A proper safety net for legal help in Australia

Legal help is out of reach for many Australians, so what would a proper safety net for legal help in Australia look like? To find out, read on.

Download the report, or read more about the campaign.

Support Us

Twitter

Facebook

Community Law Australia welcomes Carolyn Bond as our new national spokesperson.

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/about-us/

On this week's episode of The Checkout, Katherine Lane, Principal Solicitor with the Consumer Credit Legal Centre NSW talks about shopping around for car loans, and getting advice from community legal centres if you get into trouble. See episode 3 from about 22 minutes 52 seconds (OK, exactly at that point).

http://www.abc.net.au/tv/thecheckout/episodes/ep03.htm

Just before Christmas last year, the Federal Government released its legal services expenditure report. If you want to know how much government spends on its own legal services, read the following 20 december media release from Federal Attorney-General Nicola Roxon and the report itself.

http://www.attorneygeneral.gov.au/Media-releases/Pages/2012/Fourth%20Quarter/20December2012-LegalServicesExpenditureReport201112.aspx

http://www.ag.gov.au/Publications/Pages/CommonwealthLegalServicesExpenditure.aspx


20 December 2012 - Legal Services Expenditure Report 2011-12
www.attorneygeneral.gov.au
The report was established by this Government to provide consistent, standardised information on legal services expenditure across Commonwealth departments and agencies.

For those who missed 7.30 Victoria on Friday, the program featured a strong story on investigations into a rental company operating in Mildura. It's a good illustration of why we need well-funded community legal centres to offer quality, free legal help to people in their local communities. The story can be watched online here:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-19/rental-company-under-investigation-for-unfair/4323988


Rental company under investigation for unfair contracts
www.abc.net.au
Poor indigenous communities are being coerced into signing over access to welfare payments for household goods.

Tonight ABC 7.30 Victoria and 7.30 NSW will be featuring a story on rental agreements impacting vulnerable Indigenous people in regional Victoria and NSW. It shows how important it is that people have access to quality, free legal help in their local communities. For a preview, see this story on the ABC News website:

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-10-19/families-go-public-about-whitegoods-rental-scam/4322114


Families go public about rental scam
www.abc.net.au
More than 30 Aboriginal families near Mildura, and in southern New South Wales, say they are the victims of a scam involving a Melbourne-based company that rents out household goods.

With legal help out of reach for many Australians, what would a proper legal safety net look like? National spokesperson Hugh de Kretser considered that question in a presentation at Melbourne Town Hall last week. Watch the video, download the presentation or follow the links here:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/a-proper-safety-net-for-legal-help-in-australia/


A proper safety net for legal help in Australia | Community Law Australia
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
A proper safety net for legal help in AustraliaPosted onOctober 16, 2012byCommunity Law AustraliaWhat would a proper safety net for legal help in Australia look like? That question was recently considered at the 2012 Annual General Meeting of the Federation of Community Legal Centres (Vic), where Hu...

Queenslanders left adrift as Premier Campbell Newman's cuts close tenancy advice services. Read our media release here:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/queenslanders-left-adrift-as-cuts-close-tenancy-advice-services/

What will the cuts mean for increased demand on community legal centres? Read our open letter to Campbel Newman, here:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/open-letter-to-campbell-newman/

To date, this letter has met with no response.


Queenslanders left adrift as cuts close tenancy advice services | Community Law Australia
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
Queenslanders left adrift as cuts close tenancy advice servicesPosted onSeptember 28, 2012byCommunity Law AustraliaCommunity Law Australia today raised concerns that Queenslanders faced serious service gaps and rising disadvantage from the Queensland Government’s axing of the Tenancy Advisory and Ad...

Queenslanders left adrift as Premier Campbell Newman's cuts close tenancy advice services. Read our media release here:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/queenslanders-left-adrift-as-cuts-close-tenancy-advice-services/

What will the cuts mean for increased demand on community legal centres? Read our open letter to Campbel Newman, here:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/open-letter-to-campbell-newman/

To date, this letter has met with no response.


Queenslanders left adrift as cuts close tenancy advice services | Community Law Australia
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
Queenslanders left adrift as cuts close tenancy advice servicesPosted onSeptember 28, 2012byCommunity Law AustraliaCommunity Law Australia today raised concerns that Queenslanders faced serious service gaps and rising disadvantage from the Queensland Government’s axing of the Tenancy Advisory and Ad...

Queensland Housing Minister Bruce Flegg says money saved from TAAS will go to public housing. Save Tenant Services has a good answer to that doubtful claim:

http://savetenantservices.net.au/faqs/

If you'd like to catch up with the latest media highlights for the Community Law Australia campaign, we've just published a media wrap at the website:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/court-fee-changes-and-right-to-lobby-lead-media-wrap/


Court fee changes and right to lobby lead media wrap | Community Law Australia
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
Court fee changes and right to lobby lead media wrap Posted on September 14, 2012 by Community Law Australia Our latest media wrap leads with coverage of changes to Federal Court fees, and waivers and exemptions for disadvantaged litigants following our media release on Wednesday. The right ...

