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00:00 Virginia, I'd also like to acknowledge the land that we're on today.
00:03 Djeramadiliniya Badu, Wiradjuri Dagunda.
00:06 I am proud to be on Wiradjuri land.
00:09 We're here today because Sunday the 10th was International Human Rights Day
00:15 and because housing is a human right.
00:17 This is an issue that is severely impacting the community of Wagga,
00:20 communities across the Riverina
00:22 and communities across the whole state of New South Wales and Australia.
00:26 We know here in Wagga there are 681 families on the waitlist for social housing
00:32 with an expected wait of more than two years.
00:36 In those two years, being in unstable housing or housing stress
00:40 has an extraordinary impact on people's health.
00:42 Before I was elected to Parliament I was a GP
00:45 and I know that it is impossible to provide quality mental health care
00:49 or quality physical health care to someone that is worried every day
00:52 about where they are going to sleep.
00:54 Housing is a health issue.
00:57 We know that across the state housing was seen in previous years as a metropolitan issue.
01:02 It was a Sydney issue and then it was a Sydney Newcastle and Wollongong issue
01:06 and then regional communities up and down the coast in tourist areas
01:10 started to face a housing crisis and now it is truly across the state
01:13 including regional centres like Wagga Wagga.
01:15 And the solution sometimes might seem complex or overwhelming
01:19 but there actually is only one problem here.
01:21 There is only one problem driving the housing crisis
01:24 and it is that in Australia we treat housing as a commodity.
01:28 We treat housing as an investment.
01:31 We treat it as a safe place for people to park their money to make more money.
01:34 We don't treat housing as a human right.
01:38 I'm so glad to see all of you today.
01:40 It's a very hot day.
01:41 It's a work day.
01:42 You've come out in the middle of the day to stand up together
01:46 to declare that housing is a human right.
01:48 That is the solution and thank you all so much for being a part of it.