Committee of Management
Chairperson
Natalie Meyer/Margo
Rutledge
Secretary
Angela Pollard
Treasurer
Jason Addison
Public Officer
Ron Bryant/Maureen
McDermott
Indigenous Representative
Wendy Riley
Legal Service Representative
Janet McCormack/Philip Wykeham
Tenant’s Advice & Advocacy Service
Inke Loos/Natalie Meyer
Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service
Margo Rutledge/Sally Robinson
Staff Representatives
(each service provides a
staff representative for each committee of management meeting)
Staff
Mirrung Ngu Wanjarri
Nancy Walke
Centre Manager
Angela Pollard
Centre Bookkeeper
Darlene Cook
Legal Service
Cathy Kerr, KarIn Ness,
Murray Hand, Bridget Barker, Greta Hunter, Katja McPherson, Niluka Jayasinghe,
Richard Hughes, Fia Norton, Kimbah Pengelly
Tenant’s Advice and Advocacy Service
Maralyn Schofield, Deirdre
Dowsett, Amanda Elgazzar, Jenny Walton – Smith, Mary Flowers
Women’s Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service
Lilian, Sally,
Marguerita, Rachel, Kim, Margaret, Gina, Kasandra, Rose, Deb, Julia, Meaghan,
Rebecca
Aboriginal Legal Access Program
Cathy Kerr, Bridget
Barker, Kasandra Dargan, Gina Roberts, Nancy Walke
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This year
has brought more than the usual amount of change for the Northern Rivers
Community Legal Centre (NRCLC). Change comes with opportunities and losses.
Some of our staff have left
Our biggest
loss this year was the resignation of Cathy Kerr who headed up the Legal
Service team for the last seven years and for a further six years prior to that
as our Women’s Outreach Solicitor. Whilst we wish Cathy well in her new
position her dedication, knowledge and compassion are greatly missed.
We shall
also miss Lilian Gomez who has resigned as coordinator of the Domestic Violence
Advocacy Service (DVCAS) team. We are most grateful for her contributions to
NRCLC and commitment to making the Northern Rivers a safer place for women.
Marguerite Patrick from the DVCAS team has also left after nine years service
and we will miss her reassuring presence at the Ballina/Byron Courts.
Restructure
We had
three senior management positions vacant towards the end of the year. This
created an opportunity to restructure the organisation with the least possible
disruption to staff.
The
restructure involved the creation of a principal solicitor position,
responsible for overseeing all the legal advice given across all the programs
at NRCLC. This enhances the professional standing of the organisation and
supports the service coordinators in the more onerous aspects of their jobs. We
are very pleased that Ken Beilby, who has previous experience working with
NRCLC, has accepted the position.
A new
coordinator position has been created for the Legal Service and we welcome
Bridget Barker who has a wealth of knowledge of NRCLC to this position.
With the
Centre now managing in excess of $M1.5 a year it has become apparent that the
role of bookkeeper needed to be upgraded to finance manager. This has enabled
the creation of a bookkeeper/administration position to assist the Centre and
Finance Managers.
The
restructure has required adjustments in all the services and senior positions
within NRCLC. The committee of management is very grateful to all staff of
NRCLC in their support for the restructure.
The Strategic Plan
Goal 1 - To further the community development work undertaken by
NRCLC.
Excellent
community development has been carried out by all teams at the centre but I
would particularly like to thanks Karin Ness from the Legal Service who has
conducted some exemplary community development projects throughout the year. Of
particular note was the involvement of young people in the production of the
DVD “Stand Up For Your Rights”, concerning
youth and employment rights, which was launched in April.
Nancy
Walke’s women’s circles and girl’s camps are further examples of the excellent
work the centre is involved in to create positive change in the lives of our
target groups.
At our
Committee of Management (COM) meetings during the year I am continually
surprised and pleased at the breadth and depth of connections our community
development projects promote in the region.
Goal 2 - To enhance viability, capacity and effectiveness of our
service delivery
We have had
some concerns that our capacity to deliver on this goal would be diminished. It
has been an anxious wait however in the final day of the 2010/2011 financial
year we have had word of another three years’ funding for the Tweed Outreach
Service and the Aboriginal Legal Access Program. These projects contribute
significantly to our effectiveness in the region. We have also received funding
of $50,000pa for the Yugumbirr project over 2 years and were refunded for the
Legal Service Women’s Outreach at $25,000 pa. We received one off funding to
implement changes to tenancy law and an extra $5,000 to run the CLSD CALD
Employment Rights project. Other good news was the commitment to refunding of
the trial Family Law project partnership between the Family Relationship Centre
and NRCLC.
Also of
concern has been the lack of commitment on the part of State and Federal
Governments to the outcome of the pay equity case. Although it has been
determined that the sector is seriously underpaid, funding bodies have been
reluctant so far to recognise this by increasing the wages component of the
funding we receive. Low wages makes attracting good staff difficult and has
significantly contributed to the high staff turnover during the past year.
Goal 3 - Enhance and support best workplace practice
Training
for staff and the COM is one of the strategies to support workplace practice.
As well as individual training for staff there have been a number of
opportunities for whole of centre training. COM and staff participated in
excellent governance training in March and a strategic planning day was
conducted in May. An anonymous bullying and harassment survey was conducted in
April followed by Conflict Resolution training in July.
A number of
policies have been reviewed during the past year including the Delegations
Policy which has been upgraded to reflect the changing organisation; and the
Recruitment Policy was reviewed resulting in an Aboriginal Employment Strategy
being developed to foster better recruitment and retention of Aboriginal staff.
We have
also managed to recruit new COM members with excellent knowledge of the
community sector including disability, Indigenous issues, community
development, training and finance.
Goal 4- To enhance organisational capacity through a whole of
centre approach
At the
NRCLC planning day in May a new goal was added to our 5 year strategic plan.
This new goal is very timely and is seen as a way to strengthen image the
organisation and its services in the community; to find out from clients and
service providers how we are best able to service the community; and to enhance
teamwork across the whole of the centre by creating a community development
team. We are commencing work on this goal in the next financial year.
Thank you
I would
like to thank all the staff at NRCLC for their excellent work during the year.
The centre has an excellent reputation in the community and across the sector
and this would not be possible without the dedication and skill of all staff.
Volunteers
also play an important part in service delivery for the centre. They extend the
services we make available to the community and provide an excellent pool of
talent from which to select new staff.
Finally I
would like to thank my fellow COM members who give freely of their time and
expertise to ensure that the NRCLC functions as a safe and viable organisation.
Margo
Rutledge
Chairperson
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One
of the perks of the job is that I read everyone else’s annual reports before I
put my fingers to the keyboard. Reading our fifteenth annual report, I am yet
again astounded at the skill, energy and dedication of our staff and volunteers
as they undertake work for our community. I have had the privilege of working
at NRCLC for 15 years and it is wonderful to see that each year we continue our
passion and professionalism in all that we do, despite the challenges of
limited resources, low wages and an overwhelming demand for our services.
