and humanity,” Mr Rattenbury said in an email to supporters.
The Legislative Assembly voted to pass the bill with government amendments, which included delaying its commencement to January 1, 2027, to give the territory’s public service time to prepare for the right’s commencement.
The bill was also amended to limit the scope of the immediately realisable rights to limit arbitrary and illegal evictions, utility service cut-offs and discrimination. Those limits will apply for two years during the implementation phase.
The right does not mean the Government must immediately provide housing for every person in Canberra, but instead will require it to ensure a fair provision of homes and create laws that do not limit the right to housing.
Attorney-General Tara Cheyne said enshrining the new right strengthened the territory’s human rights culture and would build a fairer territory.
The ACT’s Human Rights Commissioner, Penelope Mathew, welcomed the new law, which she said cemented the ACT’s leadership in human rights.
“Adequate housing is about more than just shelter. It is the right to live somewhere in security, peace and dignity … We believe this new right could be used to advocate for and further strengthen the rights of tenants, occupants and the homeless,” Dr Mathew said.
The Liberals’ Chiaka Barry said while she would love to see movement on ensuring greater housing access, decades of underinvestment in housing meant the Government would “quite simply and sadly” be unable to commit to the full implementation of housing as a human right.
FULL STORY
ACT enshrines nation-leading housing human right in law (By Jasper Lindell, Canberra Times)
