The NSW Government has missed a significant opportunity to take practical action to end Aboriginal deaths in custody, following its rejection of a number of positive initiatives proposed by the Select Committee Inquiry into the High Level of First Nations People in Custody and Oversight and Review of Deaths.
Over 100 prominent members of the legal, academic and political profession have endorsed an open letter sent to the NSW Premier, calling on the NSW Government to revoke wrongly issued COVID-19 fines.
To stop the spread of COVID-19 across Greater Sydney and New South Wales we need clear, culturally appropriate communication, strong economic, health and social supports, and community relationships based on trust. By contrast, government rhetoric casts our efforts as a ‘war’ with an ever-increasing reliance on compliance and control measures by NSW Police and the Australian Defence Force. This approach risks alienating marginalised communities and cultivates fear and mistrust.
A new $200,000 scholarship will enable Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander university students to gain valuable work experience in community legal centres across New South Wales.
Today’s budget delivers a disappointing outlook for the future of access to justice in New South Wales and is a missed opportunity to address rising inequality and disadvantage.
On the 30th Anniversary of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody (RCIADIC), Community Legal Centres NSW stands in solidarity with the families of Aboriginal people who have died in custody. We support First Nations peoples’ repeated demands for systemic change.
Our thoughts go out to the individuals, families and communities impacted by the devastating floods that have destroyed and damaged a staggering number of homes, infrastructure, animals and properties across the state in 2021. Community legal centres on the group are here for you, to help with issues such as insurance, tenancy, debt, lost documents, and more.
Despite strong and widespread opposition from victim-survivors and their advocates at the time, the Commissioner Victims Rights implemented substantial changes which have negatively impacted on victim-survivors’ ability to access the support they need through the scheme.
The coronial inquest into the deaths of Jack and Jennifer Edwards at the hands of their father has highlighted systemic failings on the part of police in responding to domestic violence in NSW.
Community Legal Centres NSW supports the right of people to protest, and we particularly support the right of all people to protest the continuing injustice being experienced by Aboriginal people in NSW and nationally. The family of the late David Dungay Jr should be entitled and supported to publicly seek justice, and many, many others will want to support them. We stand in solidarity with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
Initial response from Community Legal Centres NSW, peak organisation for 37 NSW-based community legal centres, to the release of funding agreements from 2019-2022 for NSW Government funding for the Community Legal Service Program:
In warmly welcoming the continuation of Mark Speakman as Attorney General of NSW, peak community law organisation Community Legal Centres NSW has outlined three key areas of reform for the new government to ensure that more people in NSW have access to justice.
“The community law sector welcomes the opportunity to continue working with Attorney General Mark Speakman. A new four year term for the Liberal/National Coalition government presents a fresh opportunity for reforms which benefit people and communities, while taking pressure off the justice system and other public services,” Community Legal Centres NSW Chairperson Katrina Ironside said.
Improving access to justice for victim-survivors of sexual assault and eradicating discriminatory structural power imbalances that allow offenders to commit sexual assault with no repercussions are at the heart of twelve important recommendations made by Community Legal Centres NSW to the current NSW Law Reform Commission inquiry into consent in relation to sexual offences.
Community Legal Centres NSW coordinates cohesive advocacy, communications, policy and law reform strategies on a number of law reform priorities on behalf of the sector.