Centre for Innovative Justice

08/04/2026

Our partners Melbourne City Mission - MCM will be presenting today at the public hearing of the Parliamentary Inquiry into the Relationship between Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence (DFSV) and Su***de, speaking to a submission developed in collaboration with young lived experience advocates, service providers, and researchers, including the Centre for Innovative Justice.

Too often, young people who have experienced family violence die by su***de after repeated system failures and inadequate services and housing to support their safety, healing and recovery.

The submission draws heavily on our Unsafe and Unseen report into the experiences of young people with interrelated experiences of family violence and homelessness. This research found that young people leaving family violence alone are often trapped in prolonged cycles of crisis and harm, including where they are actively excluded from services or fall through the gaps of systems designed for adults.

Along with our partners, we call on the federal government to act now to stop the preventable deaths of young people who have experienced violence by:

- improving reporting on children and young people's deaths by su***de in the context of domestic and family violence so that their experiences of harm are made visible and counted;
- funding developmentally appropriate and risk-informed service responses for young people who have experienced violence so that their safety and support needs are identified and meaningfully addressed; and
- investing in youth-specific housing with linked support to provide young people with a stable base from which to recover, heal and transition safely to independence.

To access the submission: https://bit.ly/4sk4sK8
To access the Unsafe and Unseen report and associated practice resource: https://bit.ly/3PZDUQU

31/03/2026

Having the right to vote, and being able to exercise that right, is incredibly important. By voting, people can influence government policies and actions. It’s a way to express a view about the kind of society you want to live in, and a way of holding government to account. That’s why disenfranchising people in prison - including people with disability - has a direct and tangible impact on how prisons are run, how people in prison are treated, and how they are supported to reintegrate in the community post release.

On Monday 23 March, the CIJ gave evidence to the Parliament of Victoria’s inquiry into voting centre accessibility along with those who contributed to our joint submission.

Fran from Voices For Change (Fitzroy Legal Service) and proud Indigenous man Ricky led a conversation with the Committee, providing their lived experience insight on how voting in prison for people with disability can be made more accessible. Fran and Ricky are two of the five lived experience contributors to our joint submission in collaboration with Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Human Rights Law Centre, and Reece Blackett.

Fran and Ricky shared their views on how voting could be made more accessible for people with disability who are in prison, identifying the need for plain language information about elections and political party policies, greater planning ahead of election day, and a peer-led support model.

Their suggestions added to the 18 recommendations made in our joint submission which address several of the systemic and legal barriers experienced by people with disability in prisons in exercising their right to vote, including:
- The Victorian Government repeal voting exclusions affecting people with a sentence of five or more years and address other forms of disenfranchisement for people in prison.
- The Victorian Electoral Commission make information, including accessible Easy Read information, about voting be provided to all people in prison.
- Amendments to the Electoral Act to enshrine principles of equality, respect, co-design, supported decision making, inclusion of safeguards and cultural safety.

You can read our submission here:https://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/494de9/contentassets/1f91da4d484649b18944120425d465e8/submission-documents/049-cij-vals-hrlc-vfc-and-individuals.pdf

Implementing our recommendations would provide people with disability with access to their right to vote, and help to ensure they can make their vote count through adjustments that promote substantive equality. While there continue to be deaths in custody, prison overcrowding and limited oversight of our prisons, it is important to promote the right of imprisoned people to have a say in the laws and policies that shape their lives.

12/03/2026

Digital crime dominates federal sentencing in Victoria, according to a new Sentencing Advisory Council report, Commonwealth Offences Sentenced in Victoria.

The report shows that in the five years to June 2023, the most common federal crime being sentenced in Victoria was using a carriage service (such as a mobile phone or computer) to menace, harass or offend another person.

There was a relatively high rate of fines for this offence, likely due to the complexity of sentencing state and federal offences in the same case.