In
those 15 years, we have grown in size from one service and four workers to
three services, multiple projects and now more than twenty workers. We have
fulfilled many of our early promises; establishing a tenants’ advice and
advocacy service, maintaining a roster of volunteer solicitors for our Evening
Advice Service (a big thank you to local firms; we have never failed to fill a
roster!) , running a volunteer generalist court support service, providing
services to women (Mirrung Ngu Wanjarri, DVCAS and our LS women’s outreach
funding), setting up outreaches, working to improve access to legal services
for Aboriginal people, education projects for people with disabilities, CALD
communities and young people, law reform activities for LGBTI people, and our
support for environmental campaigners that led to the establishment of a
Northern Rivers branch of the Environmental Defenders Office.
As
we grew, we realised that we needed a permanent presence in the fast growing
Tweed region. We were this
year
pleased to have the three year pilot of our Tweed Valley office extended for a
further three years. This means that we can work with greater confidence,
committing to long term projects and partnerships within the region.
After
15 years, we have slowly but surely worked on our governance, administration
and staffing structures to provide a sturdy foundation for the services we
deliver. We have developed strong links with our communities and gained their
confidence that we are totally committed to serving their legal needs and we
are here for the long haul.
This
year we sadly bid farewell to a number of long term workers; TAAS Coordinator,
Kate Chapman who leaves us to care for her young and growing family, DVCAS
Assistant Coordinator, Marguerita who resigned after taking long service leave,
deciding that she needed a change in career, and Lilian, our DVCAS Regional
Coordinator, who is looking forward to lots of travel now that she has
retired.
My
report would not be complete without thanking Cathy Kerr for the 13 years that
she worked as our Women’ s Outreach Worker , and later as our much loved
Principal Solicitor. Cathy’s absolute commitment to social justice, her strong
ethical values, high order legal skills and professionalism provided a
wonderful role model for all our advocates and solicitors over the years. Calm
and unflappable, she was always available for assistance and support. We wish
her well in her new career, but we shall miss her dreadfully.
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Mirrung Ngu
Wanjarri projects have kept Project Worker, Nancy Walke busy this year. She has
worked in partnership with other Aboriginal programs as well as specific
Mirrung Programs.
Mirrung Ngu
Wanjarri operates Young Women Rising as a small sub program for young
Aboriginal girls 13 to 18 years. We had five camps in the past year with two
in partnership with the Lismore Sistas On About Resilience group, two in
partnerships with local high schools and one for young mums and bubs. All camps
or overnight stays were deemed successful by the articipants and the young mums
had a great time at Angourie Rainforest Retreat.
The book of
poems by some of our girls was produced. The poems are from a self esteem exercise
(see our picture insert).
Three
women’s circles were held over the twelve months and two pamper days held in
partnership with other community programs. Women worked on natural fibre
baskets, mosaics, mask making and emotions and sculptures of women out of
Pavapol. Some of the sculptures were displayed in an art exhibition and the
mosaics were displayed in a local gallery over NAIDOC week.
Community
days were attended and celebrated with handouts and information given out about
family violence.
One of our
highlights was a visit from David Peachy who is a Rugby League Community
Ambassador for the Tackling Violence program.
The project
worker and a small reference group and of course Vision 21 produced an anti
violence TV Commercial called YOOGUMBEH BOOMLEH. The ad featured Mr Harry
Walker, an Aboriginal elder, several community members and we used some
Bundjalung language and urged everyone to “stop the violence, to celebrate life”.
It was noticed and positively commented on by many people.
Posters and
stickers were also produced and mailed to other services. In October 2012 posters
will go on to bus shelters in Ballina, Tweed Heads and on a roadside Billboard
in Woodburn. All very exciting.
Within the
Yoogumbere campaign we have to produce some forum theatre and that is being
written now.
We have
been refunded for another year!
Nancy Walke
Mirrung
Project Worker
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We have achieved so much in such a
short time frame.
We engaged
in planning discussions and decided that our energies and skills should focus
on developing local animal law expertise, community engagement and networking,
law reform, community education and promotion of ALEP activities. A further
goal was to seek out funding sources for future projects.
In July, on
behalf of ALEP, Amber Hall prepared and lodged a submission for the proposed Exhibited
Animals Protections Regulations 2010. In September we joined the RSPCA’s
campaign against puppy farming, endorsing the RSPCA’s discussion paper and
recommendations for a mandatory, enforceable accreditation program for the
tracing and identification of all dog breeders, with compulsory minimum welfare
standards for breeding. Proposals include the disclosure of a breeder number,
microchip number and ABN when animals are advertised for sale.
We also
wrote to congratulate Lismore City Council on becoming one of a growing number
of Councils to ban the use of caged hen eggs at its functions. Subsequent
contact with several councillors promoted ALEP’s activities in regards to
animal protection law issues.
In October,
thanks to considerable work by ALEP member Amber Hall and law academic Anne
Schillmoller, we celebrated the commencement of the first ever animal law unit
offered by Southern Cross University (SCU) and began networking with the newly
established SCU Animal Law Club (SCUALC). We formed a community partnership
with SCU to assist in the delivery of a community-focussed “Animals and the
Law: The Road Ahead” Conference as part of the newly offered unit.
In November
ALEP volunteers Anna Ludvik and Angela Pollard enrolled in the SCU Animal Law
Unit and ALEP was successful in obtaining the pro bono assistance of Michael
Bird Designs to design an ALEP logo. We also wrote to Lismore City Council to
congratulate them on providing financial support to the RSPCA’s mobile cat
de-sexing unit allowing for one week of subsidised de-sexing and micro-chipping
of cats.
In December
Anna and Angela started preparation for the upcoming national campaign to ban
Live Animal Export. They met with Page MP, Janelle Saffin, who was drafting a
private member’s bill to phase out live export. Over the next few months
connections were made with leading law academic on live animal export expert
Dr. Malcolm Caulfield, Campaign Manager Jessica Borg at World Society for the
Protection of Animals (WSPA) , and Federal President of the Meatworkers Union
(AMIEU), Grant Courtney. ALEP’s position was determined; all aspects of live
export are cruel; lengthy land transport, feedlots, the inhumane conditions in
the transport ships, and the often brutal slaughter methods used in the country
of destination.
In January
ALEP participated in the highly successful “Animals and the Law: The Road
Ahead” Conference held at SCU. Over sixty members of the community attended to
hear from a diverse range of speakers; from Steven White, leading animal law
academic, to Mark Pearson, CEO of Animal Liberation and legal counsel for
Voiceless, Animal Protection Institute, Ruth Hatten and our own Sue Higginson,
solicitor at the Northern Rivers EDO and ALEP member. Many thanks to Amber who
put in a tremendous amount of work in helping organise the event, including
obtaining funding from Voiceless for a promotional commercial on local
television.
