The National Justice Project is a not-for-profit human rights legal service. We work with some of Australia’s most vulnerable people and communities, providing legal support to people who struggle to access justice.
We take strategic legal action to advance social justice, with a focus on Aboriginal communities and asylum seekers. Our legal work covers
- Inquests and inquiries, particularly coronial inquests
- Youth detention
- Medical care in detention
- Mental health care
- Discrimination
- Domestic violence and sexual assault
- Environmental and climate justice
- Aboriginal Child Removals
- LGBTI issues
Our major projects focus on improving access to justice for Aboriginal and Pacific Island communities and for prisoners and asylum seekers in immigration detention.
Aboriginal Health JUSTICE Project
Access to healthcare is a basic human right. But many Aboriginal people experience significant discrimination and even negligence in their medical treatment.
The Aboriginal Health Justice Project is a targeted health-law service for Aboriginal people and communities who have experienced discrimination in healthcare or medical negligence.
We:
- identify and support people who need legal help after experiencing healthcare discrimination
- deliver legal education and plain English material to help people understand their rights.
- develop policies and protocols for health service providers to address discrimination and negligence in health care and to keep Aboriginal patients safe
THE ABORIGINAL INNOCENCE PROJECT
Australia’s first innocence project dedicated to the wrongful conviction and incarceration of Aboriginal Australians, focused on miscarriages of justice where confessions or witness evidence has been obtained without adequate interpretation services.
The Aboriginal Innocence Project promotes Aboriginal language rights in Australia and advocates for more funding for Aboriginal interpreting services and preliminary language assessments.
THE PACIFIC JUSTICE PROJECT
The Pacific Justice Project improves access to justice for communities and individuals in Papua New Guinea, Irian Jaya, East Timor and the Pacific Islands by supporting local lawyers and NGO’s in those countries. This includes legal support for asylum seekers in Australian immigration detention on Nauru and Manus Island, who find it difficult to access to lawyers.
The Pacific Justice Project works to protect the homes and rights of Indigenous land holders and settlers. We stand up for women who have been subjected to domestic violence and assault and we work for climate justice in Pacific nations threatened by climate change.