What we do

Strategic legal action
Social Justice Education
Fearless Advocacy

We advocate for the development of law and a justice system which is fair, just and equitable.

Our legal work covers:

Health Justice

Refugee rights

MEDICAL CARE IN DETENTION

Youth Detention

Government Accountability

Inquests and inquiries

Police Accountability

We are fearless advocates for systemic change and we take on the most challenging cases which will advance human rights.

Strategic litigation forms the heart of everything we do. Our legal expertise and educational initiatives support and advance social justice and human rights.

We work to ensure everyone has the right to equality under the law.

We measure our success by our clients’ definition of justice and accountability. The success of our clients in the courtroom strengthens our work in advocacy, social justice education, and our projects and partnerships.

The National Justice Project works with people and communities who have experienced discrimination and face barriers to justice. We stand alongside our clients until they are satisfied with the outcome.

We engage in strategic legal action, fearless advocacy, social justice education, and collaborative partnerships to create meaningful change.

We educate our clients and their communities about the their rights, and we advocate for systemic reform to create a fair, equitable and inclusive society.

Calling for change

We advocate for a fair, just and equitable society that protects the rights of all people. To achieve our vision, we call for for reform our priority areas of immigration detention, health justice, discriminatory policing, and First Nations deaths in custody.

Immigration detention

Everyone has the right to seek asylum. The Australian Government owes a duty of care to those fleeing violence and persecution, and it has a responsibility to prevent harm from occurring to people in detention.

To learn more about the reforms we are calling for, read our Immigration Detention Position Statement.

Read the summary

Health justice

Too often in Australia, people are denied access to healthcare due to discrimination. The ongoing failure of the Australian Government to ensure adequate healthcare is a crisis that needs urgent reform.

To learn more about the reforms we are calling for, read our Health Justice Position Statement.

Read the summary

Discriminatory policing

Police forces frequently engage in prejudicial and aggressive policing of diverse minority communities. We must urgently limit police power and prioritise community-based responses.

To learn more about the reforms we are calling for, read our Discriminatory Policing Position Statement.

Read the summary

First Nations deaths in custody

To stop First Nations deaths in custody and overincarceration, we need to urgently reform to our criminal justice system, which must be redesigned to prioritise rehabilitation, care and humanity.

To learn more about the reforms we are calling for, read our First Nations Overincarceration and Deaths in Custody Position Statement.

Read the summary

Health Justice

Far too often in Australia, people are denied access to quality healthcare due to racial discrimination, their country of origin and visa status, or due to of a physical or intellectual disability.

The right to the highest attainable standard of physical and mental health, and the responsibility of governments to ensure access to medical care for their people, is enshrined in international law.

The National Justice Project’s Health Justice Program challenges systemic discrimination in the healthcare system by securing legal and policy reforms to ensure equitable access to quality, dignified and culturally-safe healthcare. The National Justice Project works to achieve health justice through strategic legal action, education programs, advocacy, projects and partnerships.

We represent refugees and people seeking asylum who have suffered psychological and physical harm while held in offshore detention, seeking to hold the government accountable for their avoidable and lifelong injuries.
We developed the legal strategy that led to hundreds of people being evacuated from Nauru and Papua New Guinea so that they could access urgent and lifesaving medical treatment. We then trained other lawyers in the sector to ensure that as many people as possible could benefit from our expertise.
We represent families at coronial inquests of people who have died because of poor or discriminatory medical treatment.
We represent people who have been refused access to health services or provided inadequate or negligent care while being held in police custody, prisons or youth detention.
We facilitate complaints against healthcare institutions that have failed in their duty to provide quality and respectful healthcare.
We represent people living with disability and complex health conditions who have been discriminated against or denied access to appropriate healthcare in the community and in the justice system.

Through our Monash University and Macquarie University Social Justice Clinics, we inspire the next generation of social justice lawyers with skills and knowledge to challenge systemic discrimination in the health system.
Partnering with Melbourne University Law School’s Indigenous Advocacy Clinic, we are conducting research to inform our health justice advocacy.Aboriginal Patient Advocacy Training Program.

We draw the attention of decision-makers to the systemic causes of healthcare discrimination by making powerful submissions to public inquiries.
We pressure governments to implement the recommendations of coronial inquests and parliamentary inquiries through petitions, open letters, and by shining the media spotlight on the need to act.
After successfully petitioning the Federal Parliament to pass Medevac laws to allow people in offshore detention to come to Australia for much needed healthcare, we continue to take legal action and advocate for recognition of the Australian Government’s responsibility for the damage they have caused.
We support our clients to tell their stories in the media, helping to educate the wider community of their experiences and inspire others to fight for justice.

We are a proud member of the Partnership for Justice in Health (P4JH), an alliance of academics, legal experts, and peak First Nations health and justice organisations committed to addressing racism at individual, institutional and systemic levels, in the health and justice systems.
Our TECH4JUSTICE program includes strategies for increasing access to healthcare complaint systems and strategies for improving accountability and justice through those systems.

racial Justice

Our Racial Justice Program works to defend and extend the rights of First Nations people and culturally and linguistically diverse communities who have experienced racial discrimination. Our work combats racial discrimination in healthcare systems, immigration detention, prisons and juvenile detention, and policing.

