9 July 2021 Yesterday, the Commonwealth Government rejected a raft of recommendations made by UN nations, including recommendations to raise the age of criminal responsibility. With the Commonwealth Government’s leadership…

2 July 2021 Today, the last day of the two-week Coronial Inquest into the death of Raymond Noel, started with a smoking ceremony in the morning, before closing submissions. In…

Joint Media Release7 July 2021 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, legal, human rights and civil liberties organisations have called on the Andrews government to take urgent steps to increase transparency…

MEDIA RELEASE 24 June 2021Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS) IBAC’s Special report on corrections: IBAC Operations Rous, Caparra, Nisidia and Molara makes a clear link between the expansion in prison…

Raymond Noel Lindsay Thomas (referred to as “Raymond Noel” for cultural reasons) was a proud Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Wiradjuri man. Raymond Noel died in a police pursuit on 25 June…

Today VALS and more than three dozen human rights and law groups called on the Andrews Government to reform their draconian bail laws. Read the letter here. Find a petition…

Due to the funding decisions of the Andrews Government in the Victorian Budget 2021/22, VALS does not have the funding we need to recruit new lawyers and manage the increase…

MEDIA RELEASE 20 May 2021 Daniel Andrews and Jaclyn Symes gave VALS $1 million dollars per year for two years to pilot our Place-Based Delivery Model in the Victorian Budget…

Fifteen years after the last police-in-schools scheme in Victoria was scrapped, Victoria Police are pushing to put officers in classrooms to rebuild their relationship with the community. VALS is calling…

Quotes Attributable to Patricia Lamont. “This process has already taken so long and I am continually forced to fight for the justice my daughter and I deserve.” “I only found…