Justice Project: Pro Bono Tool
Asylum Seekers

This project has been endorsed by the Law Council of Australia.

More information about this project can be found here. 

Priorities identified in the Justice Project Final Report


Priorities Identified in the Justice Project Final Report[i]:

  1. To achieve more efficient, sustainable and fairer outcomes regarding asylum seekers’ protection claims, and reduce downstream pressure on courts and tribunals. Ensure access to free. qualified and trained interpreters for asylum seekers at all stages of their protection visa claims.
  2. Review policies and procedures to facilitate prompt access to legal assistance amongst asylum seekers in detention or in offshore processing centres. 
  3. Establish a legislative framework which:
    • ensure that asylum seekers are only detained where it is necessary, reasonable in all the circumstances and proportionate to a legitimate purpose, based on a detailed assessment of an individual’s particular circumstances and clear objective criteria;
    • ensures that detention is subject to statutory maximum limits and effective, statutory periodic review requirements; and 
    • ensure that the best interests of the child be the primary consideration in all actions concerning children. Detention of children, which should only occur as a matter of last resort and for the shortest appropriate period of time, should be community-based detention. 
  4. Review Australia’s offshore detention and turn-back policies in accordance with the principles and obligations et out in the LAw Council’s Regional Processing Policy Statement and its Asylum Seeker Policy, and with a view to achieving more sustainable, cost-effective solutions. 
  5. Enact and apply a consistent legal process for determining protection status that does not discriminate against applicants based on their mode of arrival. 
  6. Ensure that asylum seekers who enter Australia are not penalised for doing so without a valid visa, provided they present themselves to authorities without delay and show good cause for their entry and presence. 
  7. Replace temporary protection visas with durable, permanent protections for those found to invoke Australia’s protection obligations. 
  8. Enable access to full merits review for all administrative decisions concerning the protection status of asylum seekers, regardless of their mode or timing of arrival. 
  9. Appoint an independent legal guardian for all unaccompanied minors who arrive in Australia. 
  10. Review statutory frameworks regarding asylum seekers to ensure that Executive decisions which fundamentally affect them, including their liberty, possible removal and right to make protection claims, should be made according to principles laid down by parliament, and are subject to meaningful judicial oversight.

Justice Project: Pro Bono Tool Summaries

Directory of Organisations

Quick links to organisations by location


Quick links to tables by location:

National

Australian Capital Territory (ACT)

New South Wales (NSW)

Pro bono providers are encouraged to contact the Pro Bono Referral Schemes and Organisations to source pro bono matters. In New South Wales,  please contact Justice Connect. 

Northern Territory (NT)

Queensland (QLD)

Pro bono providers are encouraged to contact the Pro Bono Referral Schemes and Organisations to source pro bono matters. In Queensland,  please contact LawRight. 

South Australia (SA)

Pro bono providers are encouraged to contact the Pro Bono Referral Schemes and Organisations to source pro bono matters. In South Australia,  please contact JusticeNet SA. 

Tasmania (TAS)

Victoria (VIC)

Pro bono providers are encouraged to contact the Pro Bono Referral Schemes and Organisations to source pro bono matters. In Victoria,  please contact Justice Connect. 

Western Australia (WA)

Pro bono providers are encouraged to contact the Pro Bono Referral Schemes and Organisations to source pro bono matters. In Western Australia,  please contact Law Access. 

[i] The Justice Project Final Report published by the Law Council of Australia (Aug 2018) can be found here.

Please note the Centre undertook the research to identify which priorities have been mapped to individual organisations. Not all organisations have confirmed yet whether the identified priorities are accurately mapped.