Law reform

We are committed to building a better justice system for all Victorians.

The Legal Aid Act 1978 requires us to take innovative steps to reduce the need for our individual legal services. One way we achieve this is by pursuing improvements in law and policy that result in better outcomes for our clients and the community, as detailed in our Outcomes Framework.

Our strategic advocacy priorities

The following principles guide our strategic advocacy:

1. As part of our ongoing commitment to upholding First Nations peoples’ right to self-determination, we will be led by the expertise of, and work collaboratively with, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and stakeholders to inform our advocacy and reform work, and support truth-telling and treaty processes in Victoria.
2. Our advocacy is shaped by the experiences and expertise of people directly affected.
3. We recognise that different aspects of identity—including race, sexual orientation, gender identity, disability, age, and socioeconomic status—intersect to affect a person’s experiences of discrimination and inequity.
4. We acknowledge and challenge structural discrimination, with a particular focus on structural racism, and will work with communities of colour and other affected communities to improve access to justice and build fairer laws and systems.

Our priorities

We will prioritise advocacy aimed at achieving the following improvements in law and policy and better outcomes for clients and the community:

1. Systemic reform to improve women’s safety, including reducing misidentification of the primary aggressor of family violence.
2. Implementation of recommendations from the Yoorrook Justice Commission in the pursuit of meaningful and transformational structural change.
3. Meaningful youth justice reform including:
   1. Raise the age of criminal responsibility to 14 and the age of imprisonment to 16 without delay, and embed the necessary supports children and young people need to thrive.
   2. End over-criminalisation and the disproportionate representation of First Nations children in the youth justice system.
   3. End over-criminalisation and the disproportionate representation of children of colour in the youth justice system.
4. Sentencing reform and restorative justice to reduce involvement in, and minimise harm caused by, the criminal justice system.
5. Strengthen police accountability, criminal justice system and custodial oversight.
6. Mental health reforms that promote consumer rights, embed consumer leadership and cultural safety, and increase accountability to ensure we work toward the elimination of compulsory treatment and seclusion and restrictive practices.
7. Strengthen rights and accountability across Federal systems, with a particular focus on social security, migration, the National Disability Insurance Scheme, and a national human rights framework.
8. Tailored responses to children who use violence, including through providing holistic supports to families to reduce risk of entry/re-entry into the legal system.
9. Reforms to the child protection system underpinned by the principles of self-determination that improve fairness and support families to stay together where it is safe to do so.

We may also undertake strategic advocacy work in response to emerging or urgent systemic issues or to reform processes (for example, reviews, commissions, inquiries or legislative change) that are not identified in these priorities.