Drawing on the evidence of many hundreds of submissions the Commission concluded that when women seek access to justice they were often seeking protection from violence and that freedom from violence cannot be separated from women's equality and their access to justice. The report recommended a national women's justice program to coordinate improvements to women's access to the legal system and to ensure that the legal system responded to Australian women in an appropriate and adequate way. Part I of the final report elaborated upon issues discussed in the interim report including the legal system's response to violence, legal aid, court support schemes, interpreter in legal processes and child care at courts. Specific recommendations were made about all these issues. Equality before the law is more than merely formal equality or equal treatment.
Equality also demands a legal system in which women's needs and experience are understood.
The law should not work in a vacuum. It must take account of the social, economic and political environment in which women live for true equality before the law to exist. Solutions to women's inequality require not only changes to specific laws and practices but also review of the whole of the law and the legal system and, where necessary, reform. The Commission therefore recommended a balanced package to enshrine equality as a fundamental principle and basis for further Australian social, economic and political developments. Canadian and American experience was drawn upon in making recommendations.