Melissa Clarke, General Manager of the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS), says the Premier has joined the race to the bottom in his approach to youth justice.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: NATSILS calls on PM Albanese to act on emergency justice
With more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in prison than ever before, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services is calling on the Prime Minister to take a leadership role to transform the justice system.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: National trend of policies to lock up kids will destroy lives and increase crime
A frightening national trend of governments deciding to lock up children will destroy lives and make communities more dangerous.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: Federal Budget ignores repeated, urgent calls for critical funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services
The 2025-26 Federal Budget ignores repeated, urgent calls for critical funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, undermining access to justice and perpetuating inequality.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: Australian children under threat as dangerous laws pass in Queensland
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services have condemned the passage of Queensland’s ‘adult crime, adult time’ laws, which will backfire and make communities more dangerous.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: New Queensland laws guarantee permanent harm to our children and more dangerous communities
The dangerous laws introduced in Queensland Parliament last week ignore all evidence about what works to make communities safer and reduce crime.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: Legal experts warn new NT Government’s punitive agenda will backfire and increase crime
The peak body for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services has congratulated the incoming Chief Minister Lia Finocchiaro for the Country Liberal Party’s clear victory, but warned that she is already on a path to make crime worse in the Northern Territory.
JOINT MEDIA RELEASE: Condemning the state sanctioned abuse and mass incarceration of First Nations children with disability
In the wake of horrific footage emerging of guards in an adult watch house in QLD violently forcing an Aboriginal child with disability into solitary confinement, The First Peoples Disability Network (FPDN), NATSILS (including QLD ATSILS) and SNAICC call for the end of solitary confinement and the over-incarceration of Aboriginal kids with disability.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: Aboriginal legal services vindicated by government review recommending significant funding increase
After months of sounding the alarm on a funding crisis, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services are vindicated today by the findings of an independent review of the legal assistance sector commissioned by government.
NATSILS MEDIA RELEASE: Budget treats First Nations justice as an afterthought
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services across the country will have to continue getting by on a shoestring after the Federal Budget failed to provide meaningful relief.