ALRM was established in 1972, after a number of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander elders got together with the aim of developing specific legal services for Indigenous Australians, who were being poorly treated by the criminal justice system, including experiencing police brutality.
[4] On 1 July 2020, the Attorney-General of South Australia, Vickie Chapman, announced that the state government would implement a formal Custody Notification Service (CNS), after Aboriginal Affairs Labor spokesperson Kyam Maher had written to Premier Steven Marshall in June saying that he would introduce a Bill to parliament to legally mandate the service.
Mandating the measure would also mean that if an officer refuses or fails to comply, they "may be subject to disciplinary proceedings"[6] under the Police Complaints and Discipline Act 2016.
The 2020 Black Lives Matter movement in the US once again cast light on Aboriginal deaths in custody, an issue pursued by ALRM.
[3] As of May 2022[update], ALRM was receiving around A$33 million over five years from NLAP funding, of which around 80 per cent was used to pay 30 lawyers employed across the state.
[14] As of January 2021[update] there were 60 staff members employed across ALRM, and its network of regional offices enable it to support people living in the remote APY Lands as well as elsewhere in South Australia.