The Indigenous Legal Needs Project (ILNP) is a national research study of Indigenous civil and family law needs conducted between 2011 and 2015 in partnership with Aboriginal legal services and Legal Aid Commissions.

The project identified and analysed non-criminal legal need in 32 regional, remote and urban Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities in Victoria, QLD, NT and WA. It also visited 8 communities in NSW as a pilot project.

The ILNP explored the extent to which:

  • legal issues such as discrimination, credit and debt, child protection and housing impacted these communities
  • community members accessed legal help for or otherwise resolved these issues, especially through the legal system.

The ILNP identified five priority areas of civil and family law need in Indigenous communities across Australia: race discrimination, housing (tenancy), credit and debt (and consumer matters), child protection and social security. Community members frequently experienced problems in these areas but did not often address them, including through legal channels. These problems had significant impacts on individuals and whole communities.

The research aimed to improve Indigenous justice outcomes, important in their own right but also essential for enhanced compliance with human rights norms and improved social justice outcomes for Indigenous people.

The ILNP explored access to justice for Indigenous people as access to legal services, legal institutions (courts, for instance) and mainstream law.

We are now working on a new research project, in collaboration with UNSW, that is focused on access to justice as defined by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people. See also the Indigenous Access to Justice page.

Select ILNP publications

Animated videos 

  • NT video
  • VIC video
  • WA video
  • QLD video

Articles and submissions 

Allison, F, Cunneen, C and Schwartz, M (2017), ‘The Civil and Family Law Needs of Indigenous People Forty Years After Sackville: The Findings of the Indigenous Legal Needs Project’, Durbach, A, Edgeworth, B & Sentas, V (ed.s), Law and Poverty: 40 years after the Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, Federation Press, Sydney, 231.

Cunneen, C, Allison, F and M. Schwartz (2014), ‘Access to justice for Aboriginal People in the Northern Territory’ 49(2) Australian Journal of Social Issues 219.

Allison, F, Schwartz, M and Cunneen, C (2013), ‘“That’s Discrimination!” Indigenous Peoples’ Experiences of Discrimination in the Northern Territory’ 8(5) Indigenous Law Bulletin 8.

Cunneen, C and Schwartz, M (2009), ‘Civil and Family Law Needs of Indigenous People in New South Wales: The Priority Areas’ 32(3) UNSW Law Journal 725.

Schwartz, M and Cunneen, C (2009), ‘From Crisis to Crime: The Escalation of Civil and Family Law Issues into Criminal Matters in Aboriginal Communities in NSW’ 7(15) Indigenous Law Bulletin 18.