Improving Access to Justice Research Report, LaTrobe University
Keeping Women Out of the Justice System: Year One Program Review
In 2017, in response to the rising rates of women’s incarceration, we identified Keeping Women Out of the Justice System (KWOJS) as a priority-funding theme of our grants program.
Health Justice Partnerships (HJPs) are an innovative model of service delivery that sees legal and health practitioners work collaboratively to deliver services to clients. The strength of HJPs is that they efficiently provide legal assistance to vulnerable people in the places they are most likely to seek help. HJPs have proven to be an effective way of increasing access to justice as well as benefitting people's health and wellbeing.
There has been a proliferation of HJPs throughout Australia and we are very proud of the role our Grants Program has been able to play in building that momentum. Since 2011, we have provided over $7 million in HJP grants to 19 projects.
In 2014, we funded 8 new HJPs through our priority-themed funding round, more than doubling the number of Australian HJPs at the time. As multiple HJPs were funded at once, a community of practice was formed. Under the guidance of Dr Liz Curran, the projects were able to test the effectiveness of the model amongst diverse cohorts and locations throughout Victoria. These projects focused on assisting young people, seniors, newly arrived migrants, women experiencing violence, new mothers and people experiencing mortgage stress. We have funded many more HJPs in the years since.
It has been an honour to work with these services and support their evolution. It is a testament to the outstanding work of those foundational HJP practitioners that the model is being adopted throughout the country.
A national body, Health Justice Australia (HJA), has now been established to promote the model. They convened the inaugural national conference in 2017. With funding from our Grants Program, HJA have been providing mentoring to aspiring HJPs and creating key resources to inform best practice HJP development.
Learn more through watching our short video below and reading some of the reports detailing the important work of our HJPs.
Download this 11 page report to learn about the Grants Program and how it’has been influencing policy and reform and changing lives.
You will also find out about some of the Award-winning Projects that we have funded.
The 2020 Grant round has awarded $1 million in funding to seven legal and community organisations to help vulnerable Victorians gain access to legal services.
First Step Legal
$130,000 over 1 1/2 years
The First Step Legal team will continue to work closely and collaboratively with the Windana Therapeutic Community staff, to build upon the positive preliminary outcomes of their pilot HJP, First Step HOPE. They will refine processes and systems of best practice integrated care, in support of the ongoing recovery and rehabilitation of residents.
Law and Advocacy Centre for Women
$100,000 over 1 year
Improving access to holistic, gender-informed legal and support services for women in regional Victoria who are at risk of entrenchment in the criminal justice system.
Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre (ARC Justice)
$230,000 over 1 year
Further development, testing and embedding of an integrated model of legal service delivery and coordination to increase access to wrap-around support for vulnerable families to break intergenerational cycles of disadvantage.
Women and Mentoring (WAM)
$180,000 over 1 year
Extending the Women and Mentoring Women’s Voices project to collect stories of criminalised women’s experiences in order to improve understanding of gendered pathways away from offending.
Mental Health Legal Centre
$200,000 over 1 year
Improving access to the Disability Support Pension for people who are unable to demonstrate evidence that they meet the eligibility and evidence requirements without support. The project will improve access to Centrelink resources for people managing complex health and mental health issues.
Gippsland Legal Assistance Forum (Victoria Legal Aid)
$60,000 over 1 Year
Improving the reach of the Gippsland Legal Assistance Forum to improve access to timely, appropriate and culturally safe legal assistance for priority clients and communities in the Gippsland region.
The Torch
$100,000 over 1 Year
Reducing the disproportionately high incarceration and recidivism rates for Indigenous women in Victoria through the continued employment of a Women’s Indigenous Arts Officer working with In Prison and Post Release women across Victoria.
