Action for Justice: A Roadmap for Change
The Victorian community legal sector is excited to launch our 5-year policy platform.
Action for Justice: A Roadmap for Change sets out the Victorian community legal sector’s bold and comprehensive plan for delivering on our collective vision for a fairer, more inclusive and just Victoria. It draws on decades of lived experience, frontline legal expertise, and deep consultation with communities affected by systemic injustice.
Developed by Victoria’s community legal centres, this platform calls on governments to listen to those most affected by inequality and injustice and to take action that transforms systems — not just outcomes. With a clear, evidence-informed agenda for change, it demonstrates how we can reimagine legal systems, reduce harm, and uphold the rights and dignity of every member of our community.
At its heart is a shared commitment to self-determination for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, access to justice for all, and systemic change that tackles the root causes of harm and inequality.
KEY AREAS FOR REFORM
The platform identifies six key areas for reform:
- Treaty and self-determination - Support Treaty, implement Yoorrook recommendations, and enshrine data sovereignty.
- Access to justice - Close legal loopholes denying access to justice.
- Stronger protections against interpersonal violence - Reform systems that fail victim-survivors and embed safety, dignity, and trauma-informed processes in law.
- Safeguards against systemic harm - Protect renters, workers, and communities at risk of climate disasters from harm caused by powerful private institutions, businesses and property owners.
- Fair and accountable government actions - Ensure laws hold governments to account, uphold human rights, listen to community voices, and promote transparency across government systems.
- Community support, not state intervention - Shift away from punitive systems toward holistic, community-led approaches in child protection, criminal justice and prisons.
With community legal centres across Victoria delivering more than 100,000 free legal services each year, we stand ready to work with governments and communities to deliver these reforms and build a better future for all Victorians.
Read the Victorian community legal sector's 2025-30 policy platform here.
Supporting implementation of the policy platform
The policy platform outlines a set of asks that the Victorian community legal sector seeks to implement over a five-year period. To support implementation of these asks, the Federation has created a series of enabling resources to guide and empower organisations to turn theory into practice. All resources are downloadable and applicable to the policy recommendations in the platform.
Appendix 1 - Implementation Group Establishment Templates:
Appendix 4 – Key messages resource bank
Appendix 5 – Policy brief template
If you work at a community legal centre and would like access to exclusive resources for implementing the policy platform (including tools to help you prepare campaigns), please contact [email protected].
