All of us at the National Justice Project are thrilled to provide you with an update on the impactful work that we have undertaken over the past year.
In 2023, we made leaps and bounds in our strategic legal work, innovative projects, social justice education, client-centred advocacy, and organisational sustainability.
Highlights from the year include high-profile cases tackling police brutality and fighting for justice for First Nations and refugee clients, as well as progress on our groundbreaking anti-discrimination projects.
We are pleased to share with you a digital version of our 2023 Impact Report:
The support we receive from our major donors, volunteers, corporate supporters and many individuals has helped power the amplification of our clients’ stories and push for an end to systemic discrimination in Australia.
We hope you enjoy reading about the positive impact we have achieved and can continue to support our journey to fearlessly fight injustice.
The National Justice Project is funded by people like you who are committed to the fight for social justice. We do not receive government grants or funding so we can remain fiercely independent and hold governments to account.
The National Justice Project is a Public Benevolent Institution endorsed as a Deductible Gift Recipient (DGR) covered by Item 1 of the table in section 30-15 of the Income Tax Assessment Act 1997. Donations of $2.00 or more are tax deductible.
REPORTING | McKenzie Findings Expose the Brutal Cost of Police Discrimination
In 2019, Todd McKenzie was grappling with a severe psychotic episode, when NSW Police arrived to his Taree home and began a nine-hour siege which ended with Todd’s death.
The coroner’s report is a damning indictment of NSW Police’s response.
The Coroner found that Todd's death was preventable, that NSW Police operations were flawed, that NSW Police did not properly consider his ill mental health and disregarded his family’s pleas to intervene and assist.
While the findings give Todd’s family some measure of closure and accountability – the fight for systemic change is not over yet.
These findings lay bare the systemic failure of NSW Police to adequately respond to mental health crises, and they show the heart-breaking loss suffered by Todd's family.
We will be fiercely advocating for a policing summit, as recommended by the coroner, to examine alternative responses to mental health crises.
ANNOUNCING | The Call It Out App is Here!
The Call It Out: A First Nations Racism Register App has arrived!
The Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research, in partnership with the National Justice Project, are proud to announce the launch of the Call It Out App, a ground-breaking platform aimed at documenting and addressing racism against First Nations Peoples in communities across Australia.
The new app is designed to make reporting racism as accessible as possible and features artwork by Kirsten Gray, a Muruwari/Yuwalaraay woman, mother, artist, and advocate.
- Download on Apple and Android now to report racism anytime, anywhere.
- Call out racism
REPORTING | Inquest into Mark Haines’ Death
The family of Mark Anthony Haines have lived through 36 years of heartache since the tragic death of their boy, a Gomeroi teenager who died in suspicious circumstances at a railway outside of Tamworth, NSW.
On 16 January 1989, Mark was found deceased on the train tracks outside of Tamworth under suspicious circumstances. Despite decades of uncertainty, his family remains determined to uncover the truth.
For the past two years, we have been calling for a thorough examination of the inadequate police investigations conducted at the time of Mark's death.
We believe that these deficient investigations reflected a systemic failure by NSW Police to treat Indigenous deaths with the same importance as non-Indigenous deaths.
We are standing alongside the family in court to help uncover the truth about what happened to their boy.
While the matter has been adjourned until the end of the year, we see this as a positive as it will ensure that Mark's death is afforded a thorough investigation.
We thank you all for your support of the Haines family and all the work we do.
Friends, to help power legal cases like these, please consider donating today – your support will help families like Mark’s and Todd’s carry on their fight for answers.
WALKING | WALK4JUSTICE | Tuesday 21 May 2024
A reminder that we are holding our annual Walk for Justice event in Sydney on Tuesday 21 May 2024. If you are in Sydney, please join us to support the National Justice Project and RACS as we celebrate the work of pro bono lawyers in NSW. Learn more about this event and register below.
SPOTLIGHTING | 'ASYLUM' | 2-12 May 2024 | Tickets on Sale Now
We have an exclusive offer for you: grab your discounted tickets to the play ‘Asylum’, written and produced by Ruth Fingret.
Set against the tragedy of statelessness this play reveals the personal stories of Hajir, a Lebanese man seeking asylum in Australia, and Craig, the immigration officer who has the power to shape his destiny.
Content Warnings: Contains themes of racism, domestic violence, explicit language, discussion of drug use, discussion of mental illness, coarse language, depictions of suicide.
- Where: The Greek Theatre, Building 36, 142 Addison Road. Marrickville, NSW 2204
- Cost: To claim your discount, please enter the code NJP at checkout.
The 15% offer is available until midnight on May 1st. - Bookings: online via Eventbrite
HIGHLIGHTING | Media
- Coroner says NSW police should force tactical officers to wear body cameras after man shot and killed
- Inquest underway into cold case death of Mark Haines, Indigenous teen found on train tracks
- "I hope other families in our position won’t ever go through the same thing" - Family of two Indigenous girls killed in 1987 respond to long overdue inquest findings
To keep up-to-date with all of our campaigns, events and case updates, follow us on your preferred social media platform.
Together we are creating a wave of change.
Thank you.
Warmest regards,
George Newhouse, Ashleigh Buckett, and Emma Hearne at the National Justice Project
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National Justice Project (NJP)
15 Broadway CB01.17, Building 1, University of Technology Sydney, Gadigal Country, Broadway NSW 2007
We acknowledge that we live and work on the lands of First Nations Peoples, and we pay our respects to their Elders past and present. Our Sydney office is located on the lands of the Gadigal People of the Eora Nation, whose sovereignty was never ceded. This land always was, and always will be, Aboriginal land.