Our legal action in hospitals and healthcare examines whether racism has been a component of any mistreatment or injury suffered. We bring the language of cultural safety, anti-racism and trauma-informed practice into some of the most powerful and conservative institutions in Australia: the courts.
We bring cases to the Australian Human Rights Commission where appropriate to draw out racial discrimination in correctional settings. This commonly leads to litigation in the Federal Court.
We are one of the few legal organisations with the expertise to file complaints and conduct litigation in relation to racism in policing. We do not shy away from difficult cases that may achieve important strategic outcomes for the communities that we work with.

Through our Social Justice Clinics at Monash University and Macquarie University, and participation in Melbourne University Law School’s Indigenous Advocacy Clinic, we inspire the next generation of social justice lawyers with skills and knowledge to challenge systemic discrimination that permeates our public sphere.
We support PLT students and volunteers (independently, and through organisations such as Aurora and Crossing Borders) to work with us, developing their skills and knowledge to challenge systemic discrimination.

The Aboriginal Patient Advocacy Training Program seeks to combat the discrimination experienced by First Nations people in accessing health services.
Our CopWatch mobile app, website and training program provides critical rights community education.

Through powerful submissions to public inquiries, public advocacy, hosting and participating in events, engaging with policymakers, politicians and the media, launching and supporting petitions, open letters, launching and supporting campaigns, we:

Draw the attention of decision-makers to the systemic and intersectional discrimination affecting First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse communities and advocate for much needed system reform.
Support our clients to tell their stories, helping to educate the wider community and inspire others to fight for justice.
Advocate for the accountability of the government and justice for those affected by the harm caused by discriminatory policies.
Advocate for the implementation of coronial inquest and inquiry recommendations necessary to eliminate the racial injustices experienced by First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse

Our CopWatch program challenges the systemic issues in policing, in particular police violence and over-reach, and encourages police accountability.
We are a proud member of the Partnership for Justice in Health (P4JH), an alliance of academics, legal experts, and peak First Nations health and justice organisations committed to addressing individual, institutional and systemic racism in the health and justice systems.
Our Tech4Justiceprogram includes evidence gathering and advocacy strategy to drive systemic change in the complaints systems.
Our partnership with Deadly Connectionsenables an in-house lawyer to lead initiatives to disrupt the impacts of the child protection and criminal justice systems.

Just Systems

Institutions and systems in Australia oppress and marginalise minority people and communities. The National Justice Project aims to uphold and extend the right to safe and equitable access to justice by stimulating legal and policy reforms to ensure people can engage with systems such as the criminal justice and child protection systems, free from discrimination.

We draw out systemic issues in coronial inquests into deaths in healthcare, correctional and immigration detention settings, seeking recommendations that will support lasting systemic change.

We act for individuals and families who have been injured in hospital and healthcare settings, supporting them to make compensation claims. With these claims we aim to have a direct impact for our clients and a broader strategic impact by creating an active incentive to ensure hospitals and healthcare systems are safe for all of us.
We highlight systemic problems that arise from policing that negatively affect our clients.
We examine systems in immigration detention settings to pinpoint areas of risk which cause avoidable and reversible harm to asylum seekers and refugees. Our work also draws the attention of the public and the media, supporting a change in public opinion that would lead to a more just system of refugee processing and detention in Australia.
We have litigated to preserve the right to protest, strengthening Australian democracy. We ran one of the only successful challenges to an order banning a protest in Sydney. After this case, the NSW government changed the regulations around size of protest groups and refrained from banning COVID-safe protests. We are also supporting people who have been fined for protesting to challenge their fines to ensure they are not punished for exercising fundamental constitutional rights.

Our Clinics at Monash Universityand Macquarie University, and participation in Melbourne University Law School’s Indigenous Advocacy Clinic, we inspire the next generation of social justice lawyers with skills and knowledge to challenge the systemic discrimination that permeates our public sphere.
We support PLT students and volunteers (independently, and through organisations such as Aurora and Crossing Borders) to work with us, developing their skills and knowledge in challenging systemic discrimination that creates vast inequity in our public systems.
Our CopWatch mobile application, website and training program provides critical community rights education.

Through powerful submissions to public inquiries, public advocacy, academic contributions, hosting and participating in events, engaging with the media, launching and supporting petitions, open letters, launching and supporting campaigns, we:

Draw the attention of decision-makers to the systemic injustices affecting First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse communities and advocate for much-needed system reform.
Support our clients to tell their stories, helping to educate the wider community of their experiences and inspire others to fight for justice.
Advocate for the accountability of the government and justice for those affected by the harm caused by discriminatory policies.
Advocate for the implementation of inquest and inquiry recommendations necessary to eliminate the racial injustices experienced by First Nations and culturally and linguistically diverse communities.
Collaboratively advocate for reform across systems.
Develop evidence-based advocacy to drive reform through our Tech4Justice project.

Our CopWatch program challenges the systemic issues in policing, in particular police violence and over-reach, and encourages police accountability.
We are a proud member of the Partnership for Justice in Health (P4JH), an alliance of academics, legal experts, and peak First Nations health and justice organisations committed to addressing individual, institutional and systemic racism in the health and justice systems.
Our Tech4Justice program includes evidence gathering and advocacy strategy to drive systemic change in the complaints systems.
Our partnership with Deadly Connections enables an in-house lawyer to lead initiatives to disrupt the impacts of the child protection and criminal justice systems.

What we do

Our legal work covers:

Calling for change

Immigration detention

Health justice

Discriminatory policing

First Nations deaths in custody

Health Justice

racial Justice

Just Systems

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