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2022-2023-2024
THE PARLIAMENT OF THE COMMONWEALTH OF AUSTRALIA
HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
National Housing and Homelessness Plan Bill 2024
EXPLANATORY MEMORANDUM
and
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Circulated by authority of
Kylea Tink MP
National Housing and Homelessness Plan Bill 2024
GLOSSARY
ICESCR - International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights
NASHH - National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness
NHCC - National Housing Consumer Council
NHHP - National Housing and Homelessness Plan
NHS - National Housing Strategy (Canada)
OUTLINE
Purpose of the Bill
The purpose of the Bill is to improve the governance and accountability of national housing
policy.
The Bill sets out processes to develop, implement and maintain a National Housing and
Homelessness Plan, aimed at facilitating a human rights-based approach to housing.
The Minister would be required to develop a National Housing and Homelessness Plan in
a collaborative process and with the assistance of expert advice.
Housing Australia would be required to assist the Minister in the development,
implementation and maintenance of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
The Bill would establish the National Housing Consumer Council to provide advice on the
National Housing and Homelessness Plan from the perspective of consumers.
The Bill would also establish a National Housing and Homelessness Advocate to
independently monitor the progress of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan and
to undertake reviews into systemic housing issues.
The National Housing and Homelessness Plan would be directed towards:
• ensuring that everyone in Australia has adequate housing;
• preventing and ending homelessness;
• ensuring the social housing system meets needs and drives wider housing system
improvement;
• improving choice in the housing system, including between owning and renting;
• improving housing quality, including the quality of existing and newly constructed
houses;
• improving housing affordability;
• improving housing supply; and
• improving the contribution of the housing system to wider economic performance.
Why the bill is needed
The lack of a meaningful and well-informed national housing plan or strategy throughout
Australia's history has contributed significantly to the mounting housing problems the
country has experienced since the millennium.
Plans help to clarify the purpose of action for all parties to a given topic. The multiplicity of
stakeholders with the capacity to influence the functioning of the housing system adds to
relevance of this consideration for this policy area.
Plans bring together information and expertise that inform and stimulate public discussion.
They help define priorities.
The Albanese Government has pledged to develop a National Housing and Homelessness
Plan. At a time of critical challenges in Australia's housing system, it is essential that firm
and durable foundations for the enterprise are established in law.
The Bill would require that the government of the day has a National Housing and
Homelessness Plan ('The Plan'). It sets out objectives for the Plan, consistent with
Australia's human rights obligations. It sets out goals that the Plan must work towards, but
it does not prescribe specific policies and programs. The government of the day will be
responsible for its Plan. The Housing Minister will be required to periodically report to the
Parliament on progress, and to periodically revise and renew the Plan.
Plan-making requires information and advice from persons with expertise and experience,
and policymakers with domain knowledge and capacity. Accordingly, the Bill establishes
the National Housing Consumer Council for to provide consumer perspectives to the
Housing Minister, alongside the expert perspectives of the National Housing Supply and
Affordability Council. The National Housing and Homelessness Advocate will be
established to report independently on systemic issues and Plan progress. Housing
Australia will be designated as the lead agency for assisting the Housing Minister in
relation to the Plan.
Effects of the Bill's provisions
In its structure, scope and provisions, the Bill draws inspiration from Canada's National
Housing Strategy Act 2019. Canada has a federal structure similar to Australia, and is
facing similar housing policy challenges.
The Bill requires that the incumbent Housing Minister prepares and/or maintains a National
Housing and Homelessness Plan in accordance with the Bill's objectives and goals (cl 8).
The Plan must be fully refreshed on a 10 year cycle. At three-year intervals, the Minister
must prepare and present to the Parliament a report on the effectiveness of the Plan.
For the purposes outlined above, the Bill also stipulates the establishment of a National
Housing Consumer Council and an office of an independent National Housing and
Homelessness Advocate.
