The Indigenous Law and Justice Hub (ILJH) brings together legal experts and community leaders to support Indigenous advocacy and self-governance. We are educators who play a central role in developing our law students’ understandings of Indigenous cultures, legal systems, and Indigenous experiences of settler law.
Our goal is to put the legal profession in service of Indigenous Peoples’ justice aspirations. We do this by convening conversations governed in respect for Indigenous expertise on justice, educating to support First Nations justice, and building and sharing knowledge that supports community justice needs.
News and Events from the Hub and our Friends:
Treaty
Welcome to the Treaty webpage! It brings together key laws, agreements, regulations and resources that support First Nations–led advocacy and education on treaty-making.
This page provides a curated, accessible gateway into the rapidly evolving landscape of treaty processes across Australia. There are Treaty event recordings, news articles, reading lists, and resources on national and international treaty making processes.
Reckoning and Reimagining
The Reckoning & Reimagining webpage brings together all post-workshop materials. The platform serves as a public archive of the landmark gathering, which convened leaders, advocates, practitioners, and community voices committed to charting a transformative path forward.
White Noise Series - events & podcasts
White Noise of settler law is the Hub's hallmark event series and podcast. It features a series of justice talks with leading Indigenous academics, legal practitioners and community as guest speakers for a look at how the while settler law of the justice system continues to affect Indigenous people.
Classroom Photo Mural Initiative
The purpose of the initiative is to acknowledge the long, complex (and important) history of lawful relations between Indigenous and Anglo-Australian laws and peoples. The Law School acknowledges that Anglo- Australian law is marked by refusal and violence, and has often been found wanting, when asked to meet with Indigenous laws. But we also want to recognise that Indigenous peoples in Australia have resisted, argued with and transformed the law we teach and learn every day in the MLS Building.
Content Warning: This gallery may contain images or names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased.
Join the Team!
Want to come and work with us? We're always looking for Indigenous scholars and anyone who feels like they would be a good fit for the Hub.
Send us an email at mls-indigenous@unimelb.edu.au to have a chat about what you can bring to the team!
We are educators who play a central role in developing our law students’ understandings of Indigenous cultures, legal systems, and experiences of settler law.
In 2019 the Council of Australian Law Deans made a Statement on Australian Law’s Systemic Discrimination and Structural Bias Against First Nations Peoples, stating that:
CALD urges all Australian law schools to work in partnership with First Nations peoples to give priority to the creation of culturally competent and culturally safe courses and programs. In so doing, CALD acknowledges the part that Australian legal education has played in supporting, either tacitly or openly, the law’s systemic discrimination and structural bias against First Nations peoples.
The Hub is seeking to transform Australian legal education so that legal practitioners are equipped with the skills and understandings to support First Nations peoples in their justice work.
Hub Electives at Melbourne Law School
The Hub offers a range of innovative elective subjects to Melbourne Law School Students.
Traveling Subjects
This subject is an experiential and ‘On-Country’ learning experience. Through on Country experience and engagement with a range of organisations and practitioners, students will consider key and emerging issues of access-to-justice that lawyers must critically engage with in their work, with particular attention to First Nations justice. Watch the 2023 Darwin Trip highlights here:
Dr Eddie Cubillo and Jaynaya Dwyer won the 2023 Teaching Excellence award for their incredible work on this subject.
Indigenous Law in Aotearoa and Australia
Taught intensively in Aotearoa- New Zealand, this subject aims to equip students with expert knowledge on current Indigenous legal issues in Aotearoa and Australia and how each settler jurisdiction’s legal institutions addressing the ongoing presence of Indigenous laws, as well as challenging students to consider how this might be better done.
2022 class staying on Marae in Rotorua, Aotearoa
Classroom Subjects
Treaty: Indigenous Settler Agreements
Over the last 10 years, the ways in which the Aboriginal Peoples and people of Victoria have been working with the state of Victoria has been directed towards establishing institutions of treaty and agreement making. This research elective is being set up in order to address how JD students might contribute to the 'treaty' and 'truth and justice' processes through undertaking directed research projects. The topics of engagement are
- The Yoorrook Justice Commission
- The First Peoples Assembly
- The Treaty Authority
- The First Peoples - State Relations (FPSR) Group, DPC, Vic Gov.
The objective of this research elective is to think carefully about how research for Indigenous institutions is conducted; to develop skills in researching to a 'brief'; and to reflect on the particular forms of knowledge production appropriate to Indigenous-centred university research. The immediate co-ordinator of this research stream will be Shaun McVeigh, in close association from the Indigenous law and justice hub and collaborators.
Law and Indigenous Peoples provides students with an introduction to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples and key legal policy areas impacting First Nations rights in Australia . We are joined by a range of experts throughout semester to consider policy areas across criminal law, statutory child protection, land rights and intellectual and cultural property.
Law and Indigenous Peoples students with Les Malezer, former chair of the Global Caucus of Indigenous Peoples negotiating the UNDRIP
Clinical Subjects
Indigenous Legal Advocacy Clinic
In this subject student get real experience supporting Indigenous organisation or campaigns by providing research support on a law or advocacy issue impacting First Nations people.
Curriculum Review
The JD Indigenous Curriculum Review was commenced through a recommendation of the 2019 Review of MLS Indigenous Programs conducted by Maureen Teehan and Shaun Ewen.
