About the RAP Program

The RAP Program is a 12-18 month program, running from May 2025.

Each program cycle we recruit between 15 to 20 early-career lawyers and law students, activists and emerging advocacy leaders and provide them with intensive training and capacity building to equip them with the skills, knowledge and tools to undertake strategic advocacy and law reform. Each program advocate is placed in one of three teams. Each team is focused on a particular area of law or rights issue. Working in these teams, program advocates will have the opportunity to tackle social justice issues they are passionate about, under the supervision and guidance of two experienced human rights thinkers and leaders.

What will you learn?

Our program offers an introduction to all aspects of social change - from strategic advocacy to political and stakeholder engagement, campaigning, messaging and media strategy. Over 12-18 months, as part of the program, program advocates will have the opportunity to develop, research and deliver a law reform campaign. The project provides program advocates with the opportunity to be part of strategic law reform and impact-driven advocacy. 

Our program encourages program advocates to:

• clearly identify the problem and the proposed solution;

• ensure their project idea is unique, and adds value;

• think strategically about how they might achieve change on their chosen social justice issue; 

• develop key messages about the problem they want to solve;

• think creatively about how to communicate those messages to a particular target audience, through a variety of platforms; and

• ensure that they are inclusive of people with lived experience and affected communities of the issues they work on.

In the past, our program advocates have:

• Advocated for reform to Victoria Police’s stop and search powers.

• Called for reform to Victoria Police’s use of body-worn cameras to improve police accountability.

• Lobbied for menstrual leave in the workplace.

• Campaigned for the Australian government to implement a system for bridging visa applications which is fair and transparent to people seeking asylum.

• Been part of the campaign that successfully saw the Victorian Parliament vote to establish a spent convictions scheme.

• Advocated for fairer bail laws in Victoria which see a disproportionate amount of women and Indigenous people kept in remand unnecessarily.

• Lobbied State and Territory governments to reform the unpredictable, disparate and often conflicting access to essential services for refugees and people seeking asylum living in Australia.

• Presented at conferences in Tasmania and Queensland about the problems with prosecutorial discretion in Victoria's diversion scheme.

• Called on the Victorian Mental Health Minister to make mixed mental health wards safer for women and non-binary folk.

• Sought to curtail the Immigration Minister's broad, discretionary God-like powers.

• Developed a website which allowed commuters to understand their rights when faced with $75 on-the-spot fines, which resulted in on the spot fines being abolished.

Read more about our work on First Nations justice, criminal justice reform, refugee rights and equality and government accountability.

Through our program, we also hope to build a community that will extend beyond the project, a community that continues to reimagine legal practice and our role as lawyers and activists and uses the law as a tool for social change.

What is the program structure?

The program runs for 12-18 months from May 2025.

We are recruiting program advocates for three project teams. The project topics are listed below.

Each team will comprise four to six volunteers, two supervisors and a project coordinator from the RAP Steering Committee. The teams are largely self-directed and program advocates are responsible for producing their project work.

Supervisors will provide guidance, direction and advice in the development of the project, and will review and provide feedback on project work. A project coordinator from the RAP Steering Committee acts as the key contact point and team support throughout the program. Liberty Victoria is also involved in providing regular feedback and signing off on projects.

2025 projects

The 2025 teams will be allocated to one of the three projects. During the application process, you will be able to select your preferred project. The topics are a starting point and the teams are encouraged to work with their project coordinators and supervisors to shape the final product.

1. Occupied Territories Bill project: Ireland is currently considering an Occupied Territories Bill that bans trade between Ireland and Israel's illegal settlements in the West Bank, making the import of goods or services originating from these lands a criminal offence. Renewed enthusiasm for the bill occured recently following the ICJ's Advisory Opinion from July 2024 which deemed Israeli settlements on Occupied Palestinian land illegal and stated all countries were obliged not to trade with them. This project will consider if a similar Bill could be replicated in Australia to ensure compliance with international legal obligations. 