Policy background to the Bill
Australia's housing system is increasingly stressed. The immediate post-COVID period
has seen new housing tensions come to the fore - predominantly involving sharply rising
rent and mortgage payments as household numbers have surged and interest rates have
climbed since 2022. At the same time, a set of more fundamental long-term problems of
the Australian housing system should be kept front of mind. These include the following:
1) Home ownership affordability has been in long-term decline, making entry to home
ownership ever more challenging over recent decades. Declining first home
purchase affordability is the prime cause of the falling ownership rates that have
resulted. Young adult (age 25-34) home ownership fell by six percentage points
2006-21, and by 17% since 1981. In these circumstances, first home acquisition is
increasingly dependent on family financial assistance, a situation that is magnifying
inequality down the generations. The broader problem of highly stressed home
ownership affordability across the system is evident from analysis published by the
National Housing Supply and Affordability Council in May 2024:
'In 2022-23, the share of disposable income that households on average spent on
housing costs was estimated to have reached 21 per cent, its highest level on
record'. Contributing to this trend '[t]he share of gross household income spent on
new mortgages rose from 30 per cent in March 2020 to a record 48 per cent in
December 2023'. 'At a national level, the share of homes sold that a median-income
household could afford declined from 39 per cent in 2020-21 to 13 per cent in
2022-23 - its lowest level on record'. Similarly '[a]t a national level, households in
the lowest income quintile could only afford a record-low of 1 per cent of homes
sold in 2022-23, down from 7 per cent in 2020-21'.
2) Australia's private rental market rental market has proved increasingly unable to
affordably accommodate low income groups. Sequential census analysis shows
that the national deficit in private rental homes affordable to income quintile 1
households grew from 48,000 dwellings to 255,000 dwellings in the 25 years to
2021.
3) Despite ongoing population growth, social housing provision for the lowest income
Australians has remained almost static since the 1990s. Thus, social housing
representation has declined from six per cent of all occupied dwellings at that time
to only four per cent today - barely half the OECD average. In combination with
declining private rental affordability (see above), the growing shortfall in social
housing relative to need has likely contributed to escalating homelessness - up by
36% to 122,000 persons in the 15 years to 2021. High priority applicants on public
housing waiting lists meanwhile increased to 70,000 in 2023 - up by 52% on 2018.
A census-based estimate put total unmet need for social housing at 437,000
households in 2021.
4) A housing policy challenge at least equivalent to those above in scale has emerged
in recent years: namely, the generally inadequate energy performance of both new
and existing housing stock that seriously jeopardises official aspirations for net zero
carbon emissions by 2050.
Housing and homelessness problems of these kinds are complex. They have diverse
causes and broad effects. They cross over different policy areas and levels of government.
For these reasons they can rarely be solved in isolation. Instead, they demand a
concerted, strategic and nationally-led approach framed by explicitly defined overarching
objectives.
Under the Australian Constitution, state and territory governments are primarily
responsible for housing services and development. But it is the Commonwealth
Government that retains control over key housing-related powers including tax, social
security and migration. Only a Plan led and owned by the higher level of government can
commit to actions related to these powers and co-ordinate nationally consistent
approaches to housing provision.
A national Plan would not eliminate the need for complementary (and necessarily more
detailed and geographically specific) strategies at the state/territory level to reflect the
diversity of housing and homelessness policy challenges, circumstances and opportunities
that exist across Australia. Rather, the national Plan will set out the broad framework
within which such approaches should be developed.
Distinct from a Plan or strategy, Australia has had a long series of housing-related financial
agreements between the Australian Government and the states and territories. These
include the current National Housing and Homelessness Agreement, which is shortly to be
replaced by the National Agreement on Social Housing and Homelessness (NASHH), and
are descended from the Commonwealth-State Housing Agreements initiated in 1945.
These agreements provide the framework for the modest national funding that flows from
the Commonwealth Government to state and territory governments to support operational
housing and homelessness services expenditure. Like its recent predecessors, it is
anticipated that the NASHH will be narrowly focused on social housing and homelessness
services, and that it will not amount to a 'Plan' or 'Strategy' as such.
In 2008 the Australian Government published a White Paper 'The Road Home', described
as 'a national approach to reducing homelessness'. However, there has never been an
Australia-wide plan or strategy for housing, more broadly.
A number of other OECD countries have formal national housing and/or homelessness
strategies. The most directly relevant of these is Canada which legislated its first ever
National Housing Strategy in 2019. The particular relevance of the Canadian NHS is that it
involves a federal state with many governmental similarities - and housing and
homelessness policy challenges - to Australia. It is with this in mind that this Australian
legislation is directly modelled on the Canadian example.
The Bill would provide a framework for the Plan, rather than the detail of its content. It is
appropriate for that content to be developed, within this framework, by competent officials,
informed by consultation with interest groups, technical experts, and the public at large.
