Strategic
LEgal Action
Legal
Action
We take strategic legal action to secure truth, justice, and accountability for our clients. They are people who have suffered life-long harm from systemic discrimination in places like prisons, out-of-home care, policing, and hospitals. Our cases not only help secure justice for our clients, but change for the community.
Above: Our legal team (Anna Orr, Ashleigh Buckett and Rosaleen Jeffries) is fighting in the Federal Court to secure a legally binding duty of care from the government to refugees in offshore detention.
WE Seek
ACCOUNTABILITY
We take governments and institutions to court to secure accountability for the lifelong harm our clients have suffered from discrimination. Our cases seek to demonstrate harm, uphold a duty of care, expose negligence, and challenge state abuse of human and civil rights.
Our Associate Legal Director, Emma Hearne, led our right to protest cases against the NSW Government after it tried to suppress our clients’ right to protest against homophobia, insecure work, and First Nations deaths in custody.
WE EXPOSE
WRONGDOING
We represent our clients at coronial inquests into the deaths of their loved ones. Through our work in coronial inquests, we can put the system under the microscope and push for strong recommendations to drive systemic change.
In 2022-23, we represented the family of Jomen Blanket in a coronial inquest into the death of their son in Acacia Prison. Our paralegal, Juliette Kennedy, stood alongside our clients at a July 2022 hearing in Perth.
WE PUT A PRICE ON
DISCRIMINATION
We force governments and systems to negotiate fair outcomes for the harm our clients have suffered because of discrimination. Compensation not only helps our clients rebuild their lives, but it helps drive reform – because the system won’t change unless there is a price to pay for discrimination.Â
Our Special Counsel, Duncan Fine, has been representing our clients in legal action and compensation claims since our beginnings in 2016. He has helped put a price on discrimination in major cases against healthcare discrimination, negligent immigration detention, and police brutality.
WE PUT THE SYSTEM
ON NOTICE
We put forward powerful complaints that spell out the negligent, discriminatory or violent treatment our clients endured at the hands of state institutions. Our complaints help secure fair outcomes for our clients, and they put the system on notice for its disregard of our clients and their communities.
In 2021-22, we launched complaints against discriminatory policing on behalf of our clients, the family of Baby Charlie Mullaley. Our complaints helped push forward the Mullaley’s case, ultimately securing accountability from WA Police, and a formal apology and pardon from the WA Attorney General.
What our
Clients say
2024 LEGAL ACTION
snapshot
160
We progressed 160 cases in defense of human rights
6
We acted for 6 families seeking justice at coronial inquests
24
We opened 24 new cases in 2024
56
We made headway on 56 refugee justice cases
23
We advanced 23 prison/youth detention accountability matters
39
We pushed forward on 39 police accountability matters
19
We represented 19 clients in health justice matters
Case
study
DEFENDING REFUGEE RIGHTS
Above: Our CEO and Principal Solicitor, George Newhouse, has been taking legal action for refugee rights for more than a decade. In this photo from 2014, George is on his way to the NSW Supreme Court to prevent the government from handing over 153 refugees to the Sri Lankan navy at sea.
Since 2017, we have been in the courts to defend the rights of people seeking asylum. In 2018, we took emergency legal action to secure life-saving medical care for refugees who were suffering on Nauru.
In 2020, we prevented the government from seizing mobile phones from refugees held in detention. And in 2019, we began our ongoing cases to force the government recognise its duty of care to the refugees it harmed in offshore detention.
JUSTICE
CHANGE
ACCOUNTABILITY
Take action today to help us secure justice for our clients and systemic change for the community.
LEARN MORE ABOUT OUR CASES
The NSW Government has announced a new system for responding to mental health call-outs. Under the model, people experiencing mental health distress who call 000 could be assessed and supported by one of eight dedicated mental health teams, and connected to support and services through a virtual hub. The Government has committed $270 million […]
Content Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised the following includes the names of First Nations people who have passed away. More than a year after the death of 24-year-old Warlpiri man Kumanjayi White, his family has commenced proceedings in the Northern Territory Supreme Court to obtain answers about the decision not to […]
People experiencing a mental health crisis deserve care, not criminalisation. That’s why the National Justice Project and the Alternative First Responders campaign have made a submission to the Law Enforcement Conduct Commission’s community survey on mental health and policing interactions in NSW. Our submission outlines the harms caused by police-led responses to mental health crises […]
The Australian Electoral Commission (AEC) will introduce significant nationwide reforms, including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cultural competency training for more than 100,000 of its staff, following the resolution of Federal Court proceedings brought by the Benton family. Barkindji Koori man, Murray Benton, along with his family, lodged a racial discrimination complaint with the Australian Human Rights Commission and later commenced proceedings at the Federal Court, after […]
Content Warning: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander readers are advised that this media release contains the name of a Gomeroi person who has passed away. The Coroner has ruled out suicide as the cause of death of Gomeroi teenager Mark Anthony Haines and delivered strong criticism of the way NSW Police investigated his death in 1988. Mark, aged 17, was […]
The Northern Territory Government is proposing significant changes to child protection laws through the Care and Protection of Children Legislation Amendment (Every Child Matters) Bill 2026. But the National Justice Project has raised serious concerns about the proposed laws in a submission to the Northern Territory Legislative Scrutiny Committee, warning they are being rushed through […]
On National Sorry Day, we honour the Stolen Generations and acknowledge the pain still carried by First Nations families and communities. First Nations children are still being removed from their families at rates that are persistently and staggeringly disproportionate. In 2023-24 across Australia, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children were 9.6 times more likely to […]
This year, the National Justice Project partnered with the University of Technology Sydney and the Jumbunna Legal Strategies Hub to launch the Strategic Litigation Clinic, putting trauma-informed practice at the centre of legal training from day one. Trauma can affect how a person thinks, feels and behaves. Whether it’s triggered by a single event, or a series of difficult experiences, it can stay […]
We’re celebrating the people who give their time to the National Justice Project, and hearing what the experience has meant to them. National Volunteer Week, running from 18–24 May, is Australia’s largest annual celebration of volunteers. It recognises the contribution of more than six million Australians who generously offer their time and expertise to support others. The […]
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