In February
we drafted a submission to Animal Health Australia opposing a move to change
the current Land Transport of Livestock standards to allow bobby calves (calves
up to one month old, usually destined for slaughter as they are only produced
to keep dairy cows in milk) to be transported for up to 30 hours without access
to liquid feed or water. Despite a massive public response of some 6,000
objections to the proposed changes, the 30 hour limit has been recommended to the
relevant Minster. In March, ALEP members Lurline Dillon-Smith, Sue Higginson began
preparations for our “Our Pets-Our Wildlife Living Together” Workshop. Held in
April, speakers included Holly North, National Parks and Wildlife ranger and
Gwen Seznec from Friends of the Koala and Northern Rivers Wildlife Carers, with
Sue providing an overview of the law, with Lurline facilitating. The focus of
the workshop was on highlighting the problems caused by irresponsible dog and
cat owners when they allow their animals to have unrestricted access to
wildlife and their habitat. The day was a success with feedback from many of
the 26 participants that it would be great to run similar workshops along the North Coast.
In June
Anna and Angela suddenly found themselves in the middle of a media storm when
their upcoming Live Export workshop coincided with the broadcasting of the Four
Corners expose of the treatment of Australian cattle exported to Indonesia.
There was considerable coverage of the issue in local media with Anna and
Angela giving interviews to ABC and commercial radio, local newspapers and
television.
Due to the
level of interest, two information sessions were held; one in Casino and one in
Lismore. Both were well attended and speakers included Jessica Borg from WSPA,
Grant Courtney from AMIEU, Dr. Malcolm Caulfield and Carmel Cook, representing
Janelle Saffin, MP. Emotions ran high at both sessions, with some participants
angry about the cruelty of live export, others upset at the loss of jobs due to
the closure of domestic abattoirs and beef farmers concerned about their
livelihoods.
All round,
quite an amazing year of achievements for a small but passionate group of
community members concerned about animal protection and the law. Just wait and
see what we have planned for next year!
ALEP
volunteers
Stephanie
Abbott
Julia Cook
Lurline
Dillon-Smith
Amber Hall
Sue
Higginson
Angela
Pollard
Lorraine Vass
Emily Williams
Nat Meyer
Anna Ludvik
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The Northern Rivers
Community Legal Centre auspices the Regional Coordination Service of the
Northern Rivers Cooperative Legal Services Delivery (NRCLSD) meetings, funded
by NSW Legal Aid.
The NRCLSD operates as legal and related services interagency
with the goal of improving socio-economically disadvantaged clients access to
legal services. This is achieved by quarterly meetings where partners discuss relevant
legal issues, propose joint projects, improve referral pathways between
partners and identifying staff training and legal education needs for community
members and service providers.
NRCLSD partners include: Lismore & District the Financial
Counselling Service, Family Relationships Centre, Local Courts, NSW Legal Aid,
Law Society, Law Access, Henry Davis York (Pro Bono partner), Neighbourhood
& Community Centres, Local Council Community Services, and the individual
services of the NRCLC.
The Regional Coordinator, Angela Pollard provides secretariat
services to the NRCLSD, organising quarterly meetings, drafting agendas,
organising guest speakers, taking minutes and circulating information between _files/image010.gif)
meetings and assisting partners to progress NRCLSD identified
actions.
Presentations at meetings
This year
we had guest presentations from Julie Wilson, Program Administrator of Forum
Sentencing, Gemma Lardner from the Public Interest Law Clearing House (PILCH)
Children in Detention Advocacy Project (CIDnAP) which provides legal advice to
young people who have been mistreated by police and Mia Zahra gave an overview
of Law Access with Rita Bhattacharya gave a presentation on Law Assist.
We invited Legal Aid
Queensland and Gold Coast CLCs to attend the August NRCLSD meeting to discuss
cross-border legal issues.
Training
In September, Henry Davis York solicitors
undertook Employment Law training for NCLSD partners. In November, Legal Aid
ran “Older People & the Law, Debts & Mortgagees” as part of its Law for
Community Sector Workers CLE Program. In June LIAC ran several legal research
information sessions for CLSD partners.
CLSD Project
Funding
ALS
& Lismore Legal Aid developed and delivered Discrimination Toolkit
Workshops for Indigenous Community Workers in Lismore in November and at Tweed
and Ballina in March.
The
NRCLC developed and delivered two Employment Law Forum Theatre events to CALD
communities in Tweed in October, and in June, to African communities in
Lismore.
Outreach
This year NRCLSD
partners have initiated activities such as Legal Aid’s monthly legal outreach
to the Deaf Society in
Lismore.
Networking
and Information Events
In February
various partners attended a Community Forum on Mental Heath led
by Page MP Janelle Saffin. In early May, A number of NRCLSD partners attended
Aboriginal Community Information Assistance Days at Lismore and Tweed Heads.
Issues
identified
The
following issues were identified as areas of concern by partners: clients with
mental health issues particularly in terms of local court appearances, the high
cost of mobile phone 1300/ 1800 charges for calls to free legal services, debt,
bankruptcy, changes to the Residential Tenancies Act, fines, local
access to the Family Law Court and Fair Work Australia, complaints about police
harassment and inaction on domestic violence complaints.
In
reviewing all these activities, this was clearly another very productive year
for. NRCLSD.
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Our Team
There were
some changing faces in the legal service team this year. Principal Solicitor,
Cathy Kerr, resigned in February after 12 years at NRCLC. Family solicitor,
Richard Hughes, stepped in as Acting Principal Solicitor until the end of the financial
year and Fia Norton joined us as the family law solicitor.
Bridget
Barker, Katja McPherson and Niluka Jayasinghe remained as Generalist
solicitors. Kimbah Pengelly joined the service late in the financial year,
replacing Katja who went on parental leave.
Karin Ness
and Greta Hunter were kept busy with Community Development and Community Legal
Education projects. Legal Information Officer, Murray Hand anchored the lot at
the front of the office.
Community Development
The Tweed
Valley office continued to work with the CALD community through our involvement
with the second Unity Festival; organising multicultural lunches and joining
the Far North Coast Multicultural Working group. We organised a Harmony Day
multicultural morning tea which was attended by 89 people from 20 countries. We
are assisting the FNC Multicultural group by producing a Multicultural
Information Brochure for the Tweed and Byron Shires.
Networking
We engage
with service providers at interagency meetings and at community events
throughout the region to ensure that clients are referred appropriately to our
services. We engage with other services to ensure that they aware of the
advice, assistance and representation provided by the Legal, TAAS and WDVCAS services
in NRCLC.
We attended
the Tweed Shire Women’s Service staff meeting to give advice about family law
issues for the service’s clients.
In the last
year we participated in NAIDOC week at various locations throughout the region,
including in Yamba, Grafton and Tweed and Lismore.
We attended
the Victims Services Forum in Lismore. We raised the issue of the cost and
impost on RRR community legal centres when solicitors have to travel to Sydney
to inspect Victims Services’ files. This matter is still to be resolved. We
continue to make submissions about this issue and to monitor the situation.
We are a
member of the Northern Rivers Family Law Pathways Network Steering Committee.
We attend the Networks’ regular meetings that plan and implement the Pathways
Network activities. We helped plan and participated in the Casino launch of
the Northern Rivers Family Law Pathways Network along with a seminar presented
by Dr Judy Cashmore and Dr Robyn Fitzgerald on child development in the context
of the Family Law Act.