CIJ Director Stan Winford was featured in an ABC news article addressing this in his capacity as Sentencing Advisory Council Director.
"It's really perhaps problematic that courts have few options at their disposal, and when it comes to family violence, fines are not a terrific option because they affect households economically, and they may contribute to further risk to victims"
-Stan Winford, quoted by ABC News

Read the ABC's coverage here: https://www.abc.net.au/news/2026-03-11/digital-crime-sentencing-advisory-council-report-findings/10

Access the full report here:https://www.sentencingcouncil.vic.gov.au/sites/default/files/2026-03/commonwealth_offences_sentenced_in_victoria.pdf

03/03/2026

The Forum for Truth and Recognition is open.

The Forum is for people who have experienced child sexual abuse in Victorian government schools and certain non-government schools prior to the year 2000. It seeks to provide a safe and respectful space for people to share their experiences, have their voices heard and contribute to the public record.

The Forum will close on 18 March 2026.

To find out more and see available support services, visit www.truthandrecognition.vic.gov.au

02/03/2026

This week, the CIJ's Inaugural Director, Rob Hulls, will finish up at the CIJ and RMIT University.

Rob was the driving force behind establishing the CIJ. A former Victorian Deputy Premier and Attorney-General with a passion for making the justice system act as a positive intervention in people’s lives, he has an exceptional record of delivering major reforms to criminal and civil justice systems at a state and national level.

We commend Rob for his incredible impact on students, justice system users, and the sector, and for his inspiring vision that brought the CIJ into being. We will miss him but wish him all the very best.

This coincides with Elena Campbell accepting an exciting new role as Child and Family Safety Theme Head at the Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS). This appointment is a great recognition of Elena's expertise and the strong track record of work delivered by the CIJ on child and family safety. We look forward to watching Elena extend this work at AIFS.

Although this is the end of an important era, we are committed to sustaining Rob's legacy and Elena's influence and carrying this forward into our future work. We are pleased to announce that Stan Winford will step into the role of Director, bringing experience as a founding member of the CIJ, as well as significant expertise in therapeutic, procedural and restorative justice, and research grounded in lived and living expertise to create alternative pathways to justice.

25/02/2026

Just as 2026 is gaining its own momentum, we invite you to take a look back at the work of the CIJ during 2025 in our Annual Review. The Review reflects the depth of work undertaken with our collaborators and communities over the past year, and the impact that continues to grow through multidisciplinary practice and justice innovation.

Access the review here:https://cij.org.au/cms/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/cij-annual-review-2025.pdf

24/02/2026

We're excited to announce that on 26 March, Rob Hulls will be a panellist, alongside Gillian Triggs and Nerita Waight, at the forthcoming Wheeler Centre event 'Human Rights in Victoria: Past, Present, Future.'

Register for this event, facilitated by Caitlin Reiger, to learn more about the first two decades of Victoria's Charter of Human Rights, its impact, and future considerations.

For more information and to book tickets, go to https://www.wheelercentre.com/events-tickets/season-2026/human-rights-in-victoria-past-present-future

The Wheeler Centre for Books, Writing and Ideas Human Rights Law Centre

19/02/2026

As we mark this important day, we join the call for social justice to be embedded in systems and policies across sectors, towards inclusive development.

15/02/2026

Domestic and family violence, driven and compounded by colonial and systems violence, causes untold harm in Aboriginal communities. Ochre Ribbon Week shines a light not only on these harms but on the strength and resilience of Aboriginal communities alongside which the CIJ is always proud to work and walk.

12/02/2026

Artwork: 'Song Line Connection' by Katie Bugden via Canva

25/01/2026

On this day, we acknowledge the devastating and ongoing impacts of colonisation on Aboriginal communities, the related vastly disproportionate rate at which Aboriginal people have contact with the criminal justice system, and their experiences of racism and discrimination once this contact occurs. We also acknowledge the intergenerational trauma which Aboriginal communities experience. We pay our respect to the historical and ongoing resilience of Aboriginal people in the face of this, drawing on wisdom, experience and cultural authority of Elders and respected community members to create a better future and improve justice outcomes through self-determination, strong culture, connection to country and community.

21/01/2026