The current government has already progressed such a process, although only in a
relatively narrowly-scoped, low-profile way and without any explicit guiding principles.
FINANCIAL IMPACT
The bill will have no financial impact.
NOTES ON CLAUSES
Clause 1: Short Title
1. This Act is the National Housing and Homelessness Plan Act 2024.
Clause 2: Commencement
2. The whole of this Act comes into force the day it receives Royal Assent. The Bill
does not commence until another Bill/Act appropriates money from the
Consolidated Revenue Fund to pay the remuneration of both the Council members
and the Advocate.
Clause 3: Objects of the Act
3. The objects of the Act are to:
a) Recognise that the right to adequate housing is a fundamental human right affirmed in
international law; and
b) Recognise that housing is essential to the inherent dignity and well being of the person
and to building sustainable and inclusive communities; and
c) Support improved housing outcomes for the people of Australia; and
d) Further the progressive realisation of the right to adequate housing, as recognised in
the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966 (ICESCR)
e) Further the progressive realisation of Indigenous self-determination in housing policy in
compliance with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
The references to human rights are consistent with the Commonwealth Government's
constitutional authority on external affairs; the Act will give effect to Australia's international
obligation to ensure access to adequate housing. This follows from Australia's status as a
signatory to the ICESCR.
Clause 4: Simplified outline of this Act
4. This summarises the Act as a whole:
This Act sets out processes to develop, implement and maintain a National
Housing and Homelessness Plan, aimed at facilitating a humanrights based
approach to housing.
The Minister must develop a National Housing and Homelessness Plan in a
collaborative process and with the assistance of expert advice.
Housing Australia is required to assist the Minister in the development,
implementation and maintenance of the National Housing and Homelessness
Plan.
This Act establishes the National Housing Consumer Council to provide advice
on the National Housing and Homelessness Plan from the perspective of
consumers.
The Act also establishes a National Housing and Homelessness Advocate to
independently monitor the progress of the National Housing and Homelessness
Plan and to undertake reviews into systemic housing issues.
Clause 5: Definitions
5. This specifies definitions for various terms cited in the remainder of the Bill.
PART 2: NATIONAL HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS PLAN
Clause 6: Simplified outline of this Part
6. This summarises Part 2 of the Act
The Minister is required to prepare a National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
The Plan must be prepared through a collaborative process. A new Housing
and Homelessness Plan must be prepared every 10 years.
In developing the National Housing and Homelessness Plan the Minister must
consider any advice provided by the National Housing Supply and Affordability
Council and the National Housing Consumer Council, as well as the reports of
reviews of the Plan.
The Minister must prepare and present to the Parliament a report on the
effectiveness of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan at three year
intervals.
In addition, to assist in the development of each new National Housing and
Homelessness Plan, Housing Australia must complete a review of each Plan by
the end of the nineth year to which the Plan relates.
Clause 7: National Housing and Homelessness Plan
7. This clause sets out the obligations mandating the Housing Minister to develop and
maintain a National Housing and Homelessness Plan, and the cycle for the Plan's
renewal.
Clause 8: Content of National Housing and Homelessness Plan
8. This clause specifies the overarching objectives of the Plan. Most of these are
informed by the research report 'Towards a National Housing and Homelessness
Strategy' published by the Australian Housing and Urban Research Institute
(AHURI) in 2023. In addition, clause (i) corresponds with article 19 of the
Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities, recognising that the recent
Royal Commission recommended that the NHHP specifically include provisions
relating to people with disabilities. And clause (j) is included for consistency with the
fifth 'Object of the Act' specified in S3; that is, to further the progressive realisation
of Indigenous self-determination in housing policy in compliance with the UN
Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.
Clause 9: Process of preparing National Housing and Homelessness Plan
9. Here the Bill specifies (i) parties who must be included in consultation on the
development of the Plan and (ii) institutions whose advice must be factored into the
process. It also requires that in course of developing the Plan in its second and
subsequent editions, account must be taken of specified feedback on the previous
edition.
Clause 10: Implementation of National Housing and Homelessness Plan
10. This clause requires that in implementing the Plan, civil society groups,
disadvantaged people and people with lived experience of housing need and
homelessness are enabled to engage and participate.
