Media releases
MEDIA RELEASE: Remote Aboriginal community wins legal right for safe drinking water for all NT tenants
October 02, 2023In an important victory for renters and remote Indigenous communities, the NT Supreme Court today ruled that the public housing landlord is legally required to supply safe drinking water to its tenants.
MEDIA RELEASE: Rex Patrick launches appeal in long-standing legal fight over excessive FOI delays
September 22, 2023Former senator and now transparency advocate Rex Patrick has filed an appeal challenging the Federal Court's May 2023 determination that multi-year delays by the Information Commissioner in processing Freedom of Information (FOI) reviews were...
VOICE STATEMENT: Why we’re Writing Yes
September 14, 2023First Nations people have cared for Country and communities for millennia. They have done so in the face of colonisation, violence and neglect at the hands of generations of Australian policymakers. From massacres and...
MEDIA RELEASE: Queensland Government admits to unlawful detention of children in police watch houses
August 04, 2023In a dramatic turn of events, the QLD Government’s Department of Youth Justice has admitted to the Supreme Court of Queensland that it has been detaining children on an unlawful basis in police watch...
MEDIA RELEASE: Evidence of climate harms given on-Country by those on the frontline of climate disaster at landmark hearings for climate case
June 05, 2023Hearings for the potentially groundbreaking Australian Climate Case will take place On Country in the Torres Strait (Zenadth Kes), 5-19 June. Guda Maluyligal plaintiffs Uncle Pabai Pabai and Uncle Paul Kabai from the islands...
MURA KALMEL SIPA STATEMENT: Former President of Kiribati stands with Torres Strait in fight for climate action
April 24, 2023Former President of Kiribati, Anote Tong, has been visiting communities in the Torres Strait to stand alongside Uncle Paul Kabai on Saibai island and Uncle Pabai Pabai on Boigu island as they bring the...
MEDIA RELEASE: Major loophole in ministerial reshuffles to be challenged in Federal Court
March 29, 2023Rex Patrick tackles the Information Commissioner’s decision that former Attorney General Christian Porter’s documents are no longer “official Ministerial documents”.
MEDIA RELEASE: Broken FOI system in Federal Court as transparency warrior Rex Patrick, tackles delays
March 20, 2023On Monday 20 March from 10.15am, the Federal Court in Melbourne will hear a long-awaited challenge to the lengthy delays that plague freedom of information (FOI) requests being reviewed by the Australian Information Commissioner....
MEDIA RELEASE: High Court fight for safe housing in remote First Nations communities has far-reaching implications for renters nationwide
March 16, 2023On Thursday 16 March from 9.45am, the High Court of Australia will consider whether compensation is available for distress or disappointment suffered by First Nations people living in dilapidated housing in remote communities. It...
MEDIA ALERT: Torres Strait communities outline fears for their future in lay evidence submissions to landmark climate case
February 17, 2023The 'Australian Climate Case' progresses to the next step today with community members revealing how climate change has impacted lives in the Torres Strait.
MEDIA RELEASE: Tribunal uphold secrecy around key Robodebt documents
December 05, 2022Key documents behind the former Government’s decision to set up the failed Robodebt scheme will not be released, following a decision in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
MEDIA RELEASE: Top lawyers join forces to warn governments: act on climate or face the courts
September 28, 2022Lawyers from over twenty organisations say countries must ramp up their climate action or face accountability in courts. Their open letter comes as the UN climate chief warns current plans are "nowhere near” what...
MEDIA RELEASE: High Court agrees to hear First Nations renters’ case for compensation from NT Government for dilapidated housing
September 16, 2022The High Court will decide whether compensation is available for distress or disappointment suffered by First Nations people living in remote dilapidated housing, in a case that could have ramifications for all Australian renters....
MEDIA RELEASE: Controversial Remote Rent Framework could be knocked out in Supreme Court challenge today
September 05, 2022Three renters from Gunbalanya and one from Laramba will attempt to overturn the NT Government’s new Remote Rent Framework in a judicial review challenge at the NT Supreme Court today.
MEDIA RELEASE: Pursue justice and risk the family home? New research finds Australian courts are the domain of the wealthy
August 30, 2022First Nations people, people with disability and victim-survivors of sexual harassment are among those being increasingly priced out of Australian courts, legal advocates have warned. A new report by Grata Fund, The Impossible Choice:...
MEDIA RELEASE: $70 million in remote rental debt wiped in the wake of powerful litigation led by Aboriginal people from remote Laramba and Santa Teresa
August 09, 2022Another dramatic revelation in the remote housing litigation has seen $69.7 million in alleged rental debts in remote Northern Territory communities quietly written off by the Treasurer.
MEDIA RELEASE: Fight for decent homes continues as Santa Teresa community appeals housing case to High Court
March 07, 2022In a case that could affect all tenants in Australia, residents of Ltyentye Apurte (Santa Teresa), an Eastern Arrernte community about 85km south of Alice Springs, have applied to take their fight for decent...
MEDIA RELEASE: Northern Territory’s highest court confirms right to decent housing for First Nations people living in remote communities
February 04, 2022In an important victory for remote communities, the Northern Territory’s Court of Appeal this morning confirmed that the NT government must provide decent housing, and rejected the NT government’s third attempt to water down...
MEDIA RELEASE: Landmark class action lawsuit sees frontline communities sue Australian Government for climate crisis
October 26, 2021First Nations leaders from the remote islands of Boigu and Saibai in Guda Maluyligal in the Torres Strait (Zenadth Kes) are taking the Australian Federal Government to court in a bid to prevent the...
MEDIA RELEASE: Federal Government brings Bill to hide documents about ‘National Cabinet’s’ Covid-19 response and more
September 02, 2021Responding to the Federal Government’s tabling of legislation designed to exclude National Cabinet from Freedom of Information Act requests, Isabelle Reinecke, Executive Director of Grata Fund, said: