PIAC’s submission in response to the Law Council of Australia’s series of consultation papers addresses the issue of access to justice with respect to four groups:
- People with a disability
- People experiencing homelessness
- Prisoners and detainees, and
- People seeking asylum.
It raises a range of problems which these four groups experience, including disability discrimination processes, limited access to civil and family law assistance for people in prison, as well as the impact of health issues on access to justice for people in immigration detention.
The submission also explores a wide range of access to justice issues which affect homeless people, including the impact of housing and tenancy law matters, domestic violence, public space offences and the problems of ‘clustering’ (where people experience multiple legal problems simultaneously).