Clause 11: Housing Australia is lead agency
11. Housing Australia is specified as the lead agency to assist the Minister in preparing,
implementing and reviewing the Plan. This reflects the fact that, as the designated
national agency in this policy area, Housing Australia has a remit to develop domain
expertise on housing and homelessness. It also follows from the fact that the
Commonwealth Government's departmental structure includes no Department of
Housing as such. Inclusion of this provision ensures that a consequential
amendment to the Housing Australia Act 2018 will not be required.
Clause 12: Review of National Housing and Homelessness Plan--triennial reports
12. Here the Bill obligates the Housing Minister to formally assess and report on Plan
effectiveness on a three yearly basis. This assessment must address (i) the extent
to which any outcomes identified in the Plan have been achieved; and (ii) any
initiatives or programs that have been implemented in support of the Plan. These
obligations emulate section 18 (Triennial report) of the equivalent Canadian Act.
The requirement to table the resulting reports in Parliament is to ensure public
accountability for Plan outcomes.
Clause 13: Review of National Housing and Homelessness Plan--final report
13. This clause specifies the obligations on Housing Australia in reviewing Plan
effectiveness as a basis for Plan renewal after 10 years. This is to enable sufficient
time for the report to be completed so it can be considered in the process of
preparing a new Plan. The requirement that the report of the review be tabled in the
Parliament, is included as this reflects best practice for significant reports under
legislation.
PART 3: NATIONAL HOUSING CONSUMER COUNCIL
14. Many of the provisions in this Part relate to administrative matters and are informed
by best drafting practice, reflected in Commonwealth Drafting Direction 3.6,
'Commonwealth bodies'. This Direction sets out particular matters that should be
included in Bills establishing bodies, such as statutory agencies or bodies such as
councils. These include standard provisions for termination of appointment,
disclosure of interests, leave of absence etc.
Clause 14: Simplified outline of this Part
15. This summarises Part 3 of the Act
This Part establishes the National Housing Consumer Council.
The Consumer Council's functions include advising the Minister on the
effectiveness of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan from the
perspective of consumers in the housing system.
The Consumer Council consists of the Chair and up to 15 other members.
This Part also deals with the terms and conditions of appointment of Consumer
Council members and administrative support to be provided to the Consumer
Council.
Clause 15: National Housing Consumer Council
16. This clause establishes a body to represent the interests of housing consumers; in
particular home buyers (particularly in the apartment sector and first home buyers),
private and social housing tenants, persons with lived experience of homelessness,
and representatives of First Nations, people with disability, youth and other groups
who face special disadvantage in the housing system. This is intended to serve as a
consumer voice counterpart to the industry and academic perspectives of the
National Housing Supply and Affordability Council, as well as to balance the already
well-represented perspectives of key 'housing producer' interests - notably the
residential development and real estate industries.
Clause 16: Membership of Consumer Council
17. The NHCC is proposed as including 10-16 members to enable the representation of
a range of groups without creating a body whose large size impedes its
functionality.
Clause 17: Functions of the Consumer Council
18. Specifies the role of the NHCC to advise the Housing Minister both on Plan
effectiveness and on newly arising issues relevant to Plan development or
implementation. The types of consumers that the Council will relate to are taken
from the AHURI report 'Towards a National Housing and Homelessness Strategy'
(2023).
Clause 18: Minister may request advice
19. The matters on which the Minister may seek advice from the NHCC
Clause 19: Independence
20. Specifies the NHCC's autonomy in its decision making.
Clause 20: Appointment of Consumer Council members
21. This clause stipulates how NHCC members are to be appointed, the membership
requirements and the period of appointment. It also specifies that NHCC
membership includes persons with lived experience of housing need, Indigenous
people and people with disability. Beyond this, the membership must reflect a
diversity of people in the housing system. The clause also seeks to ensure that the
operations of the Consumer Council are not affected by unexpected vacancies in
the membership arising from resignations, deaths, terminations or other unforeseen
circumstances.
Clause 21: Acting appointments
22. The circumstances in which acting NHCC members may be appointed and the
process to be followed.
Clause 22: Remuneration and allowances
23. Confirmation that NHCC membership is to be remunerated, with the amounts
determined by the Remuneration Tribunal. The effect of this subsection is that
remuneration or allowances of the Consumer Council member will be paid out of
money appropriated by an Act other than the Remuneration Tribunal Act 1973.
Clause 23: Leave of absence
24. Specifies that the Minister may grant leave of absence to the NHCC Chair, while the
Chair is empowered to grant leave to other NHCC members.
