To view the full report, click here. 

Here is a taste of what you can expect!

In working with community groups, ECLC identified that many legal issues can be hard to recognise, especially for newly arrived communities who speak English as a second language.

With what we hope will be the first of a series of resources in community languages, this resource is produced in Hakha Chin to draw attention to these issues and provide general information about legal services available.

For copies of this resource, please contact ECLC on 03 9285 4822 or download here.

While still early, these improvements have been driven by strong consultation with women who have experienced the Court system and the agencies working at the Court. An early issue identified was a lack of separate waiting areas for people attending the Court, extending the fear of violence and lack of safety to the actual Court experience. With the active support of the Court, the Police Family Violence Liaison Officer, agencies and the project, a separate waiting space has now been established at the Court for vulnerable women and children.

The Project’s Vision is to instil trust and confidence in the most vulnerable of victim/survivors that their safety and support needs will be upheld through their interaction with the legal components of the family violence system.
Its aim is to improve the response of legal and support services to victim/survivors of family violence in a coordinated and integrated manner, through the partnership and collaboration of key agencies working at the Ringwood Magistrates’ Court.

For more information on the Family Violence Integration Project (FVIP), click here.

ECLC established the Bulleen Legal Outreach Service in 2010 with the support of a Community Development Grant from Manningham City Council. The outreach provides legal advice and assistance to residents in Manningham who are unable to attend the Box Hill Office and quite early in the development of the service, ECLC commenced an evaluation project to ensure the outreach met the legal needs of the local community.

The ‘Bulleen Outreach Service Evaluation’ report released this month highlights key legal issues experienced by Bulleen and surrounding communities including high rates of family violence, complex debt and infringement matters and housing and tenancy issues. A majority of clients who sought support from the Outreach service were on low incomes and many had not previously accessed legal support. The evaluation revealed that the Bulleen Outreach was addressing these issues and barriers to a great extent by adopting a community development model and developing a strong partnership with the local neighbourhood house and other key service providers.

The final report makes a series of recommendations as follows:

• That the Bulleen Legal Outreach service be ongoing and secured by a more sustainable funding source, in recognition of the importance of a locally based accessible service.
• That the Bulleen Legal Outreach service increase the number of days of operation to be able to better serve the local community and respond more immediately to clients in crisis.
• That a Supported Legal Case Manager model be explored to work with clients with complex needs.
• That ECLC continue to foster relationships with key services to ensure that disadvantaged members of the community are referred appropriately.
• That ECLC continue to target Community Legal Education to community services and groups in Manningham to raise awareness of relevant legal services.
• That ECLC continue to work closely with Family Violence services in the region.
• That ECLC target Community Legal Education to reflect legal needs of the Manningham community as identified by services and residents in the region.

ECLC thanks Manningham City Council and BATCH for their support of this outreach service.

To make an appointment for legal advice in Bulleen, please contact ECLC on 9285 4822.

Attachment:

Bulleen Outreach Service – Evaluation and Research Report

CEO Michael Smith stated “We are committed to providing an excellent legal service for the entire community and that includes newly arrived refugees and migrants. We especially want to build trust and learn what their legal needs are.”

As part of this process, ECLC spoke to members of newly-arrived communities. One person they spoke to arrived in Australia two years ago as a refugee from Chin State in Burma. He was persecuted by the military junta because he was a Christian. He told ECLC that it is important that the legal centre and his community “have a good, interrelated understanding of each other, like friends or family.”

Mr Smith said “We welcome anyone to contact our free legal service. If you think your English isn’t very good, we can provide an interpreter. And if we can’t help with your specific legal issue, we will refer you to someone who can.”

If you are newly arrived in Australia and think you may have a legal problem, please contact us.

ECLCs new Multicultural Policy is available for viewing here.

With the vision of Human Rights – Fairness – Justice, the new plan builds on the existing strengths of the Centre and affirms many areas of its current practice and priorities. It seeks to develop the Centre further by:

• Assisting communities and people not currently being reached (whether by location or other characteristics) through outreach and service development;
• Integrating a holistic approach that recognise people’s legal and broader needs and prioritises the most vulnerable communities;
• Developing tools to measure the effectiveness and efficiency of the work and focus quality improvement;
• Extending the systemic advocacy with an emphasis on the opportunities within the connections of the service’s delivery, development, education and research.

