Despite a plethora of inquiries into family law over the past ten years, insufficient action has been taken to protect the safety of children, young people and adult survivors of family violence. With nearly 70% of cases in family courts involving allegations of family violence, the need for urgent action is greater than ever. In this article, Liz Snell from Women’s Legal Service NSW (who is also a member of Women’s Legal Services Australia’s Co-ordinating Committee) reflects on recent inquiries into the family law system and the Government’s proposed family court merger.

After many decades of advocacy, 2019 finally saw the NSW Parliament decriminalise abortion. Abortion will now be treated as a healthcare matter, not a crime. Human Rights Law Centre Legal Director Edwina MacDonald reflects on a campaign 50 years in the making, crossing generational and partisan lines.

In this article, Alastair Lawyer (Public Interest Advocacy Centre) sets out some of the key concerns with the draft Religious Discrimination Bill, arguing that instead of reducing discrimination, it encourages religious individuals and organisations to discriminate against others, including women, LGBTI people, single parents, people in de facto relationships, divorced people, and people with disability.

 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.

 

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.

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.

Policy Focus | Mark Riboldi, Advocacy and Communications Manager at Community Legal Centres NSW highlights the importance of community-led justice reinvestment.

Policy Focus | People with intellectual disability experience unique barriers to effective early engagement with support services. This article explores some of these barriers and a new initiative to address them.

Policy Focus | Early independent legal advice in child protection matters is crucial to helping parents explore their options to prevent permanent child removal, write Charlotte Buckton and Karin Ness from Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre.

Policy Focus | In Australia and overseas, alternative legal responses to sexual and domestic violence are increasingly being explored to better meet the needs of victims/survivors. One such alternative is restorative justice, which Thea Deakin-Greenwood and Jane Bolitho argue offers an opportunity to refocus an otherwise adversarial (and sometimes inaccessible) process on the needs and rights of victims.