Post-disaster Access to Justice

Title
Post-disaster Access to Justice
Publication Date
2021-05-19
Author(s)
Hale, Rachel
Stewart-North, Melina
Harkness, Alistair
( author )
OrcID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3910-3122
Email: alistair.harkness@une.edu.au
UNE Id une-id:aharknes
Editor
Editor(s): Alistair Harkness and Rob White
Type of document
Book Chapter
Language
en
Entity Type
Publication
Publisher
Emerald Group Publishing Limited
Place of publication
Bingley, United Kingdom
Edition
1
DOI
10.1108/978-1-80043-644-220211012
UNE publication id
une:1959.11/31450
Abstract

Disasters significantly reduce the accessibility of justice particularly in rural locations. The bushfires, which ravaged three states in the south-east of Australia in late 2019 and early 2020, have had catastrophic social and economic impacts on people, animals and places in rural areas. In the aftermath of disasters, people by necessity must inevitably avail themselves of legal advice and services: to negotiate new business contracts; re-mortgage property; access wills and testaments; attend court; and for a host of other matters. In rural communities, where access to legal services is already limited by distance and circumstance, disasters create increased demand, and access issues are accentuated. This chapter explores access to justice issues in post-disaster context and as they relate to rural, regional and remote communities. It draws upon post-disaster experiences nationally and internationally, outlining responses to improve access to legal services past and present, identifying effective responses. It argues that rurality creates additional barriers and reduces access to justice, and that disasters exacerbate existing access issues as well as creating new challenges.

Link
Citation
Crossroads of Rural Crime: Representations and Realities of Transgression in the Australian Countryside, p. 167-179
ISBN
9781800436466
9781800436442
9781800436459
Start page
167
End page
179

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