Don’t Settle For Less: The Settlement Justice Partnership and Fairer Outcomes for Refugees in Melbourne’s West

Tess Matthews, WEstjustice

Tess Matthews (WEstjustice), Charlene Edwards (Melbourne Social Equity Institute) and Rachna Madaan-Bowman (South East Community Links and a 2023 Community Fellow) at the Don't Settle for Less report launch at Wayaperri House in Werribee, July 2023.

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Tess Matthews, Program Manager for the Economic Justice Program at WEstjustice, joined the Community Fellows Program in 2018. WEstjustice provides free legal help to people in the Western suburbs of Melbourne and Tess's fellowship sought to explore ways to make consumer law clearer and fairer for new migrants living in Australia.

After taking some breaks from the program due to other commitments, not to mention a global pandemic, Tess recently co-authored a report as part of her fellowship, Don’t Settle for Less: The Settlement Justice Partnership and Fairer Outcomes for Refugees in Melbourne’s West.

The Don't Settle for Less report, co-written with Joseph Nunweek, is based on the pilot phase of Westjustice’s Settlement Justice Partnership. The initiative placed community lawyers in settlement support agencies in Melbourne's West where they saw and helped clients alongside community and settlement workers in a known and trusted environment.

Clients were assisted with fines, tenancy, consumer, traffic, family violence and employment law matters in a way that aimed to enhance their agency and future confidence in navigating Australian legal systems.

“Seeing the legal service changed me a lot, I learned a lot about rules and law. I think I have lot more confidence because when you understand the law, then you have a lot more confidence about what you can do.” – Client Feedback

During her fellowship Tess was mentored by Professor Jeannie Patterson, a Professor of Law and Co-Director of the Centre for AI and Digital Ethics (CAIDE).

Tess tells us  "The Melbourne Social Equity Institute fellowship gave me the breadth in my ordinary workload to focus deeply on this research project. Over the fellowship period, Professor Jeannie Patterson mentored and guided me in developing the structure and parameters of the Don’t Settle For Less report, as well as in evaluating the impacts of existing consumer law on WEstjustice clients. The support of the Melbourne Social Equity Institute and Professor Patterson, and their enthusiasm for my work, buoyed me from the report’s earliest drafts through to its completion.”

Download the Don't Settle for Less Report (PDF)

The Settlement Justice Project and the associated report were made possible by the support of the Victorian State Government, the Federation of Community Legal Centres, and the Melbourne Social Equity Institute.