Dr Fiona Allison has been working since early 2011 as a Senior Research Officer within the Justice and Social Inclusion Unit at the Cairns Institute, JCU. During this time, she has been senior researcher on and project coordinator for theIndigenous Legal Needs Project (ILNP), an Australian Research Council Linkage Project (LP 100200455). The ILNP is the first comprehensive exploration of the civil and family law needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people nationally. It examines the nature and extent of civil/family law need, Indigenous peoples’ access to civil and family law justice and the connection between unmet civil/family law need and social exclusion of and criminalisation within Indigenous communities. Fiona is now working on a national research project re-thinking how we define access to justice for First Nations people in civil law areas.

Fiona has completed a Doctorate in Law looking at race discrimination and First Nations access to justice issues. She has also taught human rights and related subjects to staff of Papua New Guinea's Department of Justice whilst at JCU and is a member of the Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group (ADLEG), academics with expertise in discrimination law. 

Fiona is a justice reinvestment (JR) practitioner. JR relies on a community development approach to reducing contact with the criminal justice system, and in First Nations communities its focus is on building self-determination. Fiona has worked with JR in Katherine NT and Cherbourg QLD, and currently works with this framework in Aboriginal communities in NSW. Fiona chairs Justice Reinvestment Network Australia, a network of people and organisations implementing and/or advocating for JR in Australia. She also works on place-based approaches in Cairns, working with the Cairns South Together .

Prior to working as a researcher Fiona practised as a lawyer with the community legal sector in NSW and the NT, and as an Aboriginal Outreach Solicitor on a number of remote communities, a generalist solicitor and family violence solicitor. She has also worked at the Australian Human Rights Commission as an investigator/conciliator, and has taught law subjects to Indigenous students at Tranby Aboriginal College, Glebe Sydney, as part of the National Indigenous Legal Advocacy (NILA) program.

Particular areas of interest include access to justice, Indigenous contact with the criminal justice system, law and policy reform, place-based and community development approaches, Indigenous social justice, discrimination and other areas of human rights law and justice reinvestment

Past projects

Fiona has researched at JCU, UNSW and UTS, and as a consultant on a number of projects with an Indigenous rights focus. To date, these have included:

• research into introduction of Indigenous bail diversion initiatives in Victoria for the Koori Unit, Department of Justice (Vic); 

• caseload comparison for Aboriginal Legal Services nationally, comparing workloads and outputs for ATSILS and other legal services; 

• an evaluation of the Remote Justices of the Peace (JPs) Program for the Department of Justice and Attorney General (Qld); 

• mapping and evaluation of Indigenous Justice Agreements for the Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department; 

• project coordination and research for the NT Council of Social Services and North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) working towards introduction of justice reinvestment in Katherine, NT

• research for the Department of Justice and Attorney General (QLD), working towards introduction of justice reinvestment in Cherbourg, QLD

• evaluation of a health justice partnership at Wuchopperen, an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander health service in Cairns

• evaluation of a social worker initiative which embeds social workers to work in partnership with lawyers at the NT Legal Aid Commission.

• access to justice project in the Barkly Region of the NT, which includes Tennant Creek and remote Aboriginal communities

• project consultant for the Department of Justice and Attorney General (QLD) for a justice reinvestment project in Cherbourg, QLD 

• project consultant for justice reinvestment project in Katherine, NT, in collaboration with Charles Darwin University

Current projects include:

• Research, collective impact project in Cairns South, seeking to improve outcomes for 0-12 year old children, with Mission Australia and Communities for Children

• Co-Lead Investigator, evaluation of an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander-based and focused health justice partnership based in Inala, Brisbane

• Data Lead and Researcher, justice reinvestment work in Moree and Mt Druitt, NSW

• Research Fellow, First Nations civil law access to justice project at UTS

• setting up digital archive for Freedom Ride surveys, surveys completed with Aboriginal people during the Freedom Ride in NSW (1965)

• assisting with establishment of racism register for First Nations peoples in Australia, at Jumbunna UTS and with the National Justice Project

 

Interests

Research

• human rights and discrimination law
• access to justice
• justice reinvestment
• community development approaches to improving justice outcomes
• place-based approaches

Fellowships

• 2019 - Research Fellow, Menzies School of Health Research

Memberships

• 2021 - Member Australian Discrimination Law Experts Group

These are the most recent publications associated with this author. To see a detailed profile of all publications stored at JCU, visit ResearchOnline@JCU. Hover over Altmetrics badges to see social impact.

Journal Articles

• Allison F (2014) A limited right to equality: evaluating the effectiveness of racial discrimination law for Indigenous Australians through an access to justice lens. Australian Indigenous Law Review, 17 (2). pp. 3-25
• Cunneen C, Allison F and Schwartz M (2014) Access to justice for Aboriginal people in the Northern Territory. Australian Journal of Social Issues, 49 (2). pp. 219-240
• Allison F, Schwartz M and Cunneen C (2013) 'That's discrimination!' Indigenous peoples' experiences of discrimination in the Northern Territory. Indigenous Law Bulletin, 8 (5). pp. 8-12
• Allison F, Cunneen C, Loban H, Luke G and Munro K (2012) Sentencing and punishment in the Indigenous Justices of the Peace Courts. Australian Indigenous Law Review, 16 (1). pp. 15-36
• Allison F and Cunneen C (2010) The role of indigenous justice agreements in improving legal and social outcomes for Indigenous people. Sydney Law Review, 32 (4). pp. 645-669

Book Chapters

• Allison F, Cunneen C and Schwartz M (2017) The civil and family law needs of Indigenous people 40 years after Sackville: findings of the Indigenous Legal Needs Project. In: Law and Poverty in Australia: 40 years after the Poverty Commission. Federation Press, Annandale, NSW, Australia, pp. 231-248

Other research outputs

• Allison F and Cunneen C (2018) Justice Reinvestment in Northern Australia. Cairns Institute Policy Papers Series. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia [Report]
• Allison F (2016) Justice reinvestment in Cairns: briefing paper for key stakeholders. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia [Report]
• Allison F (2016) Justice reinvestment in Katherine: report on initial community consultations. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia [Report]
• Cunneen C, Allison F and Schwartz M (2014) The Civil and Family Law Needs of Indigenous People in Queensland. Australian Indigenous Legal Needs Project. The Cairns Institute, James Cook UNiversity, Cairns, QLD, Australia [Report]
• Allison F, Schwartz M and Cunneen C (2014) The Civil and Family Law Needs of Indigenous People in WA. Australian Indigenous Legal Needs Project. Cairns Institute, James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia [Report]
• Schwartz M, Allison F and Cunneen C (2013) The civil and family law needs of Indigenous people in Victoria. James Cook University, Cairns, QLD, Australia [Report]

More

ResearchOnline@JCU stores 18+ research outputs authored by Dr Fiona Allison from 2008 onwards.

Current and recent Research Funding to JCU is shown by funding source and project.