When Bob Hawke made his election speech in 1987 and famously said:

"By 1990, no Australian child will be living in poverty." his speech writer had actually written '...no Australian child need live in poverty' 

By saying what he said Bob Hawke was derided - especially by the LNP and Rupert Murdoch's right wing newspapers. 

Hawke was an emotional man and no doubt he WANTED this to be true - AND Labor's POLICIES and his Governent made a great start - but his pledge was impossible.

BUT have we heard ANY politician speak  about child poverty SINCE?

Now nearly FORTY years later many Australian children are HOMELESS - living in cars and tents!

Because BOTH Labor and the LNP have made/supported/followed on with policy changes which have made child poverty MORE likely!

The Hawke Government in November 1985 also introduced a Bill of Rights into Parliament - the LAST Government that actually CARED about the Human Rights of EVERY Australian (our Constitution only protects FIVE rights and the right to a roof over our heads ISN'T one of them!)

Now many of our politicians and their wives/partners are MILLIONAIRES - and even if they come from adversity as the Prime Minister did - they grew up in a time when Governments of BOTH sides of politics supported well-funded PUBLIC housing as a stepping stone to home ownership.

And if those like PM Albanese's mother could never AFFORD to buy a house? Public housing was a HOME families could be safe and secure in for LIFE!

How EASILY do wealthy politicians forget?

And NOW Australian CHILDREN live in TENTS!

The ONLY way that we can ENSURE that our CURRENT polticians will truly prioritise housing POLICY for the MANY and not the FEW (and FUTURE politicians have to do the same) is to INSIST that secure and decent HOUSING becomes a Human Right in Australia.

Yes there WILL be a MINORITY who may well try to abuse such a Right - just like there's a MINORITY taking advantage of Australia's current housing policies that encourage the wealthy to hoard houses in Family Trusts - BUT these are challenges that can be overcome if the WILL is there.

I hate to ask this but Change.org is a business these days and no matter how much I share this petition - because there are hundreds of thousands of petititions on this website - I have experimented and the ONLY way I get lots of signatures is if I PAY to PROMOTE it.

I have done so a few times now BECAUSE I really believe in Human Rights and safe, secure housing is a fundamental RIGHT in a wealthy country such as ours - however I am just an ordinary worker like most Australians who earn far less than the 'average' wage - so if you can afford to - please help to promote it.

If you can't/don't want to - then can you please share as often as you can?

I have found $25 gives the best results - anything more than this doesn't result in lots more signatures as one would expect.

I can only think those who get tens of thousands of petition signatures on Change (especially those who plead to stay in Australia?) must either be wealthy - or have wealthy backers - at least in the early stages UNTIL they get enough signatures to generate publicity which forces the petition to the top of the pile!

Sad but true - very little comes without a price these days..

And with Change petitions - MONEY talks!