‘Justice, Social Action and Structural Change’

The Australian Feminist Law Journal has published an edited transcript of a special panel from the Justice through Conflict; Conflict through Justice Symposium which brought together scholars, practitioners, policymakers, activists, and community members to consider the complexities of living with conflict and histories of violence across a range of societies.

This panel was part of the Justice through Conflict; Conflict through Justice, conference held at the University of Melbourne 24 October 2016 and brought together Meghan Fitzgerald from the Fitzroy Legal Service, Tamar Hopkins, former Principal Solicitor from the Flemington Kensington Community Legal Centre and Shen Narayanasamy, Director of Advocacy from Get Up.

Their discussion provides practical, lived insight into both the potentials and the limits of law as a tool for redressing social, legal, and economic inequality, and still leaves open the possibility of real structural change.

Read the full article online here

Extract: Tamar Hopkins:

“We were talking earlier today about not having used the word ‘militarisation’ yet today. There are militarised spaces in this country. Just outside the Flemington and Kensington Legal Centre there are over 12,000 people living in high rise estates. And these estates are heavily policed. They have police patrols going through on a regular basis and those police officers are armed with guns. Living in a police state is a constant daily reality for people who live in those estates. If you live on those estates you will experience high levels of scrutiny.” transcript here:

Global Network on Justice. Conflict. Responsibility

The Symposium also launched the Global Network on Justice. Conflict. Responsibility (the JCR Network) convened by Criminology at the University. The Network is a research and collaboration hub that provides a public platform for the discussion and analysis of contemporary justice issues in Australia.

It will operate as a forum for building partnerships and promoting knowledge exchange between academic institutions, government, NGOs, and other agencies focused specifically on practices of justice in Australia and elsewhere. The work of the JCR Network will connect the global and the local, bringing the experiences in Australia to bear on contemporary international justice practice and scholarship and vice versa.