Kevin Bell

The Hon. Kevin Bell AO KC is a baby boomer who grew up in social housing in the Melbourne suburb of Moorabbin – fittingly, in the language of the Bunurong/Boonwurrung, ‘Moorabbin’ means ‘resting place’ or ‘mother’s milk’. He graduated in Arts and Law from Monash University and worked at the Tenants Union of Victoria before practising as a barrister for twenty years, including in Victorian housing and residential tenancies law. As a judge of the Supreme Court of Victoria for fifteen years, he wrote many influential judgments on human rights, including the right to housing and home. As a professor in the Faculty of Law at Monash University and director of the Castan Centre for Human Rights Law, he similarly focused on housing, homelessness and human rights. He also served as a commissioner of the Yoorrook Justice Commission and has a masters in international human rights law from Oxford University. He is presently an adjunct professor at Monash and the patron of Tenants Victoria.