We also
participate in the Family Relationship Centre Community Reference Group. We
regularly attend the Family Relationship Centre Staff meetings so that we can
discuss issues and protocols in relation to the lawyer assistance family law
advice project with the family dispute resolution practitioners.
Community Legal Education
Last year
our focus was to develop projects that facilitate greater access to workplace
rights for young people and people from culturally and linguistically diverse
communities. We received funding from the Law and Justice Foundation to produce
a DVD on young peoples’ rights at work. We also received funding from the ‘Cooperative
Legal Services Delivery’ (CLSD) funding pool to conduct forum theatre education
workshops for the Filipino community in Tweed Heads and the African communities
in Lismore. These projects were successfully completed this year.
We produced
the DVD ‘Stand Up for Your Rights and Get Advice about Youth Work Entitlements’
in partnership with Youth Connections North Coast and Turtle films. We
completed the project in March 2011 and launched it at the Pulse Cafe during
Youth Week.
The DVD
depicts stories based on young peoples’ experiences at work and encourages them
to seek free legal assistance when their rights are not respected. We trialled
an education session based on the DVD to 200 students at Trinity Catholic
College with positive feedback. We have now begun rolling out the education
campaign to high schools and a range of high schools across the region have
participated.
The forum
theatre session on rights at work for the Filipino community in the Tweed was a
huge success. We held it on a fine Sunday at the Banora Point Community
Centre. The day was attended by over 40 people, with 5 people seeking
individual legal advice in the afternoon. As expected, the participants were
able to share many accounts of unfair and illegal treatment in their workplaces
after these issues were entertainingly performed by the actors. We hope to
have allayed some of their fears about taking legal action to remedy this
treatment.
In March we
consulted with the African communities in Lismore to determine where they work
and the types of issues that they experience at work. About 15 key community
members attended the consultation. It was reported that racism in some
workplaces was rife but the communities were reluctant to lodge discrimination
complaints for fear of jeopardizing future employment.
We held the
forum theatre session for the African communities in June at the Fountain room,
City Hall. We had about 40 adults and as many children attended. The session
went very well despite navigating using a forum theatre style of education with
interpreters from four different language groups.
During Law
Week we delivered legal information on a number of topics, including– wills,
family law, credit and debt to small groups and to individuals at Clarence
Regional Library in Grafton and Yamba.
We also
attended the Legal Aid Family Law and Domestic Violence Seminar in
Lismore and presented a session about the Family Relationship Centre/ Community
Legal Centre project.
We attended
and presented at the Domestic Violence Information Forum at Byron Bay
Community Centre. We also did a presentation to Lismore Neighbourhood Centre
Staff on the Federal Attorney-General’s FRC/CLC Lawyer Assistance Partnership
Project.
Information and Promotion
Tweed Valley
Office had stalls at: NAIDOC Expo in Tweed, Seniors Expo in Murwillumbah, at the
Aboriginal Legal Information Day and the Kingscliff TAFE Orientation Day.
We also
promoted the service at a Church Group, the Tweed Shire Women’s Service,
Pottsville Neighbourhood Centre and Mountain View Retirement Village.
We ran a
stall at the Box Ridge Community Day. The badge making was particularly
popular.
Court Support Service
We have
continued operating this service in Lismore Local Court with volunteers on list
days. We have a core group of dedicated, long term volunteers. Without this
core group we would have difficulty filling the roster at times. The NRCLC
would like to convey special thanks to Michelle Lyons, Gay Bransgrove, Dianne
Beelitz and Fiona Dempster for their ongoing, dedicated support to the Court
Support Service.
We train
our Court support volunteers in-house and we place new volunteers on a roster
with experienced volunteers to complete that training. We trained 7 new
volunteers this year. We were not able to service the Casino Court in the
second half of this financial year but we are presently servicing that Court
again.
We continue
to receive positive feedback from court users.
Legal Advice
We provided
telephone advice to residents in our catchment area and face to face
appointments at the Lismore office (day and evenings); Casino (at Buyinbin
Aboriginal Corporation); at Pottsville Community Centre, and at the Local
Courts in Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads.
This year
we saw a total of 728 clients (450 females and 277 males) and gave a total of 956
advices. The problem types are shown in the following chart (the large family
law proportion reflects the multiple problem types that are often experienced
by family law clients).
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Clients by Problem Type (Advices)
Casework
We were
successful in having thousands of dollars in State Debt Recovery Office fines
waived for an elderly client. The client had been fined multiple times for
driving a motor vehicle that was both unregistered and uninsured. The client could
not afford the car registration and insurance costs on the pension, but relied
on the vehicle to maintain independence and lifestyle.
We have
identified employment law as one area of focus in our casework as well as in
our community development/community legal education work. As a result we have
developed expertise in representing clients in Fair Work Australia with unfair
dismissal claims and general protections disputes.
We respond
quickly to requests for advice in these matters because of the 14 day time
limit to lodge an application for an unfair dismissal remedy.
We
successfully represented a client who sought our advice well after the time
limit for an unfair dismissal claim had expired. We overcame various
jurisdictional objections raised by the employer for the client’s application
to be accepted and then resolved the matter for the client with a settlement
that included payment of compensation, an agreement that they had resigned plus
a reference.
We settled another
unfair dismissal matter on behalf of a client with a disability. Again the settlement
included payment of compensation, a reference and an agreement that the client
had resigned.
We have
assisted many clients with employment law issues in the last year and the
demand for assistance with employment-related issues remains strong. We will
continue to represent clients and to provide community education in this area
of law in the coming year.
We have had
many successful determinations on behalf of clients in applications for Victims’
Compensation this year.
The
majority of clients we represent in victims compensation matters are female and
many of them are indigenous. The types of injuries we claim are usually for
the injuries of domestic violence; sexual assault and psychological harm.
The clients
often seek our advice well outside the time limit and present with complex
claims. They are also clients with multiple social disadvantages that make
representing them both a pleasure and a challenge.
We devote
much time and effort seeking evidence in support of a client’s claims and in
writing persuasive submissions for the tribunal to accept our client’s claims
outside the statutory time limit.
In spite of
these challenges, we have achieved many great results for our clients in the
past year, including tens of thousands of dollars in awards of compensation for
individual clients.
We have
also developed some expertise in the last year in applying for payment of
interim awards on behalf of clients experiencing severe financial hardship.
This is a concrete way that we can assist a client to improve their immediate
circumstances.
In the last
year we have also assisted a few clients to assert the Sexual Assault
Communications Privilege. This privilege is asserted on behalf of a victim
when, during the trial of an alleged offender on criminal charges the
representative of the alleged offender seeks (through a subpoena for production
of documents) to access confidential counselling and/or medical records of the
victim.
This is a
discrete and complex area of law but when it occurs, the victim is entitled to
separate legal representation. We have represented a few clients this year in
these circumstances, with great assistance from our local Barrister, Craig
Simpson who is willing to appear either pro bono or with a grant of legal aid.