2. Policing of protest project: We have seen a dramatic increase in the militarisation of policing of protest in recent times, for example, the policing of the Land Forces conference in September 2024. This project will examine the human rights issue of police at protests, as well as look into government spending on the policing of protest.

3. Keeping people out of prison - Government report card: What do you want for yourself or the people in your community (family, friends) who experience criminalisation? Every year, the Victorian Government spends huge amounts of tax payers’ money on policing and prisons. But how much is spent on vital community interventions to prevent people from entering the criminal legal system and prison in the first place? And what happens to people who do enter the criminal legal system when they're released from prison? What supports does the Victorian Government provide to break cycles of violence and enable rehabilitation? Prisons don't keep us safer. Investing in people and communities does. This project is about the harms that your taxpayer dollars directly fund through Victoria's carceral system. It is also about how much is spent on vital community interventions. Finally and more importantly, this project tells stories of strength and resilience and asks us to imagine alternatives to prisons - why care is better, what investing in people and communities looks like, and success stories.

Who is the program for?

Any law students, early career lawyers, activists, policy and emerging advocacy leaders interested in learning how to use law to create social change.

We are looking for people who are committed to social justice, are enthusiastic, are motivated, enjoy group work, have a demonstrated ability to engage in analysis of law or policy, can respond quickly to changes in the political and media landscape and can think strategically and creatively about law reform.

Some legal knowledge or experience is essential.

Experience in human rights advocacy, writing law reform submissions, managing events, producing publications, running social media campaigns or making educational videos is desirable, but not essential. 

We strongly encourage applications from people who identify as First Nations, Black or a Person of Colour, members of the LGBTIQA+ community, persons with disabilities, people from low income backgrounds and people who have lived experience of the criminal justice system. This space is for you. We value lived experience and strongly believe communities impacted by the laws and policies we seek to change must be centred in the work we do.

If you meet most but not all of the selection criteria, we encourage you to apply.

What is the time commitment of the program?

The RAP Program is an intensive training and skills building program.

The week-to-week time commitment can vary over the program. We expect that program advocates will spend on average 5 hours per week on their project. The project is designed for program advocates to work on their project in their own time.  In the first few months of the program, where teams are developing their project, it can be particularly intense. The final months of the program can also be intense as teams gear towards launching their law reform campaign. The program is designed to be self-directed, and requires program advocates who are self-motivated and work well in teams. We encourage teams to finalise their projects within 18 months, however projects may extend beyond this time. 

We expect teams to meet at least monthly throughout the program.

We expect teams to provide three reports to the Steering Committee on their progress: a proposal for their project at project update night, a halfway progress report, and a final report. 

There are two full-day workshops throughout the program. This training is compulsory.

Currently, full day training workshops will be held in person.

Key dates for the 2025 program

1 March 2025 - Applications open

1 April 2025 - Applications close

9 - 13 April 2025 - Interviews conducted (interviews will be held remotely)

10 May 2025 - First full-day workshop

May 2025 - July 2025 - Project scoping phase

August 2025 - February 2026 - Research and Writing phase

15 November 2025 - Second full-day workshop

March 2026 - April 2025 - Campaign development phase

April 2026 - May 2026 - Campaign and project launch phase

June 2026 - Team end of program celebration

What does the program cost?

The program is free. 

Who are the organisers?

Our program is facilitated by a dedicated Steering Committee. The Steering Committee is in charge of recruitment, liaising with Liberty Victoria, monitoring team progress, and assisting with projects as needed. Meet our Steering Committee.

Workshops and training sessions are taught by human rights leaders and thinkers with diverse expertise and skill sets in strategic advocacy and law reform.

How to apply?

Applications will open 1 March 2025 and will close 1 April 2025.

We will conduct 10-15 minute phone or video interviews with shortlisted candidates in April 2025. Successful applicants will be notified by in April.

Do you want to know more?

Send us an email at rap@libertyvictoria.org.au with your questions.

I missed out on being selected for the RAP Program. What can I do?