Clause 24: Disclosure of interests to the Minister
25. Requirement that NHCC members disclose any personal interests that could
conflict with their duties as a Council member.
Clause 25: Disclosure of interests to the Consumer Council
26. Requirement that NHCC members disclose to the Council any personal interests
that could conflict with a matter to be discussed by the Council.
Clause 26: Resignation
27. A Council member may resign by informing the Minister of this decision.
Clause 27: Termination of appointment
28. The circumstances in which the Minister may terminate a Council member's
appointment - including misbehaviour, physical or mental incapacity, bankruptcy or
excessive absence.
Clause 28: Other terms and conditions
29. Provision for the Minister to stipulate other terms and conditions of NHCC
membership.
Clause 29: Meetings and procedures
30. The regulations may prescribe the procedures to be followed at, or in relation to,
meetings of the Council.
Clause 30: Administrative support
31. The Secretary of the Department is required to ensure that the Council has
adequate administrative and other support to enable performance of its duties.
PART 4: NATIONAL HOUSING AND HOMELESSNESS ADVOCATE
32. Many of the provisions in this Part draw on best drafting practice, reflected in
Commonwealth Drafting Direction 3.6, 'Commonwealth bodies'.
Clause 31: Simplified outline of this part
33. This summarises Part 4 of the Act:
This Part establishes an independent office of the National Housing and
Homelessness Advocate, and sets out the Advocate's functions.
The Advocate's functions include:
(a)monitoring the implementation of the National Housing and Homelessness
Plan; and
(b)conducting reviews of systemic housing issues; and
(c)providing advice to the Minister; and
(d)raising awareness of housing issues.
The Advocate may conduct a review of a systemic housing issue on the
Advocate's own initiative or on the basis of a submission from a member of the
public.
The Advocate may request advice be provided relevant to a review of a
systemic housing issue and may require the provision of information by
Commonwealth agencies. The Advocate must give the Minister a report of each
review for tabling in each House of the Parliament.
The Advocate must also prepare yearly reports on the progress of the National
Housing and Homeless Plan.
The Minister must prepare a statement providing the Government's response to
any reports of the Advocate that recommend action be undertaken by the
Commonwealth Government. Such a statement must be tabled in each House
of the Parliament.
Clause 32: National Housing and Homelessness Advocate
34. Mandates the establishment of a National Housing and Homelessness Advocate.
Modelled on the equivalent Canadian body, the Advocate's role will be to
independently monitor the progress of the Plan and to undertake reviews into
systemic housing issues.
Clause 33: Functions of Advocate
35. This clause draws on the 'duties and functions' of the Canadian Federal Housing
Advocate, set out in section 13 of the equivalent Canadian Act. These include
monitoring the progress of Plan implementation, reviewing systemic housing issues,
and reporting to the Minister on investigation findings. The clause also clarifies that,
given their responsibility for systemic issues, the Advocate may not investigate
complaints relating to individuals.
Clause 34: Independence
36. Specifies the Advocate's autonomy in decision making.
Clause 35: Establishment of Office of the National Housing and Homelessness
Advocate
37. The Office is to consist of the Advocate and the staff of the office. The Office will
have the power to commission consultants.
Clause 36: Functions of the Office
38. Confirmation that the staff of the Office are employed to support the Advocate
Clause 37: Powers of the Office
39. Confirmation that the Office is empowered to discharge its duties.
Clause 38: Office has privileges and immunities of the Crown
40. Confirmation that the Office has privileges and immunities of the Crown
Clause 39: Review of systemic housing issue--initiation
41. Confers powers on the Office of the Advocate to originate reviews of systemic
housing issues on the Advocate's own initiative, or in response to submissions
received in the conduct of its work.
Clause 40: Advocate may invite submissions relating to review of systemic housing
issue
42. Specifies processes for inviting and publishing submissions in relation to Advocate
investigations into systemic housing issues.
Clause 41: Advocate may request advice and information
43. Clarifies that, in pursuit of investigations, the Advocate may request information
from bodies; in particular, the National Housing Supply and Affordability Council;
and the National Housing Consumer Council, but also including other
Commonwealth agencies.
Clause 42: Report of review of systemic housing issue
44. Specifies that the Advocate must report to the Minister on any systemic housing
issue investigated.
Clause 43: National Housing and Homelessness Plan progress reports
45. The Advocate is required to report annually to the Minister on progress in relation to
the Plan's objectives, timelines and outcomes.