The Legal
Service has continued to provide advice and assistance in a broad range of
general civil law matters.
We assisted
a client to settle a claim for professional negligence against a company. The client
had initially engaged a private solicitor who had proposed to settle the matter
for a few thousand dollars. We assisted the client to settle the matter for 3
times the original settlement offer.
We settled
a discrimination complaint against a major financial institution on behalf of
an elderly client. The client was particularly pleased with the outcome and
made a donation to our Centre. We plan to use the money to promote awareness
of discrimination law amongst high school students in our region.
We also
assisted a client with a complaint about costs charged by their solicitor in a
matter to lodge a complaint to the Office of the Legal Services Commissioner.
This was resolved with the client being refunded a large sum of money they had
been charged in legal fees.
The Legal
Service has advised and represented many clients with debts arising in a range
of circumstances, including debts arising from motor vehicle accidents and
clients with loan agreements they cannot afford to service.
We work
cooperatively with the Lismore & District Financial Counselling Service to
provide these clients with a holistic approach to their financial situation.
We were successful in the last year in negotiating waiver of some large debts
on behalf of clients in these circumstances.
In the last
quarter of this year we dedicated significant resources to representing a
client in a matter that had to be litigated in the NSW Supreme Court. We were
successful in the matter after a hearing, thanks to the dedication of the Legal
Service team, who all contributed to the large amount of work required to
conduct such a complex litigated matter.
Law Reform
We made a
submission to the Australian Law Reform Commission Inquiry into Family Law
Violence and Commonwealth Laws – Employment and Superannuation Law responding
to the ALRC Issue Paper 36.
We also
made a submission to the Federal Attorney-General supporting the changes to the
Family Law Act proposed in exposure draft of the Family Law Amendment (Family
Violence) Bill 2011. The Bill was referred to the Senate Legal and
Constitutional Committees. The Senate Committees invited submissions. We made
a further submission to the Senate Committee whose recommendations we expect to
be published in the second half of 2011. We hope the recommendations will
incorporate the issues raised by our submission, many elements of which align
with the Women’s Legal Service’s submission.
We made representations
to the NSW State Debt Recovery Office in relation to procedural fairness issues
arising from fines being served default notices issued to indigent and
transient people.
In the last
year we have also focused on law reform issues that arise directly from our
casework and advice. This has included writing to the Queensland equivalent of
the SDRO, the State Penalty Enforcement Register (SPER) about the difficulty of
negotiating the tolling system on the Gateway Bridge that people from this
region experience when they travel to Brisbane. We have seen a number of
clients who received fines for failing to pay a toll that they had no knowledge
of, nor means to pay.
We also
wrote to the relevant Minister about the difficulty in persuading a client’s
witnesses to attend a Fair Work hearing when the Fair Work Act does not provide
any mechanism to compel a witness to attend nor to seek payment of witness
expenses on their behalf when they do attend in Fair Work Australia.
Core Activities Undertaken
Legal
information and referral: 2742
Advices: 956
Cases
opened: 225
Community
Legal Education: 52
Community
Development: 26
Law Reform:
12
ALAP (Aboriginal Legal Access
Project)
We have
continued our ongoing work under this project to improve access for Aboriginal
people to legal advice, information and representation.
We have
developed strong links with other services and in communities during the time
this project has been funded. In the past year we have held a number of
community education events at different locations, including Tabulam, Muli
Muli, Box Ridge and in the Tweed. Some of these were held in conjunction with
the NSW Office of Fair Trading and with staff from Legal Aid NSW.
We
responded to requests from the Education Centre Against Violence to deliver
education sessions to service providers and community members about the Victims
Compensation Scheme in NSW and about our services.
In the past
12 months we participated in Aboriginal Information & Assistance Days
organised by the NSW Department of Premier and Cabinet in Lismore, Grafton and
in Tweed Heads.
At all of
these events we have offered clients access to a solicitor for legal advice and
many took the opportunity to seek our advice.
Staff and
COM members of NRCLC attended Aboriginal Cultural and Awareness training days
held in Evans Head. A local Elder shared his knowledge of the dreamtime
stories in hat area and of the local Aboriginal history there.
In the last
12 months we have continue with our flexible approach in order to best respond
to community needs for access to legal advice. We have attended meetings of
the local refuge to give women access to our service. We have responded to
requests from service providers for assistance for their individual indigenous
clients.
In the last
12 months we started an outreach in Casino on days that coincide with the
Casino Local Court’s list days. We offer this outreach at Buyinbin Aboriginal
Corporation with a view to operating from a space that is accessible and
welcoming to Aboriginal clients.
Family Relationships Partnership
Funding for
this project from the Federal Attorney-General’s Department was extended for a
total of three years. The project continues to provide advices to clients
referred by the Family Relationship Centre. The majority of the advices we
give are at the Lismore office, by telephone. However our staff will travel to
offer clients advice face to face where this is necessary.
In limited
circumstances where the other party has declined to participate in family
dispute resolution the project solicitors are able to provide legal assistance
to clients in the form of drafting court documents. We have also participated
in several lawyer assisted family dispute resolutions. The feedback from the
family dispute resolution practitioners about this aspect of the project is very
positive.
In addition
to participating in network and CLE activities summarised above in our capacity
as the FRC/CLC project we attended the one day FRC/CLC training in Coffs
Harbour. We also attended the annual Legal Aid Family Law Conference in Sydney.
The conference is always a valuable forum for a range of papers and
presentations by judicial officers, private and legal aid practitioners, social
scientists and academics.
Volunteers
We had a
healthy turnout of administration volunteers, although there was a high
turnover due to many of them having too many commitments. The following
volunteered at our Lismore office and some also at our Tweed office: Zac Worne,
Ian Kendrick, Cheryl Gardiner, Elizabeth Peovic, Evie Lyte, Keda Ley, Emma
Sutton, Erasmus Lovell-Jones, David Gunn, Philip Wykeham, Samantha Lennox,
Majek Mapet, Fiona Munro, Allira Ibrahim, Michelle Popp, Amanda Mead, Matthew
Newell and ErsmusLovell-Jones.
In addition
we had some practical legal training placement students through ANU who
completed their legal training with us before being admitted as solicitors,
namely: Fia Norton , Kim Ibbott and Anita Ting.
We
are very grateful to the legal practitioners who volunteered to give advice on
our Thursday evening roster.
These practitioners
provide valuable assistance to our clients and attend our office after a full
day at their own work. Several have been volunteering for many years but keep
coming back for more. Thankyou to Steve Bolt, Darryl Quigley, Barry Jeffress,
Richard Maloney, Eoin Johnston (barrister), Nathan Job, Alanna Hale, Michael
Brown, Emma Heagney and Lucinda Opper.
We wish to
extend our grateful appreciation to another local barrister, Craig Simpson who
has provided invaluable advice, assistance and representation for our clients
in a number of matters in the last year, pro bono. We appreciate Craig’s
generosity and commitment to our service.
