Click here for the joint submission of the PILCH Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic and the QPILCH Homeless Persons' Legal Clinic to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Committee Inquiry into Legal Aid and Access to Justice.

The submission examines two aspects of current access to justice arrangements to meet the needs for legal assistance of people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness:

1. the extent to which current access to justice arrangements enable homeless people to access systems of justice (that is, the effectiveness of current arrangements in relation to ensuring that homeless people can access legal service providers and the courts); and
2. the extent to which current access to justice arrangements enable homeless people to access substantive justice (that is, the effectiveness of current arrangements in relation to ensuring that the formulation and application of the law with respect to homeless people is fair).

The submission makes recommendations to improve access to both procedural and substantive justice for people who are homeless or at risk of homelessness.  We urge the Commonwealth to accept and implement the recommendations.