Clause 44: Tabling of reports under this Part
46. Mandates the Housing Minister to table the Advocate's annual report within 15
sitting days of submission.
Clause 45: Government required to respond to recommendations
47. In relation to Advocate reports containing recommendations, the Housing Minister is
required to respond via a report to be tabled in Parliament within six months of
receipt.
48. The following clauses are informed by best drafting practice, reflected in
Commonwealth Drafting Direction 3.6, 'Commonwealth bodies'. This Direction sets
out particular matters that should be included in Bills establishing bodies, such as
statutory agencies or bodies such as councils. These include standard provisions
for termination of appointment, disclosure of interests, leave of absence etc.
Clause 46: Appointment
49. The requirement that the National Housing and Homelessness Advocate is to be
appointed by the Governor General is consistent with the intention to establish the
independence of the post.
Clause 47: Term of office
50. The Advocate's term of office may be up to three years and can be renewed for up
to al total of six years.
Clause 48: Acting appointments
51. This empowers the Minister to appoint a temporary stand-in Advocate to
accommodate instances where the substantive postholder is absent or otherwise
unable to perform their duties.
Clause 49: Remuneration and allowances
52. The Advocate's remuneration is to be determined by the Remuneration Tribunal.
The effect of this subsection is that remuneration or allowances of the Advocate will
be paid out of money appropriated by an Act other than the Remuneration Tribunal
Act 1973.
Clause 50: Leave of absence for Advocate
53. The Advocate's leave entitlement will be determined by the Remuneration Tribunal.
Clause 51: Other paid work
54. The Advocate may take on outside paid work only with Ministerial permission.
Clause 52: Other terms and conditions
55. The Advocate may be required to comply with other terms and conditions laid down
by the Governor General.
Clause 53: Resignation
56. Resignation by the Advocate would be submitted to the Governor General.
Clause 54: Termination of appointment
57. This clause specifies the circumstances in which the Governor General may
terminate the Advocate's appointment - including misbehaviour, physical or mental
incapacity, bankruptcy, excessive absence, unauthorised outside paid work or
failure to disclose relevant personal interests.
Clause 55: Staff
58. Specifies that the Office of the Advocate may employ staff covered by the Public
Service Act but allows that others may also be employed if the Advocate deems
necessary.
Clause 56: Persons assisting the Agency
59. Stipulates that the Advocate may be assisted by state/territory government, as well
as Commonwealth Government staff - whether directly employed as such, or
employed by an agency or authority of government.
Clause 57: Consultants
60. The Advocate is empowered to commission consultants.
Clause 58: Simplified outline of this Part
61. This summarises Part 5 of the Act
This Part contains miscellaneous provisions relating to this Act.
Clause 59: Delegation by Advocate
62. The Advocate is empowered to delegate functions to an SES office staff member.
Clause 60: Regulations
63. Specifies that the Governor General may make regulations necessary for the Act's
implementation.
STATEMENT OF COMPATIBILITY WITH HUMAN RIGHTS
Prepared in accordance with Part 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny) Act 2011
National Housing and Homelessness Plan Bill 2024
This bill is compatible with the human rights and freedoms recognised or declared in the
international instruments listed in section 3 of the Human Rights (Parliamentary Scrutiny)
Act 2011.
Overview of the bill
This Act sets out processes to develop, implement and maintain a National Housing and
Homelessness Plan, aimed at facilitating a human rights based approach to housing.
The Minister must develop a National Housing and Homelessness Plan in a collaborative
process and with the assistance of expert advice.
Housing Australia is required to assist the Minister in the development, implementation
and maintenance of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan.
This Act establishes the National Housing Consumer Council to provide advice on the
National Housing and Homelessness Plan from the perspective of consumers.
The Act also establishes a National Housing and Homelessness Advocate to
independently monitor the progress of the National Housing and Homelessness Plan and
to undertake reviews into systemic housing issues.
Human rights implications
This Bill actively and positively seeks to advance human rights through providing a
framework for improving housing provision in Australia, given that the ability to secure
adequate housing is a fundamental human right affirmed in international law. Specifically,
the Bill seeks to give effect to the nation's legal responsibilities under the International
Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights 1966, to which Australia is a signatory.
Conclusion
This bill is compatible with human rights because it advances the protection of human
rights.
Kylea Tink MP