Media release: Adequate legal assistance funding is vital to improving health and wellbeing outcomes
Health Justice Australia has welcomed last week’s announcement that the Australian Government will provide $3.9 billion in funding to the legal assistance sector through the new National Access to Justice Partnership. While this announcement is an encouraging first step in addressing the chronic underfunding of the sector, there is still much to do to ensure the sustainability of legal assistance services so they can continue to support the health and wellbeing of individuals and families.
In today’s Sydney Morning Herald, Tessa Boyd-Caine points out the disutility and social cost of taking an individual lens to the public health outcomes of structural environments and policy decisions.
With Covid-19 infection rates climbing steadily higher and spreading across Sydney from the Eastern suburbs, Tessa Boyd-Caine questions the public health value of the overnight deployment of a highly visible police presence in South-West Sydney. This piece was first published on Croakey Health Media (Friday 9 July, 2021)
In Croakey, Tessa Boyd-Caine points out the unequal distribution of policing and the importance of clear public health messages backed up by culturally appropriate services.
In the latest Croakey Longread, Tessa Boyd-Caine calls for greater collaboration between health and legal services to respond to the new problems that have arisen for disadvantaged people from recent crises.
Tessa Boyd-Caine spoke to Pro Bono News about our latest report, Collaboration through the Covid19 crisis.