Dear supporters, There are only three days left of our fundraiser. We have $6500 to go to reach our target. https://chuffed.org/project/chip-in-to-keep-dutton-in-court-season4justice It can be difficult to explain the ripple effect of a win in court, but because we run cases of strategic importance, our victories go well beyond our client. The law is not always transparent and it isn’t always clear to all of our supporters what legal principles we have established when a judgment runs to 70 000 words. So I want to take you back to a case from 2016, of our client, a refugee identified as S99. She was raped on Nauru whilst having a seizure. After discovering that she was pregnant, she sought to procure an abortion. The government refused to let her come to Australia for medical treatment, despite her complex medical needs. We took the government to court to demand that the Minister comply with his duty of care to a woman. We asked the court for an injunction to demand that the Minster stop harming her and to secure vital care for her. During the trial, our government rejected virtually every argument we put forward. For example, they argued that the courts were not empowered to issue injunctions about these kinds of decisions under the Migration Act. They accepted that government officials might do the wrong thing and then be sued for damages – money. But they specifically wanted to establish that the courts could never force the government or the minster to take action to care for refugees. We argued that this was unacceptable. The judge agreed with us. Justice Bromberg wrote: “Suppose it was clear that the Minister’s gross negligence would very shortly cause the death of hundreds of detainees. Could it really be that the legislature intended that no injunction could issue preventing the negligence and that the detainees’ descendants would have to wait for the detainees’ death and then seek damages?” That was the government’s position. That’s what they argued, and that is what was at stake. Thankfully that argument did not succeed. Because of that win we are able to have critically ill men women and children moved off Nauru and PNG. Over the last few months we have been quietly getting urgent care for individuals. It is easy for people without legal training to miss the significance of these kinds of decisions. But this is what we fight for everyday at NJP. We have three days left of our fundraiser, and are so close to meeting our target. Please donate us, so we can continue the good fight. https://chuffed.org/project/chip-in-to-keep-dutton-in-court-season4justice Warm regards, George Newhouse Principal Solicitor National Justice Project