Eastern Community Legal Centre has welcomed the Attorney-General’s announcement of funding for the Centre’s family violence program.

ECLC was delighted to receive funding from the Victorian Government to continue and expand its Intervention Order Support Service at Ringwood Court. In partnership with Victoria Legal Aid and the Eastern Domestic Violence Service (EDVOS), ECLC assists clients at the Ringwood Magistrates Court with family violence related Intervention Orders.

The state-wide family violence CLC initiative was funded in the 2007/08 State Budget. The Deputy Premier and Attorney General, Mr Rob Hulls, attended a gathering at ECLC on Tuesday 13th May to officially acknowledge the work of the service. Joining Mr Hulls were MP’s, Councillors, Board Members, staff and supporters of ECLC.

Michael Smith, Manager of Eastern Community Legal Centre (ECLC), said they were delighted to welcome the Deputy Premier, the Hon Rob Hulls, to launch the service. “The Centre has a longstanding commitment to respond to family violence and the new funding greatly affirms that work. The State government has taken a number of positive initiatives to address family violence and these are certainly needed by our clients and community.”

“When people experience family violence, it is vital that there are clear legal measures that can be taken to ensure their safety and that of their children. It is also essential that there is support available to assist people through an unfamiliar legal process at a difficult time.”, Mr. Smith said.

In the past 12 months at ECLC over half of the legal advice and casework has been in Family Law and Family Violence, with one third of those specifically being Family Violence.

In Mr Hulls’ speech, he stated that the United Nations has continued to warn about the impact of sexual and family violence. Mr Hulls said that “sexual and family violence is a bigger threat to women and children than any other forms of violence”.

In response to the increase in family violence within communities, Mr Hulls said that the Government was trying to “improve the lives of families in and around the eastern suburbs. It’s about tackling, in our small way, a problem that continues to plague not just our community, but communities around the world.”

The Intervention Order Support Service operates on a Tuesday and Friday morning at Ringwood Magistrates Court. ECLC strongly advises clients to seek legal advice before they attend Court.

A new brochure has been released regarding this Service. For more information on how ECLC can assist you, please call the Box Hill or Boronia office.

To download a copy of the brochure, click here: IOSS Brochure PDF

This entry was posted on Tuesday, May 13th, 2008 at 3:00 pm and is filed under News. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. Both comments and pings are currently closed.