Inner City Legal Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre, Marrickville Legal Centre, and Redfern Legal Centre have together established a new statewide service to address the employment exploitation of migrant workers.
New South Wales has a strip-search problem. And now the evidence is in. Redfern Legal Centre has released a report, Rethinking Strip Searches by NSW Police. Commissioned by RLC and prepared by Dr Michael Grewcock and Dr Vicki Sentas from the University of UNSW Law School, it proposes modest but critical amendments to strip search laws.
Protest and community action have long been a part of community legal centre history and, indeed, without this form of advocacy, they would not exist. With the current climate crisis and the growing need for civil disobedience, the time for lawyers to build bridges with activists has never been more vital. Given its own foundations in protest, the community legal sector can make a valuable contribution.
How can Artificial Intelligence be used to improve access to justice? Marrickville Legal Centre is leading the charge on this technology to build a chatbot that will transform service delivery for community legal centres, thanks to a $250,000 investment from the NSW Government’s new Access to Justice Innovation Fund.
Social change through strategic litigation: NT’s Santa Teresa community and residential tenancy laws
On Thursday 29 August 2019, Community Legal Centres NSW received correspondence from Legal Aid NSW that the government agency was cutting funding from the CLC Care Partners Program, effective from the end of October. This decision has the potential to leave families with complex needs without the help and support required to keep their kids safe at home.
Every Thursday, Katrina Ironside, Senior Solicitor with Women’s Legal Service NSW, heads for the office of Bonnie Women’s Services in Canley Heights. Bonnie’s provides accommodation, crisis and other support services to women escaping domestic violence in the Fairfield and Liverpool areas of south-west Sydney.
We chat with Natalie Ross, who may be new to the role of Principal Solicitor at Welfare Rights Centre but has dedicated her career to working in the sector.
26-29 August 2019 | This year's National CLCs Conference is being held in Brisbane on 26-29 August, hosted by Community Legal Centres Queensland. This year's theme is 'Power, Purpose, Possibilities'.
We're delighted to welcome a new member to the Community Legal Centres NSW family — International Social Service Australia (ISSA). Based in Sydney and Melbourne, ISSA provides social work, legal and mediation services to families and children across international borders. To learn more about the organisation, we asked their Managing Lawyer, Rebecca Chapman.
12 September 2019 | A Legal Training Day for our members, with individual and panel presentations on legal topics including human rights, migrant worker rights, risk management, Legal Aid NSW conflict of interest policy, and wills and estates.
10-11 September 2019 | The Community Legal Centres NSW Quarterlies are two-day community legal centre sector network and training opportunities held in Sydney four times a year.
Policy Focus | Mark Holden (Solicitor, Financial Rights Legal Centre) examines the recommendations of the Financial Services Royal Commission concerning Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
Policy Focus | Social security systems play a critical role preventing people who are locked out of paid work from falling into poverty while they try to get their lives back on track. In this article, the National Social Security Rights Network reflects on the 2019-20 Federal Budget, and the impacts on people struggling to make ends meet of another missed opportunity to raise the rate of working-age social security payments in Australia.