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.
Drug reform has emerged as one of the most vital, yet contentious, policy areas of our time. In this edition of The Law Reform Bulletin, we peel back the sensationalist headlines and listen to the diverse perspectives of experts in community law, restorative justice and harm-reduction. What emerges is an overwhelming view that while law enforcement is the government's primary response to drug use, we need to be pursuing evidence-based policies like decriminalisation. The health and safety of our communities depend on a future where holistic, caring and healing approaches to drug use are the norm.
Fair Treatment is a public advocacy campaign led by Uniting NSW-ACT for the better resourcing of evidence-based harm reduction strategies, and the decriminalisation (removal of court processing and criminal penalties including jail terms) of personal use of small quantities of currently illicit drugs. In this article, Stafford Sanders proposes that we need to rethink our approach to drug policy and learn from worldwide best practice, such as the Portugal model of decriminalisation.
In the last 12 years, there has been an almost twentyfold increase in strip searches in New South Wales. This harmful proactive policing practice is disproportionately targeting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and young people, particularly in lower socio-economic areas and regional towns. In this article, Sam Lee advocates for strip search laws to be amended alongside other proposed changes to minor drug possession laws.
In this article, Rhys Evans looks back to the harm-reduction practices developed during the HIV epidemic which continue to save many lives, and how these programs might inform a pathway for evidence-based drug policy.
In this article, Stuart Munckton shares how people with lived experience of drug use in NSW are paving the way in developing and implementing effective harm reduction measures. When it comes to user's rights, ending the criminalisation of drug use would be the single biggest measure to reduce the harms associated with drug use.
Living in remote, regional and rural areas can often mean being geographically isolated from vital drug support services. In this article, Patrick O'Callaghan shares how things are changing in Dubbo, and where's next for localised drug support and reform.
In this article, Thea Deakin-Greenwood reflects on the links between substance use and complex trauma. Rather than continuing to punish drug use through criminalisation, which can exacerbate the ongoing impacts of trauma on peoples’ lives, restorative justice approaches can respond to harm and trauma through care.
Community Legal Centres NSW coordinates training days to assist staff of our member centres to access professional development. Legal training days are designed to assist legal staff access refresher training on specialist areas of law and/or access free legal training that may be eligible for Continuing Professional Development (CPD).*
At the start of 2021, we find ourselves in the middle of another harmful public debate about the rights of trans and gender diverse children simply to be themselves. The NSW One Nation Education Legislation Amendment (Parental Rights) Bill 2020, which is currently open for public comment, would deny children in our community the right to be seen, to be protected, and to be treated with integrity by schools and teachers.
22-24 February 2021 | The Community Legal Centres NSW Quarterlies are three-day community legal centre sector network and training opportunities held in Sydney four times a year. The February 2021 Quarterly will be held via Zoom conferencing.
Early on in the COVID-19 health crisis, as the first cases of coronavirus were confirmed in Australia and its seriousness became clearer, we knew the pandemic would have an impact on everyone across our communities, but renting households would be particularly vulnerable. Many renters work in sectors that were immediately hard hit by the pandemic such as retail, hospitality, tourism, and the tertiary education sector. They are generally more likely to be in casual or otherwise precarious work situations. And their housing, not only unaffordable before the crisis, is also, always insecure.
The gambling industry in New South Wales, particularly the poker machine sector, is extremely influential. In this article, Kate Da Costa from the Alliance for Gambling Reform examines a proposed reform that will change the gambling exclusion system in the state. The reforms ensure that people, often those who are most profitable to venues, are better supported when they seek to stay away from poker machines.