The Hub works with a Committee of academic staff to review existing compulsory curriculum and work with subject coordinators and teaching teams to develop content and teaching methods that showcase Indigenous law and knowledge.
JD Curriculum Review Case Study
Legal Method and Reasoning
A compulsory two week intensive which introduces new law students to foundational legal skills. Through the review three full days of teaching on Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander experiences of law were introduced to the subject, as well as reflective assessment relating to Indigenous experiences of law. Each year, students engage with new case study on an issue of First Nations justice lawyers can meaningfully contribute to, with an expert guest panel. In 2023, it was on the Victorian Treaty Assembly, joined by Assembly members and lawyers. This course seeks to centre First Nations experiences of law, through ongoing practice of Indigenous legal systems, right from the outset of JD studies.
For inquiries about the curriculum review contact Jaynaya Dwyer (Research Fellow at the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub).
Advocating for Legal Education Forms
The Hub advocates for changes to legal education across the profession to enhance the justice services First Nations people can access in Australia.
In 2022 Dr Cubillo, on behalf of the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub gave evidence at the Yoorrook Justice Commission, where he addressed the need to change law school curriculums and legal accreditation. We called for:
- Introduction of a mandatory subject for all law students being admitted in Australia on Indigenous history and law; a ‘Priestley 12’
- Ongoing profession development for lawyers on cultural safety and cultural capability
- Specialist accreditation for lawyers working predominately with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
You can read the full witness statement or watch the hearing on the Yoorrook Justice Commission Website. You can also read the Hub's Submission to the Yoorrook Justice Commission: Legal Education Reforms for First Nations Justice, Feb 2024.
For more information about the Hub’s agenda for Legal Education reform read our article on Indigenous Programs at Law School published in the Law Institute Journal NAIDOC special edition.
The Hub aims to produces resources that foster research and access, including videos, submissions, projects and other content.
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Videos
Indigenous Law and Justice Hub's video recordings features academics, journalists and legal practitioners discussing and engaging with significant issues faced by Indigenous people and the law.
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Treaty
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White Noise of settler law justice talks
White Noise of settler law is the Hub's hallmark event series and podcast. It features a series of justice talks with leading Indigenous academics, legal practitioners and community as guest speakers for a look at how the white settler law of the justice system continues to affect Indigenous people.
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Recommended Reading List
The Indigenous Law and Justice Hub have curated a list of recommended readings from leading academics and scholars on Indigenous legal issues, experiences and perspectives.
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ILJH Reading Group
A reading and community-building project with a through-line of ethics of solidarity - practicing accountability, responsibility and speaking up.
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Further Resources
Further sources of information and assistance on Indigenous law and justice matters.
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Professional Development
The Hub is available to run seminars, including continuing professional development (CPD) events for lawyers, on issues within our areas of experience and research interest.
The Indigenous Law and Justice Hub ('The Hub') is passionate about community-designed research which is designed to benefit Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
The Hub’s key priorities will be advanced through its research-focused and clearing-house functions, especially in the areas of justice and treaty, but also engaging broader issues of legal pluralism and Indigenous self-determination. The thematic foci will adapt to changes in Indigenous communities’ priorities and to encompass matters of current interest.
The Hub’s research skills and experience include:
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- Incarceration
- Over-representation
- Self-determination
- Deaths in custody
- Missing and murdered women and children
- Juvenile detention
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- Treaty making processes and governing law
- Design of Indigenous representative institutions
- Law and jurisdiction of Indigenous peoples
- Sovereignty and legal pluralism
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Submissions
Read the recent submission by the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub on issues affecting Indigenous people in the law.
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Naarm Law Students On Voice
In 2023 the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub partnered with Naarm Law Students on Voice, who delivered high-quality Referendum information sessions on the Voice to Parliament proposal.
MLS provides a range of opportunities, programs of study and academic and career support for Indigenous students. The Indigenous Law and Justice Hub is also does a range of education work about Indigenous legal interests which may be particularly of interest to current and future Indigenous students. You can find out more on the Hub's Teaching page.
Our Programs
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Indigenous Students and the Juris Doctor
If you already have an undergraduate degree in a discipline other than law, the Melbourne Juris Doctor (JD) equips you with the skills and knowledge to take a leading role in a range of careers including legal practice, business, government and community organisations.
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Indigenous Students and the Melbourne Law Masters
The Melbourne Law Masters (MLM) program offers masters degrees, graduate diplomas, specialist certificates and single subjects across 26 specialist legal areas to deepen knowledge and understanding in a broad or specialised area of law.
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Indigenous Students and Graduate Research Degrees
Melbourne Law School is committed to providing outstanding research training for our PhD and MPhil students.
Student support
Indigenous students are an important part of Melbourne Law School and the wider legal community. A range of student support is also available through the Indigenous Law and Justice Hub.
Supporting our Indigenous students
If you would like to collaborate with the Melbourne Law School in support of our Indigenous students please contact Catrionadh Dobson, Director of Advancement, Humanities, Arts and Social Sciences or Kim Brockett, Development Manager, Melbourne Law School and Faculty of Business and Economics.
Content warning: This website may contain images or names of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people now deceased.