We thank
Julian van Aalst, Counsel in Sydney who assisted a client in a large and
complex matter with expert legal services both pro bono and on a grant of aid.
The Legal
Service at NRCLC appreciates the valuable contribution of our local barristers
and Sydney Counsel who have provided services to us and to our clients.
We thank
Henry Davis York and Clayton Utz for the pro bono services they provided to the
NRCLC in the past year. We have appreciated the time and expertise of their
staff in assisting us and our clients in the past year.
Finally, we
extend our grateful thanks to the staff of Legal Aid NSW in Lismore. They have
contributed in supporting us to provide services to our clients. We are
grateful to our colleagues in Lismore for their cooperation and assistance.
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The Tenants
Advice and Advocacy Service has been established in the Northern Rivers for 15
years. The Service provides advice and advocacy to tenants from Grafton to
Tweed Heads, and out west to Drake.
The Service
operates a phone advice line, Monday to Thursday including Thursday evening.
Each week the Consumer Trader and Tenancy Tribunal (CTTT) sits in a number of
locations in the Region; Tweed Heads, Lismore and Grafton. Tenant Advocates
provide dedicated advocacy to priority clients who are case managed. When ever
possible, the Service provides duty advocacy at the Lismore, Grafton and Tweed
Heads hearing rooms.
NORTAAS
provides services to tenants in both private and social housing, and permanent
residents of caravan parks.
The biggest
event for the TAAS team in the past financial year (and probably for a number
of years) was the introduction in January of the Residential Tenancies Act
2010. The team has thus far made a very successful transition into the new
act. More on this later.
Towards the
end of the last financial year we saw some welcome announcements in relation to
the increase of social housing stock to the area. Whilst many of those homes
have now been built and clients placed in them, we continue to see a
disproportionate amount of housing stress across the region.
Whilst the
region’s population is growing at above the average growth rate for the state,
we have rents in areas such as the Tweed that are the highest in the state
outside of Sydney. Coupled with lower than state average income in the region,
the need for long term, secure and affordable housing has never been more
important. The role of the TAAS team in supporting people to maintain their
housing in a climate where there is a less than one percent vacancy rate is of
the utmost importance.
The
service continues to benefit from the back-up and support of both the Tenants
Union of NWS and Park and Village Services.
Staff
During the
year Maralyn Schofield continued to act as the locum Coordinator whilst Kate
Chapman extended her maternity leave.
Maralyn was
able to take on a small client caseload, thus assisting the team during the
busier periods
Mary
Flowers barely had time to settle into the newly created project worker
position before the new legislation was upon us. Mary’s hours extended to
assist us in the task of providing advice on the new legislation to our
clients. Mary did a great job in undertaking community education projects
during this time, and worked closely with Matt Meir on a number of media
related projects around the new legislation. Mary also provided many hours of
advice and advocacy, including tribunal work during this period.
Amanda
Elgazzar had a very successful stint as acting Senior Advocate during Deidre
Dowsett’s long service leave. Amanda continued to expand her knowledge by studying
for her Certificate IV in Community Services (Advocacy).
This
financial year also saw Amanda increase her involvement in Interagencies and
community legal education. Amanda also reported that she has experienced an
increase in the need to have face to face interviews with clients. In doing
this, Amanda has achieved numerous beneficial results in reaching conciliated
agreements prior to CTTT formal hearing.
Deirdre
Dowsett took her well deserved long service leave and spent 3 months travelling
the countryside and enjoying the break. Deidre came back in November to join us
all in the daunting task of preparing for the new legislation. Deirdre helped
guide the team in terms of casework through the implementation period.
Jenny
Walton-Smith continued on the front line in her position as intake worker. The
numbers of clients with complex needs who need multiple occasions of service
continues to increase. Jenny has very capably managed the intake of these
clients into our service to ensure the best possible outcome for them.
Volunteers
We have had
a small core group of volunteers over the last year. Jo Groves and Emma Dunn
began the year with us, and Matt Meir volunteered with us for most of the year
culminating in several months of locum work during the implementation period.
Matt proved
to be an invaluable team member particularly with his journalism skills and
contacts. Matt was able to assist us in getting valuable media coverage about
the changes to the legislation out into the public domain.
We were also
pleased to have Guershom Sanvura undertake volunteer admin work for us.
Guershom was also engaged as a locum, providing administrative support.
Statistics
During the
last 12 months, TAAS has assisted almost 1200 tenants and residents in the
Northern Rivers. This is slightly less than the last financial year, and is
probably representative of the longer amounts of time spend with individual
clients due to the changes in the legislation and/or the complexity of cases.
The largest
proportion of our clients were again single people, followed by sole parents.
More than half our clients stated that Centrelink was their primary source of
income. Over 18% of our clients stated that they had a diagnosed disability.
This is an increase of 3% over last year.
This year
the issues that tenants called us about the most have changed, after remaining
static for some time. The highest amount of calls was in relation to repairs
issues, followed by issues relating to rent arrears. Surprisingly, tenants
wishing to break their agreements early saw a significant increase in the last
year. We will be keeping a close eye on this statistic and analysing it further
if the trend continues.
The service
continues to use the priority rating system for those clients we represent in
the CTTT. This year we attended tribunal with, or on behalf of clients on 123
occasions. We continue to assist multiple clients in preparation to run their
own cases at the CTTT.
We have
found it increasingly difficult to continue to provide a duty advocacy service
in an unfunded capacity. We see duty advocacy as an important factor of
ensuring access and equity for our clients outside of the Lismore area. Many
services across the state have discontinued their duty advocacy service. Unless
these issues are addressed by the funding body via a much needed increase in
funding, we may also have to consider ending duty advocacy.
Funding
A detailed
submission was prepared by the Tenants Union in conjunction with TAAS services
across the state for enhanced funding. TAAS services have not seen a real
funding increase since 2002. A separate application was also made to increase
funding for duty advocacy. We are currently awaiting the outcome of these
applications.
On the
bright side we did receive one off funding to assist us with the implementation
of the new legislation. This funding allowed us to employ Mary and Matt as
locums to assist with advice, advocacy and community education at a crucial
time. The extra hands on deck made a great deal of difference and we got
through the period with the minimum of difficulties.
We have yet
to hear any more information from the funding body on the performance based
management reporting requirements.
TAAS in the Community
Our team
have been out and about in the community a great deal in the past year.
Community education activities increased significantly as we endeavoured to
spread the word about the new legislation.
All of the
team was also involved in a significant amount of work at the Lismore Tourist
Caravan Park. We were invited by Lismore City Council to participate in the
formulation of a social impact assessment on the effects of a proposal to close
the Park. We spent numerous hours in the park working with the residents as
well as a significant amount of time behind the scenes lobbying on residents
behalf. Hopefully, this work will see some positive outcomes for some of our
most disadvantaged residents.
Our working
relationships with other service providers continue to grow and strengthen. We
have good working relationships and communication networks with a number of key
organisations across the region.
We enjoyed
considerable media coverage this year and found this to be a positive way to
get ‘the message’ out to our communities. Hopefully we can build on this experience.
