Project Phoenix - Intro and Q&A with SA Disrupting Law National Finalists
Project Phoenix Solution Summary
Project Phoenix focused on access to justice at its most vulnerable and basic level: remote Indigenous communities where access to legal help is either minimal, or at worst non-existent.
Our main focus is providing instant access to justice at the first point for these communities when they most need it. We did this by designing a platform with an interactive, regional dialect specific map of South Australia. This map contains vital legal information and support contacts for the state’s remote indigenous communities.
Our platform is specifically designed to address the main concerns of these communities, helping them to connect with traditional support services to aid each of the issues identified each community in consultation with those living in remote indigneous communities.
We’d love to know a bit about you - what are your names, and what are your ‘superpowers’?
Our team is made up of 6 unique and driven individuals, Ali Gunning, Daniel Bartlett, Elliette Kirkbride, Raquel Araya, Kayla Dickeson and Sara Emberton. If we had one superpower, it would be eating copious amounts of steamed dumplings, while brainstorming ideas that can help change the world!
Is there a famous quote that you think best describes your team?
“Our motto is a united Australia, one that respects the land and the heritage of its Indigenous peoples and provides justice and equity for all” - Jackie Huggins, Co-chair National Congress of Australia’s First Peoples.
Give us the elevator pitch - what is your pitch in one sentence?
Our team has created a solution to help ensure Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people living in regional and remote communities, have equal access to vital legal services, by helping to break down barriers hindering access to legal services.
What is the problem that your team chose to solve? How did you land on it?
For Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders living in rural and remote Australia, accessing legal services can be difficult with blockades such as geographical remoteness, language, cultural barriers and cost. As our weekends theme was ‘access to justice’, and our team has a passion for improving justice and equity to all, we chose to tackle this problem, head on.
We landed on this issue after quickly realising we were all extremely passionate about Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander interactions with the Australian legal system. From here, we homed in on a solution which aims to provide culturally appropriate advice, in real time, in native languages through an easy to use accessible platform.
Tell us about your favourite mentor during the Disrupting Law weekend. What organisation are they from, and how did they help you?
Our team is extremely grateful for all the mentors we had across the weekend. However, there were two mentors from the University of Adelaide which stood out to our team. Mark Brady, and Alex Reilly. Both mentors were extremely supportive and encouraging of our solution. Mark was key in helping us to brainstorm early on the first day and brought a high level of energy and enthusiasm to our team. While Alex was key to helping us refine our solution into a practical and accessible solution, by bringing with him his wealth of experience and knowledge.
What was a tricky question that you got during your pitch, and how did you tackle it?
A major concern our judges had was regarding the accessibility of our solution, from a geographical and infrastructure perspective. We tackled this by pre-empting any difficulties questions we thought the judges may ask and began researching and discussing as a team. Then, when we were asked tricky questions, in the pitch phase, we were able to confidently provide the judges with up-to-date statistics on population density, internet accessibility and more.
When did you finally land on your solution during the weekend. and were there other problems or solutions that you had considered?
While our team is constantly looking for ways to improve and progress our solution, the starting point of our solution was landed on mid-afternoon on day one. While this sounds late in the weekend, the time we spent in the morning of day one allowed us to thoroughly look into current access to justice problems, solutions which were already out there, and raise and consider all of our initial ideas as a team.
What tips do you have for people interested in competing in Disrupting Law this year?
We have narrowed down our top 5 tips for the teams looking to participate in the TLF DisruptingLaw 2020-21 competition.
Don’t worry about what the other teams are doing;
Listen to one another and be open to all ideas;
Utilise your mentors, they have a wealth of knowledge and experience you can draw on;
Don’t stress about the pitch! The solution should be your No. 1 focus; and
Have fun! The weekend goes so quickly, and it is worth ensuring you take the time to enjoy the overall experience.
Do you think events like Disrupting Law are important for students to get involved in, and, if so, why?
Events like Disrupting Law are important for students to build on fundamental skills such as networking, teamwork and confidence. Our team also strongly believes that being able to practice putting forward new ideas to members of the legalindustry, especially as a young professional, is an important and valuable skill we were able to take away from the weekend and is another reason students should get involved with TLF.
What is the no. 1 reason that our readers should vote for you?
Our team chose the theme ‘access to justice’. As a team, we stayed true to this theme and came up with a solution which could be instrumental in helping those disadvantaged in our community access justice across Australia. You should vote for us because our solution is practical and accessible. Our solution is scalable and can be developed to help other disadvantaged groups access justice. Our solution is client centred and has the potential to create new partnerships within the legal industry. Importantly, our solution is genuinely focused on improving the lives of others and improving access to justice.