The plan identifies the key values of the Centre as:

• Respect – treating ourselves and others with dignity,honesty and appreciating diversity
• Compassion – being non-judgmental and supportive, showing empathy
• Advocacy – providing a voice for those who cannot advocate for themselves
• Safety – assuring confidentiality, showing courage
• Justice and Human Rights – access, equity, advocacy and empowerment
• Strong Governance and Assurance – open and transparent management and communication
• Resourcefulness and Practicality – finding solutions through working collaboratively
• Innovation and Entrepreneurship – encouraging implementing new ideas and strategies

The plan was developed through a process of review and consultation. For a copy of the plan, please feel free to contact the Centre.

The evening was hosted by ECLC Patron and Chief Magistrate, Ian Gray, who reaffirmed his admiration of volunteers and his commitment to improving both the services available and the experience of clients in the Eastern region.

This commitment was echoed by keynote speaker, the Hon. Mary Wooldridge, Minister for Mental Health, Women’s Affairs and Community Services, who left the audience reassured of a shared vision for Melbourne’s East.

For more information on volunteering with ECLC, visit www.eclc.org.au/volunteering

The National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC) is the association of state community legal centre organisations in Australia. Member organisations represent around 200 community legal centres nationally.

Michael had previously represented Victorian CLC’s on the Association. As National Convenor (essentially the National Chairperson) he will play a key role in supporting and assisting community legal centres to provide quality services, providing a national voice for CLCs and their clients, developing and co-ordinating national policy and advancing the interests of CLCs within Australia.

Helen Killmier, ECLC’s Chairperson commented, “The Board are excited for Michael in his appointment to this important national leadership role. This will provide him the opportunity to lead and contribute to national policy and work to strengthen the community legal sector within Australia through forums and service improvements. Congratulations to Michael from the Board and everyone at ECLC.”

Currently, the Outer East team in Boronia provides monthly outreach services to Healesville, Yarra Junction, Yarra Glen and Lilydale. These services are provided through strong partnerships that have been developed with EACH and the Yarra Valley Community Health Service. Although these outreach services are well attended, they fall well short of the needs of the community.

The number of Yarra Ranges clients accessing ECLC?s outer east team has increased dramatically over the past two years from 220 clients in 2008 to 553 clients seen in 2010 – a 130% expansion. Statistics suggest that 55% of these clients are accessing the legal service for assistance with family law and family violence issues, a key concern in the area.

Of even more concern is the number of young people between the ages of 12 and 25 accessing the Boronia office and outreach services, peaking at 56 young people in 2010 with more than 50% of these young people seeking assistance in relation to family or domestic violence issues.

Recently there has been considerable media attention around the proposal of the Yarra Ranges Council to introduce a by-law prohibiting sleeping in cars. With the high level of family violence and the need for families to seek temporary refuge in cars, combined with limited low cost housing options in the area, it is a concern to ECLC that some people with very special needs may be caught in this proposed by-law and disadvantaged even further when in actual fact what they need is more support.

Combined with the lack of affordable housing and the alarming statistics in relation to family violence, it is not surprising that the community is actively supporting the push for an additional ECLC office in the Yarra Ranges.
With a more accessible legal service in the Yarra Ranges, some of these needs could be met by providing more immediate assistance for clients wanting to use the court system to access intervention orders, along with explanations and support around how to feel safe if wanting to remain in their own home.

Lobbying will continue speaking to the new members of parliament for the Yarra Ranges along with key service providers and the funding body for the purpose of establishing an additional ECLC office in the Yarra Ranges.

“Older and Wiser’ includes 16 fact sheets covering key legal issues raised by older clients contacting the Centre and includes simple tips on what to ask yourself when faced with a legal issue. Produced by ECLC and the Balwyn Welfare Association with the support of the City of Boroondara and Rotary Club of Balwyn?s Community Grants Program, areas covered include financial, family, neighbourhood and consumer issues.

“Eastern Community Legal Centre is delighted to offer this free guide as a resource to seniors in our community”, said Michael Smith, CEO of ECLC. “Many people in our community need to access legal information and older residents are often facing these issues for the first time.?

Older and Wiser also links well with our commitment to seniors through our direct legal services and our partnership with Seniors Rights Victoria,? Mr. Smith said. Seniors Rights Victoria (SRV) is a free service that has been established to help prevent elder abuse and safeguard the rights, dignity and independence of older Victorians. It operates regular services at ECLC in Box Hill.

To celebrate the launch of this resource, ECLC is inviting community groups and agencies to host a free workshop on the topics covered in the guide. To book a workshop for your group, please contact the Community Development Team on 9285 4822. Groups and individuals can also obtain a free copy of Older and Wiser by visiting the Balwyn Welfare Association or contacting ECLC on 9285 4822.