Policy and Legislation
The
commencement of the Residential Tenancies Act 2010 on January 31st 2011
was a monumental occurrence for TAAS services across the state due to
significant change in the legislation. We worked
closely with other TAAS services and Tenants Union of NSW making submissions
regarding this new legislation leading up to the commencement.
Whilst real
estate agents and other housing providers are still catching up, TAAS services
were well trained and prepared for the changes.
At this
early stage the jury is still out on any firm trends that may occur from the
changes. We have noted some positives for our clients, particularly in the area
of Section 88(3) what we like to call ‘pay and stay’. This section relates to
rent arrears (see case studies).
Obviously,
some changes in the legislation have an impact on our day to day practices and
our policy and practice manual is being reviewed accordingly.
We are now
looking forward to the review of the Residential Parks Act (1998)
Looking Forward
In the
2011/12 financial year NORTAAS will see the appointment of a permanent
Coordinator at 25 hours a week. The coordination position will be stream-lined
and we look forward to working closely with the Principal Solicitor and the
other teams within the Centre.
Case Studies:
The Ultimate Pay and Stay arrangement as afforded by the new
RTAct 2010.
The tenant was in significant arrears with social housing provider
due to undeclared income arising out of other financial stressors at the time.
The tenant phoned us to discuss the situation and a proposed a
meeting with the social housing provider to discuss the arrears situation.
We agreed to attend the meeting and encouraged the tenant to enter
into a payment plan to better support her case.
At the meeting, the Housing Manager was present and accepted the
offer of a repayment plan by handing the tenant a repayment plan form. The
tenant then wrote in a small instalment each week to be deducted out of the tenant's
(now sole) income source (a Centrelink pension). The Property Manager proceeded
to sign the agreement. This in effect, meant that the tenant had agreed to
enter into a repayment plan that had been accepted by the landlord.
Under the new sections 88(3) of the Residential Tenancies Act, a
notice of termination requires that the tenant be informed that if they pay the
arrears in full, or enter into a repayment plan agreed with the landlord', they
can stay. Furthermore if the landlord applies for termination solely on rent
arrears, and the tenant has paid or is fully complying with an agreed payment
plan, the CTTT must not terminate (with a proviso being that they are not
deemed to be a frequently in arrears).
To date the tenant remains in his rental premises repaying the
over $13,000 of arrears at an affordable amount and termination has not been
pursued.
Our first termination of a long term tenancy
Under the new Residential Tenancy Act is a special section for the
termination of a tenancy of a long term Tenant. Long Term Tenants are defined
as having been the tenant at the premises for 20 years or more. Initially the landlord
gave the tenant a termination notice for no grounds. They then retracted it
when they realised the process for terminating a long term tenancy was to apply
to the CTTT.
This section of the Act gives the CTTT the power to consider the
circumstances of the case from the Landlord and the Tenant's side. This
includes the discretionary power to refuse to terminate in the circumstances of
the case.
This new section of the Act also stipulates that if the CTTT does
decide to terminate the tenancy, there is a minimum of 90 days notice for
vacant possession.
This is a significant improvement from the lack of recognition of
long term tenancies in the old Residential Tenancy Act 1987. It enhances the
protections under the standard tenancy agreement.
We were able to conciliate an agreement with the Landlord whereby
the Tenant was given a year to vacate with no rent increase to occur in that
time.
No right to die at home?
A
Social Worker from a local hospital referred a client with chronic illness to
our Service. The client had been a tenant for two years and had a good
relationship with the landlord.
The
tenant had some big decisions to make about continuing treatment for his
illness. During general conversations with the landlord the tenant revealed
some personal information. The landlord’s response was that ‘the tenant was
under no circumstances allowed to die’ at the rental property.
The
landlord then wrote into the tenancy agreement an additional term, that the
tenant would, without delay, admit himself as an inpatient to a medical
establishment in the event of any chronic and debilitating illness.
We
advised the tenant that this was an invalid term, and could not be enforced
under legislation. Further, it was a breach to the tenant's peace and quiet
enjoyment of the property, as set out in his agreement, and under the Residential
Tenancies Act 2010 (NSW). After further discussions with the tenant and
social worker, the tenant was referred to our Legal Service and then to the NSW
Trustee, for advice on enduring guardianship and power of attorney. The tenant
arranged for his son to move into the premises to care for him.
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The
Northern Rivers Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service provides a
free domestic violence court advocacy service to women and children at Ballina,
Byron Bay, Casino, Kyogle, Lismore, Murwillumbah and Tweed Heads Local Courts.
The service offers advocacy, information and referral in relation to
Apprehended Domestic Violence Orders and Local Court process.
During the
last year we have seen the consolidation of our service and a marked
improvement in our relationship with key stakeholders in the region.
Although we
had to face some challenges such as the ill health of some staff members and
the lack of DVLOs at some local courts we have provided an excellent service;
we have overcome these challenges with the invaluable contribution of a very
dedicated team of workers and the support of our partners.
We have
successfully met the objectives set up in our strategic plan of improving
access and equity to all women living in the Northern Rivers. One of our main
goals has been to continue providing quality services to a high number of
Aboriginal clients as well as women from culturally and linguistically diverse
communities, women with disabilities, lesbians, older women and geographically
isolated women.
Staffing
At the end
of the June the team consisted of:
·
Lilian, Regional
Coordinator,
·
Sally, covering
Lismore, Casino and Kyogle courts as Assistant Coordinator
·
Maryanne,
Specialist Aboriginal worker (who is replacing Kasandra)
Locums:
·
Alison at
Ballina
·
Kim at Tweed
Heads and Murwillumbah courts
·
Marg at Tweed
Heads court
·
Meaghan has
become our new locum (helping wherever she can) and
·
Rebecca at Byron
Bay court
Volunteers:
·
Maree and
Jennifer, continue to tirelessly support our work at Lismore and Casino
Team
members currently on extended leave, or who have left the service:
·
Rachel has been
away from the service for an extended period due to health issues. We hope she
is able to return soon as a valuable team member;
·
Kasandra
(Aboriginal Specialist) is away on Maternity leave;
·
Marguerita
(Assistant Coordinator) has resigned from our service after nine years. We are
sure that many women in the Northern Rivers will remember Marguerita for her
kindness and the gentle encouragement she gave them during their difficult
times at court. We wish Marguerita all the very best in her future career and
personal paths; and
·
Rose has also
resigned after three years of assisting our service as a locum. Our best wishes
go to Rose too.
I acknowledge
each and every one of the workers, seconded workers, locums and volunteers who
have been extremely flexible and always ready to help in every possible way.
This team approach has contributed to maintaining the quality client services
we provide despite the staff shortages experienced.
Seconded workers
This year
we achieved the goal of establishing a roster of seconded workers from a range
of services with much work being undertaken with other service managers.
Agency Agreements have been signed and our first roster started operating in
April.
The
training was conducted at the Family Relationships Centre by Katja, Sally and
Lilian on March 30th.
