News

Redfern Legal Centre wins Law category at the HREOC 2007 Human Rights Awards
The 2007 Human Rights Law Award was awarded to the Redfern Legal Centre. The Law Award is sponsored by the Law Council of Australia.  The award was presented by Mr Ross Ray, President of the Law Council of Australia.

HREOC explains the value of Redfern’s work:

“Redfern Legal Centre was established in 1977 and has been providing free legal advice, legal services and legal education to disadvantaged people, and the groups who advocate for them, ever since. The centre has also campaigned tirelessly to reduce inequalities and defects in the legal system and the administrative and social practices that impact upon disadvantaged people.

The centre operates on a very limited budget. It relies heavily on volunteer labour and pro-bono assistance from legal professionals to service a heavy caseload and clients that number in the thousands. A very high proportion of the centre’s clients are from Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander (ATSI) and Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) communities.

One of the centre’s major achievements has been the coordination of the innovative Redfern Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Scheme, which aims to ensure that women seeking a restraining order have access to both legal assistance and to any other support services they may require (such as housing, income support and counselling). The scheme is widely recognised as a successful model for providing women who suffer domestic violence with the support that they need.

Much of the centre’s activities are concerned with domestic violence, disability discrimination, racial discrimination and Indigenous issues”.