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Today's guest is a special one, and a little shorter than normal. Kevin Bell's prestigious career is incredible - in 2024 he received an award of Officer of the Order of Australia for his 'distinguished service to the law and to the judiciary, and to human rights through education and reform. For fifteen years from 2005-2020, Kevin was a Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, where he sat in all divisions of the court. During that time he played a pivotal role in the implementation and operation of the Victorian Charter of Human Rights and Responsibilities Act 2006 within the Victorian legal system. He was the Commissioner of the Yoorook Justice Commission from 2021 to 2023, and is also the inaugural patron of Tenants Victoria. His CV, credentials and achievements are immense, but today he is on the show to talk about his excellent but harrowing book Housing: The Great Australian Right.

If you're in Australia, you know people here have a pathological obsession with it. From owning it, renovating it, watching shows about it, scrolling property search apps, talking about it, going to Bunnings seemingly at every opportunity. That's barely the picture though - Australia is in the midst of a housing disaster, one where there has never been more homeless people in this country, more people in insecure housing, more people in unaffordable housing and never as much mortgage debt. The system is fundamentally broken in just about every way for the majority of Australians. Yet the debate about the problem is reduced to mediocre and divisive arguments about supply, immigration and funding. Kevin's book is a must read, one I cannot impress every single one of you out there get a copy of and read. It's informative, moving and imaginative. It paints a picture of the historical context of housing in Australia and how this disaster has materialised as a form of slow violence over years, decades and centuries, going back to colonisation, terra nulius and the implantation of the British property system.

As a person who experiences a version of housing insecurity - someone who is having his rights adversely affected - this is personally very important to me. It should be to every single Australian - housing is the foundation of every individual's prospects in their life and for their human rights to be protected, respected and fulfilled.

I'm conscious human rights can often seem like something fluffy, soft, unnecessary. How is it though that Australia is the only western liberal democracy without a Bill of Rights or Human Rights Act? Why is it that every major governmental or corporate mess or the results of royal commissions seem to be rooted in the simple realisation that the rights of the affected people were dismissed, harmed or violated? Kevin talks about human rights simply being noted by Australians - be that in legislation or in corporate policy documents. Housing, the climate crisis, aged care, First Nations peoples, domestic violence - each of these complex problem fields and many others are underpinned by a misunderstanding, a complacency or a dismissiveness of what we all hold valuable and expect as humans - our inalienable rights and fundamental freedoms are protected, respected and fulfilled.

Until next time, thanks for listening.

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