Workers from the Lismore Women’s
Refuge, New Horizons (Lismore and Tweed Heads) Rekindling the Spirit, NR Young
Women’s Accommodation and NORWACS as well as the Tweed/Byron Police Aboriginal
Liaison Officer attended the training.
In all
three workers from Tweed Heads, two from Casino and seven from Lismore
attended. Six of the workers who attended the training were Aboriginal. Workers
were interested in covering Lismore, Casino, Kyogle, Ballina, Byron and Tweed
Courts.
Seconded
workers are expected to attend court one at a time and shadow the assistant
coordinators until they are ready to start assisting with client intake forms,
etc.
It has been
wonderful for our service to have Aboriginal workers in Casino and Kyogle.
All parties
are very pleased with the way the secondment partnerships are working. Managers
have related to me that the scheme greatly benefits their organisations as
workers are gaining invaluable skills they can utilise in their service
delivery. One manager described the experience as “invigorating”. She said her
worker comes back from court in high spirits after seeing positive outcomes for
clients!
Some
workers have not been able to attend; it is not unusual for workers to start
with the best intentions and then find out that they cannot add one more thing
to their own workload. We are extremely grateful to all partners involved and
hope to continue supporting each other in this and other “capacity building”
activities.
Our
heartfelt thanks to: Robin, Wendy, Lesley, Jenny, Kellie, Clare and Lorna for
their ongoing work as seconded workers.
Issues of concern
An ongoing
focus for the service is working towards improved police responses for women
experiencing domestic violence. Of particular concern have been the
difficulties reported by women concerning police responses in the Murwillumbah
area. A number of clients have related that they feel they are being
discouraged by police when they try to take any protective legal action (ADVO).
Advocating
for clients is a major component of our work and we continue providing
information and assistance to clients wishing to take complaints to either Local
Area Commanders or the Ombudsman. This year we assisted six women to make
complaints to the Ombudsman in relation to difficulties they had experienced
with police responses.
Meetings
were held with both police commanders to discuss areas of concern as well as
working towards more accessible and effective complaints processes women can
undertake if they experience problems regarding police attitude or practice.
Given the importance of legislative protection, the service will continue to
work with police in this matter.
Statistics
Over
the last year NRWDVCAS provided 1811 service events to clients. This included
services to 630 new clients with the remaining being either clients seen more
than once or previous clients. NRWDVCAS assisted clients at court on 1251
occasions.
There
were 72 Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islanders clients, and 51 clients from
culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. Seventy (70) clients stated
having a disability and five were in same sex relationships. During the last
year 806 clients obtained an ADVO.
Over 950
referrals were made to other services.
There were
a total of 765 children under sixteen years of age in the care of the women we
assisted. We reported our concerns about children to Community Services on 25
occasions.
Planning
The
2009-2010 plan was reviewed and the team decided to develop the new 2010-2011 plan
in line with the WDVCAP’s strategic plan to streamline our activities and
simplify our reporting mechanisms. The new plan was discussed and refined
during our team meetings.
Each worker’s
work plan was also developed to reflect the strategic and activity plans and
was refined during individual performance appraisals.
Team building
Our service
held a Strategic Team building activity last September at Minjungbal Aboriginal
Land Council grounds; a beautiful setting. The day started with a guided tour
by a young
Aboriginal
woman who introduced us to some of the traditions of her people. We saw a tree
from which a canoe had been carved, a Bora Ring and learnt about
their significance to Aboriginal culture. We also visited their amazing museum.
The rest of
the day was also very productive. We eat delicious food and drank gallons of
lovely tea as well as looking at our participation styles and preferences and
coming up with ground rules for team meetings.
We still
agree, almost a year after the event, that the day contributed to strengthen
our team and our working relationships.
Community Development
Our
workers have been busy assisting in community development activities and making
sure our services are well known by the local communities.
We have
been proactive in the enhancement of working relationships with key
stakeholders such as Court personnel and the Police service, resulting in
better services all around.
Sally and the
Lismore DVLO negotiated with the Magistrate to have all ADVOs listed at 11.00am
so that we have time to speak with clients before their matters are raised at
court.
Throughout the year,
team members have held meetings with Richmond and Tweed Heads Local Area
Commanders, Crime Managers and DVLOs to share information, update protocols and
discuss enhancement of service delivery, particularly the use of Yellow Cards.
Our service held
meetings with Ruth Edwards, Regional DV Coordinator within NSW Police
We were active in our
local areas supporting NAIDOC week activities.
Our Aboriginal
Specialist Worker attended several services in Casino as well as the “Deadly
Days” event which focuses on High School students.
Towards Safer Relationships in the Northern Rivers
In partnership with
Inner City Legal Centre’s Safe Relationships Project, Lismore Women’s Resource
Centre and ACON we staged a Forum to discuss best practice in working with
people of diverse sex, sexuality and gender experiencing relationship abuse in
the Northern Rivers.
A local woman’s story
I am telling my story to help others that may be in the
same situation without realising it.
I am a strong, assertive woman with a solid network of
friends and support; still I didn’t realise I was a victim of domestic
violence
There were early warning signs... I should have listened
to my gut but I didn’t!
Not only of violence but of my partner Sue “not being
all there”
Sue was jealous of friends and controlling; she did not
want me to meet with friends or to have fun away from her; she wanted to
know everything about me, including the password to my personal email address!
I would make excuses for Sue’s behaviour:
I thought her yelling was “childish”
Her “losing it” over nothing was due to her having a bad
childhood.
Although I was “walking on eggshells” to avoid
confronting Sue, I still didn’t see it as domestic violence; I never
thought it could happen between women!
It only dawned on me one day when Sue had that crazy
look in her eyes and she held up a fist at me.
I warned her: “If you ever hit me, it’s over between
us!”
There was a final incident where Sue spat at me, hit me
and pulled my hair, someone came to assist me and called the police; we
ended up in court.
Although the police made me feel very comfortable, I
would have preferred that they didn’t negotiate the terms of the interim
There was a final incident where Sue spat at me, hit me
and pulled my hair, someone came to assist me and called the police; we
ended up in court.
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Committees the service
attended
Our team
has been participating regularly in the following committees:
Northern
Rivers Families Legal Pathways; NRCLSD; Tweed Shire Integrated Response to
Domestic and Family Violence; Casino,
Lismore, Ballina and Byron Shire Domestic Violence committees; Network meetings of WDVCAP
The Future
We
look forward to further consolidating our team and maintaining the excellence
of our service thus enhancing access to our services for women and children in
the Northern Rivers. We
strive to ensure the service is able to meet the diverse needs of women in the
region and continue to contribute to building local capacity to respond to
domestic violence through nurturing partnerships with government and
non-government organisations.
We
are planning at least two Forums for the coming year:
One
for workers “Working Well Together” (to enhance referral pathways for women and
children experiencing domestic violence) and one for African refugees, introducing
them to Australian Law particularly in the areas of domestic violence and child
protection.
These
are very ambitious projects that we have not been able to tackle in the past
for lack of funding; we hope this year we will bring them to fruition.
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