Media

Flat Out works with women, trans and gender diverse people who have experienced criminalisation, incarceration, homelessness, family violence, mental health, and alcohol and other drug use. As well as providing individual support and advocacy, we seek to inform the wider community about the harms that occur for women, and trans and gender diverse people in the criminal legal system.

Media Enquiries

Karen Fletcher
karen@flatout.org.au

Media Releases

17 March 2025
Read online

13 May 2024
Download PDF

16 August 2023 Download PDF

12 August 2022 Download PDF

Trumpian new bail laws pose an unacceptable risk to community safety.

Too many incarcerated parents can’t afford to speak to their families this Mother’s Day.

Centre for Excellence in Child and Family Welfare, Centre for Innovative Justice, Federation of Community Legal Centres, Flat Out, Human Rights Law Centre, Justice Reform Initiative, Law and Advocacy Centre for Women, Smart Justice for Women, The Torch, Vacro, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, WIRE, and Yung Prodigy. Read the joint letter to the Victorian Treasurer, Minister for Corrections and Minister for Children.

Proposed bail reforms are too small and too slow to fix the “unmitigated disaster” for women in Victorian prisons.

Joint statement from LGBTQI+ rights advocates and allies on the treatment of transgender women in the Victorian prison system.

Flat Out, Transgender Victoria, Zoe Belle Gender Collective and Fitzroy Legal Service

Flat Out and abolition in the media

2026

2025

  • 7 August 2025 – Hayley Gleeson, ABC News

    An in-depth article on the findings of Harm in the Name of Safety, citing report authors Lauren Caulfield, Beyond Survival Project Coordinator, and other leading voices in the family violence sector.

  • 7 August 2025 – SBS News

    Article on the release of Harm in the Name of Safety, citing report authors Lauren Caulfield, Beyond Survival Project Coordinator, and Dr Peta Malins, senior lecturer in criminology and justice studies at RMIT.

  • 7 August 2025 – Rachel Ward, The Examiner

    Article on the release of Harm in the Name of Safety, citing Lauren Caulfield, Beyond Survival Project Coordinator.

  • 7 August 2025 – Brianna Boecker, Women’s Agenda

    Article on the release of Harm in the Name of Safety, citing Lauren Caulfield, Beyond Survival Project Coordinator.

  • 7 August 2025 – Nic Healy, Victorian Statewide Mornings, ABC Radio

    Interview with Lauren Caulfield, Beyond Survival Project Coordinator (approx 4 min into the recording)

  • 30 July 2025 – Jarred Cross, National Indigenous Times

    Coverage of a rally organised by the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and Flat Out protesting the second tranche of regressive bail laws.

  • 18 March 2025 – Leanne Wong, ABC

    Flat Out EO Karen Fletcher cited.

2024

2023

2022

  • 22 November 2022 – Nino Bucci, The Guardian

    Beyond Survival project coordinator Lauren Caulfield quoted.

  • 1 November 2022 – Zoe Askew, The Gippsland Times

    Article on the failures by the Independent Broad-based Anti-corruption Commission in handling family violence complaints about police, featuring comment from Flat Out.

  • 15 September 2022 – Acting Up, 3CR Community Radio

    A panel conversation on the relations between sovereignty and dwelling struggle. Themes include incarceration, displacement, policing and race, making explicit connections between those intersections of dwelling and sovereignty. Featuring Natalie Ironfield, Debbie Kilroy, Roj Amedi, Idil Ali & Witt Gorrie.

  • 01 August 2022 – Queering the Air, 3CR Community Radio

    Reflecting on housing justice with the 2016 Bendigo Street protests with Shillan Shebly, an Iranian Kurdish troublemaker and filmmaker who has produced the short film Bendigo Street.

  • 11 June 2022 – Solidarity Breakfast, 3CR Community Radio

    Interview with Karen Fletcher from Flat Out and Alison Thorne from Indigenous Social Justice Victoria.

  • 25 April 2022 – Women on the Line, 3CR Community Radio

    Discussion with Yuin woman Vickie Roach, Jill Prior from the Law and Advocacy Centre for Women, Sara from the Homes Not Prisons Steering Committee, and Karen Fletcher from Flat Out.

  • 23 February 2022 – City Limits, 3CR Community Radio

    A panel discussion on organising through and beyond the pandemic, for community solidarity and housing justice. Featuring Eirene Tsolidis Noyce (General Secretary, RAHU), Ness Gavanzo (Interim Coordinator, SNIS), and Sara Stilianos (Steering Group member, Homes not Prisons).

  • 09 February 2022 – Wednesday Breakfast, 3CR Community Radio

    Interview with Homes not Prisons representatives Minna Peden and Sarah Stelianos, about their plea for government spending on public housing not prisons.

2021