Churchill update

In 2019, I was awarded a Churchill Fellowship to investigate poverty discrimination law frameworks. My project, titled 'empowering people facing poverty through social and housing status rights-based models', will examine the application of laws that prohibit discrimination against people facing poverty and homelessness.

In 2017 the Australian Capital Territory (ACT) became the first and only Australian jurisdiction to make accommodation and employment status discrimination unlawful. Given Australia's growing homelessness crisis this reform is timely. However, as ACT specific laws, they only protect a small proportion of Australia's population. Also, whether similar laws should be advocated for across Australia is unclear due to limited evidence of their practical benefit.

While such laws within Australia are limited to the ACT, there are a range of laws across the globe which focus on this issue, such as laws which prohibit discrimination based on source of income, receipt of public assistance, and homelessness status. My Fellowship will explore how countries with a history of poverty discrimination laws have advocated for and utilised such laws in practice.

The plan was to travel overseas for 8 weeks across Canberra, New Zealand, the USA and Europe for my research in 2020. Unfortunately, the COVID pandemic has delayed my travels. I am hopeful that I will be able to travel overseas in June 2022. In the meantime, I am looking forward to reconnecting with the overseas connections I had made prior to COVID, submitting a new itinerary, and thinking more deeply about how my research area has been impacted by COVID in the overseas poverty and homelessness space. I have set up this website to share my Churchill Fellowship journey and disseminate my findings.

I would love to hear from you if you have any questions or perspectives regarding my Churchill Fellowship. I’m particularly keen to hear about any emerging, on-the-ground issues in relation to homelessness and poverty discrimination - be it changes in laws and policies, recent court or tribunal decisions or conduct that amounts to poverty discrimination.