Law Health Justice Community Advocacy Clinic

The LHJ Community Advocacy Clinic is a collaboration between Law | Health | Justice and Health Justice Australia, the national body championing and supporting partnerships between health and law professionals to address complex needs. The Clinic brings together interns from the Faculties of Health and Law, academic supervisors, community partners, and Health Justice Australia to explore problems in service provision and unmet legal needs that impact on health and that raise important questions of social justice. The Clinic is not a source of one-on-one advice, rather it responds to shared community problems to provide information and advocate for change.

The Community Advocacy Clinic Project 2024

The recent Royal Commission into Violence, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability highlighted the disproportionate impact of ‘prenatal reports’ on people with disability. This is amplified for First Nations people with disability. These reports are not mandated in NSW but can be submitted to child protection systems when someone believes a parent poses a risk of future harm to children following their birth. The Commission highlighted how such reports can trigger responses that are discriminatory and contravene Australia’s obligations under both the UN Convention on the Rights of Persons with Disabilities and the UN Convention on the Rights of the Child. The Clinic will focus on clarifying the meaning and implications of these reports for individuals, family members, and support workers. It will also aim to provide information for lawyers and advocate for compliance with obligations under the conventions.

Want to find out more?

For more information about the Clinic, please email Michael Thomson at: michael.thomson@uts.edu.au.

For further information about Health Justice Australia, please visit here.