We are thrilled to report overwhelming support for our Alternative First Responders campaign after the soft launch we shared with you last month.
The new website has now been expanded with a handy list of resources, tools and actions that everyone can take to make meaningful change.
It has been wonderful to see so many people already pledge support for this campaign and we appreciate our supporters who have shared with us why this issue is so important to you:
- This is such an important and urgently needed initiative!
- I have witnessed too many times when the current default first response model of police and/or ambulance escalates situations and is not appropriate.
- We need more care and connection in community.
- I support any initiative that puts the focus on the need for trauma-awareness.
- Police are not mental health care professionals and it is not ok that force or the threat of force should ever be considered.
- Appropriate care is the appropriate first response.
As many of you are only too aware, police are currently the be-all first response to calls for help. When people need help they are being met with suspicion and force, when they are experiencing a social or mental health issue there is escalation and judgement instead of compassion.
With your support, the National Justice Project can spread the message far and wide that we need to re-think the response. We can and urgently need to reimagine how we respond to people in need. Please encourage your friends and family to make the pledge with you to join a national movement demanding safety, dignity and care in every first response.
- Visit the new website and please sign the pledge and help spread the word.
We are proud to note the following organisations to date have endorsed our position paper on Alternative First Responders:
- Change the Record
- Justice Reform Initiative
- Social Reinvestment WA
- National Indigenous Youth Education Coalition (NIYEC)
- Jumbunna Institute for Indigenous Education and Research
- SANE Australia
- Youth Advocacy Centre QLD
- Western Australia Justice Association (WAJA)
- Victorian Mental Illness Awareness Council (VMIAC)
- Justice Equity Centre (JEC)
- Redfern Legal Centre
- First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence (FNAAFV)
- Central Australian Aboriginal Family Legal Unit (CAAFLU)
- South Australian Council of Social Service (SACOSS)
- South Australian Network of Drug and Alcohol Services
- NPY Women’s Council
- StreetWork
- The Wayside Chapel
- The Shopfront Youth Legal Centre
- Sydney Drug Education & Counselling Centre (SDECC)
- Federation of Community Legal Centres VIC
WEBINAR | The State Of Justice In The United States | Thursday 19 June 2025 | 12-1.30pm
The Alternative First Responders project will be showcased in an online webinar next month. Human rights lawyer and co-founder of the National Justice Project Michael ‘Dan’ Mori will be guest speaker.
The event, hosted by Principal Solicitor Ashleigh Buckett, will include a discussion with Dan and Chloe about the alternative first responder models in the United States.
- Where: online
- Cost: Free
- Bookings: online via Humanitix
SUPPORTING | Our work as a regular giver
If you have been thinking about giving us a regular donation we’d love for you to become part of our monthly giving program. Every dollar helps us fight for a fairer society.
The National Justice Project is funded by people like you committed to the fight for social justice.
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.
To keep up to date with our strategic legal action and advocacy, visit our website or follow us on your preferred social media platform.
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National Justice Project (NJP)
Address: PO Box 123, Broadway NSW 2007
Tel: +61 2 9514 4440
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.