PIAC Chief Executive Edward Santow (pictured) addressed members of the legal profession in Sydney this week, using the opportunity to talk about solutions to systemic injustice.
‘PIAC works for a range of disadvantaged groups, including Indigenous people, those experiencing homelessness, children in detention, people who suffer discrimination, and those who can’t access basic services.
‘Our challenge is to see what others sometimes miss.
‘We must see how our legal system – which is generally open and fair – can bear harshly on vulnerable people.
‘We must see where the problem of an individual client is rooted in a broader injustice.
‘We must also see solutions so that a person with a disability can catch a bus like anyone else; so that a person with mental illness is not repeatedly fined for failing to buy a train ticket; so that a child is not imprisoned unlawfully.
‘PIAC also conducts litigation. What’s special about the cases we run is that they are designed to benefit not just the individual client but others who face the same problem.’
An edited video clip of Mr Santow’s speech can be viewed on the PIAC YouTube channel.
Photo: Scott Parker