2024-25 Chairperson and CEO report

In 2024–25 Inner Melbourne Community Legal has again placed people at the centre of everything we do, standing beside those most impacted by systemic injustice, and leading work that changes the systems that cause harm.

Across every practice area, from policing to social housing and family violence, our staff provided specialist, wrap-around legal help while building the partnerships, research, and advocacy that create structural change.

Behind each of our service numbers is a person whose life was improved because our staff took the time to deeply connect with them — someone who was heard, supported, and given the chance to move forward with dignity.

CONNECTING WITH CLIENTS WHERE THEY ARE TO CREATE INDIVIDUAL CHANGE

Our integrated and outreach programs within health, education and housing settings remain the cornerstone of our effectiveness. These partnerships ensure that people facing trauma, illness, or crisis can access legal support early and safely.

Each day, members of our team are out in the community, sitting in dedicated offices at schools, seeing patients in three hospitals in the Parkville healthcare precinct, or working within major homelessness services alongside housing and social workers. At Djerring in Flemington, a hub for local services and public housing residents, we are a consistent presence.

Our staff also operate on-call services, answering phone consultations from teachers, health care workers, or case workers seeking timely and immediate, procedural advice for the people they support. This slow, relational work builds trust over time; trust that enables people to share their stories and for us to uncover the legal issues behind them.

TACKLING THE CRISES OF OUR TIMES TO DELIVER JUSTICE AND INSIGHTS

In 2024–25, IMCL confronted the most pressing social challenges facing our community: the housing crisis, family violence, policing and mental health harms. This was achieved through a dual approach of individual representation and systemic advocacy.

Every case we took on provided not only an outcome for a client but evidence for reform. Whether standing beside residents in public housing towers, supporting women experiencing family breakdown and/or violence, or advocating for oversight of police powers, IMCL turned front-line experience into policy influence, building a fairer, more accountable system for everyone.

DRIVING SYSTEM CHANGE THROUGH COURAGE AND COLLABORATION

IMCL has become recognised statewide for our ability to take on complex legal matters and for translating what we learn from individual casework into systemic reform. Throughout the year, through strategic litigation, submissions, participation in over 30 working groups and meetings with decisionmakers, IMCL’s advocacy shaped state policy and law reform agendas.  

Our landmark class action on behalf of public housing residents, challenging the Victorian Government’s plan to demolish 44 high rise estates, and participation in related parliamentary inquiries reflects this approach. It is an example of how our integrated practice connects the lived experience of residents with legal advocacy, parliamentary submissions, and direct community engagement.

Through the new Social Housing Legal Program (a partnership with West Heidelberg Community Legal Service) we are addressing the growing legal gap faced by renters in community housing, where protections are often weaker and oversight limited.

These efforts form part of a broader strategy: ensuring that safe, secure, and affordable housing remains recognised as a human right, not a privilege.

At the same time, our Police Accountability Project continues to lead nationally significant work. In February 2025, the Supreme Court heard our class action against Victoria Police’s use of capsicum spray on protesters, while our advocacy for a Police Ombudsman has driven debate about independent oversight. Through partnerships with community legal centres, academics, and survivor advocates, we are helping to expose and prevent harm in the policing and complaints systems.

We are also proud of our involvement in the Beyond Survival Project, a survivor-led partnership with Flat Out Inc. that provides legal and holistic support to women experiencing police-perpetrated or dutyfailure family violence. This project is an example of how legal work can heal as well as protect amplifying survivors’ voices to create lasting reform.

GOVERNANCE, GROWTH AND SUSTAINABILITY

The 2024–25 year has been one of stabilisation and renewal. Following several years of rapid growth after the 2022 merger, IMCL has focused on consolidating governance, risk, and workforce systems to support a sustainable future.

We have modernised financial controls and HR frameworks, commenced a whole-of-organisation risk management program, and continued to strengthen board governance through review of our constitution and policy suite.

With a total income of $4.27 million, our funding remains a mix of core government sources and competitive project grants. We are mindful of the volatility this creates and are working with funders and partners to secure multi-year commitments for our proven models of integrated practice.

OUR PEOPLE  

Our achievements reflect the professionalism and courage of our staff, volunteers, and partners.  

We thank all our partners across the health, housing, education, and justice sectors, and our funders and pro bono supporters, whose trust and collaboration make this work possible. We also thank our Board for their stewardship and strategic guidance.

LOOKING AHEAD

In the year ahead, IMCL will continue to strengthen its role as a leading voice for justice and equity. We will progress our appeals in the public housing class action, seek to expand our youth and mental health outreach, and deepen our partnerships that connect people to justice in the places they already continue to show that deeply relational integrated legal help not only changes individual lives but reforms the systems that shape them.

— DANIEL SCOULLAR, CHAIR
— NADIA MORALES, CHIEF EXECUTIVE OFFICER

Download and read our 2024-25 annual report here →

Inner Melbourne Community Legal acknowledges the traditional owners of the land on which we work, the Boon wurrung and Wurundjeri peoples of the Kulin nation. We recognise that sovereignty was never ceded and pay our respects to their cultures and Elders past and present. This always was and always will be Aboriginal Land.

Everyone is welcome at Inner Melbourne Community Legal, regardless of race, religion, gender or sexuality.