At the NACLC national conference we launched compelling data on the contribution of volunteers to community legal centres. Here's the human face of the difference volunteers are making in the lives of vulnerable women in South Australia.

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/volunteers-a-safety-net-fo-vulnerable-women-in-sa/


Volunteers a safety-net for vulnerable women in SA | Community Law Australia
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
Volunteers a safety-net for vulnerable women in SA Posted on September 13, 2012 by Community Law Australia Hugh de Kretser speaks with (from left), Cheryl Chin, Zita Ngor, Geeta Bonsal and Joanna Alexis about the contribution of volunteers to community legal centres. The recent NACLC nationa...

For an in-depth interview on the Community Law Australia campaign, have a listen to Hugh de Kretser on RRR The Grapevine using their excellent audio on-demand service:

http://ondemand.rrr.org.au/grid/20120903094524


The Grapevine - 3RRR 102.7FM Melbourne
ondemand.rrr.org.au
Player seeks to 00:45:24 Show duration: 3 hours. Broadcasters: Kulja Coulston and Donna Morabito Discussion, interviews and ideas from the community grapevine, plus a monthly bookclub and live music performances each week for Day Job, where musicians talk about life on and off stage. Topics inclu...

CLCs are struggling to deal with family breakdown, reports Loddon Campaspe Community Legal Centre. What's the experience of your community legal centre dealing with family issues, including family breakdown and family violence?

http://lcclc.org.au/2012/08/family-breakdown/


Community Legal Centres struggling to deal with family breakdown
lcclc.org.au
Legal practices frequently advise clients in relation to family breakdown. And unfortunately Loddon Campaspe CLC is no exception.

Sorry, here's the link to the news story: http://www.abc.net.au/news/2012-08-29/legal-aid-at-crisis-point/4231538


Legal aid in 'crisis'
www.abc.net.au
Community law workers say access to legal aid in South Australia is at crisis point, with many offices stretched to the limit and unable to meet demand.

Great story on ABC TV News SA last night. Watch it here:

David Weisbrot is up talking law reform at the NACLC national conference. Follow it live on #naclc12

We'll be highlighting the value of volunteers at next week's NACLC national conference. If you have a story about the contribution of volunteers to community legal centres, we'd love to hear from you via media@communitylawaustralia.org.au.

For full conference details, see here:

http://www.naclc.org.au/cb_pages/current_conference.php

The conference will be tweeted on #naclc12

Interesting story on Radio National's AM program this morning about the ACCC's crackdown on door-to-door sales. Did you know that the Do Not Knock campaign was started by the Consumer Action Law Centre, which is a community legal centre? Great work!

http://www.abc.net.au/am/content/2012/s3569824.htm


AM - 17/08/2012: ACCC crackdown on door-to-door salesmen
www.abc.net.au
It sounds like a throwback to the 1970s but door-to-door salesmen are back with a vengeance according to the ACCC The consumer watchdog has released its first report into the door-to-door sales indu

Lots of media coverage for legal services following the release of the ACOSS community sector survey. Read our media wrap here:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/acoss-community-sector-survey-offers-welcome-boost-for-legal-help-campaign/


ACOSS community sector survey offers welcome boost for legal help campaign | Community Law Australia
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
ACOSS community sector survey offers welcome boost for legal help campaign Posted on August 16, 2012 by Community Law Australia The Community Law Australia campaign received a welcome media boost this week with the release of the 2012 Community Sector Survey by ACOSS. ACOSS CEO, D...

Thought this was a good interview on the downstream human and financial costs of underfunding community legal centres. The Wire spoke to Community Law Australia chair, Michael Smith, and Cristy Dieckmann, Director, Queensland Association of Independent Legal Services (QAILS).

http://www.thewire.org.au/storyDetail.aspx?ID=9474


Community legal service 'in crisis'
www.thewire.org.au

Increasing costs and reduced funding have meant that Suncoast Community Legal Service has reduced the quality, free legal help it can offer to the local community. National spokesperson Hugh de Kretser was there this morning with Principal Solicitior Julian Porter talking to media about the isssues. For the media release and pics, read our blog post:

http://www.communitylawaustralia.org.au/sun-coast-legal-help-hard-to-come-by-as-local-service-struggles-to-meet-demand/


Sun Coast legal help hard to come by as local service struggles to meet demand | Community Law Austr
www.communitylawaustralia.org.au
Sun Coast legal help hard to come by as local service struggles to meet demand Posted on August 14, 2012 by Community Law Australia Sun Coast Community Legal Service, based in Maroochydore, helps locals tackle issues like family violence, family law and debt. However, they are str...