Victoria Legal Aid

Lawyers: Our Lawyer Census 2025 is your chance to tell us your experiences and opinions on uncivil behaviours – those unprofessional and harmful words and actions that can happen in the workplace. Why? To improve our understanding of lawyer wellbeing, and help us to better support the profession. All Victorian legal practitioners have been sent a link to the Lawyer Census 2025. Learn more about the census, and the other issues we're seeking your views on: https://lnkd.in/gBWyCJ6U

National Legal Aid is pleased to announce the launch of our 2024 Private Practitioners' Census Report. We will be hosting a hybrid event where attendees can join via Zoom or in-person in Sydney. You can register your attendance by using the link included in the event page. We hope to see you there!

Yesterday we welcomed our new CEO Toby Hemming at an event held at our Dandenong office on Bunurong Country and online. We were pleased to learn more about Toby, his background and his vision and priorities for our organisation. Thank you to Fatima Arjumand Mir, Regional Manager in Dandenong, for hosting the session and Q&A with Toby. Over the coming months, Toby will be visiting all our offices around Victoria, meeting with stakeholders and getting a first-hand insight into the work of our staff and services. 

A new report by our Equality Law Program details their reflections of facilitating a reference group including people with lived experience of workplace sexual harassment. Walk Beside Us also captures key learnings on providing a trauma informed and survivor-centred legal service. The report was launched last week as part of our specialist workshop in sexual harassment litigation, with a guest panel of women from the reference group sharing invaluable insights and recommendations. To read more, visit https://lnkd.in/gkb7ff6U

Support for flexible work arrangements is part of our Gender Equality Action Plan and commitment to creating a more equitable workplace. Hear from Chambers advocates Danielle Lamovie and Iresha Siriwardana who share how working flexibly has helped them balance their careers with family and caring responsibilities.  https://lnkd.in/gRFuezym

Victoria Legal Aid's South West are proud to introduce our new Aboriginal Community Engagement Officer Team Leader, Nikki Foy. Nikki is a proud Gunditjmara/Wotjobaluk woman and has lived and worked on Wathaurong Country most of her life, working with community and broader stakeholders for over 28 years. Last week, Nikki and some of the Ballarat crew attended an event at Ballarat & District Aboriginal Co-operative (BADAC), to mark the 17th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generation. Nikki reflected that the day raises mixed emotions for many First Nations People. The Ballarat team had the honour and privilege to hear from both Uncle Murray Harrison and Uncle Poss Clark, who are survivors of the Stolen Generation and who continue to tell their stories. If you would like to hear Uncle Murray Harrison's story, you can visit: https://lnkd.in/gXS2dUHB Thanks to Ballarat & District Aboriginal Co-operative (BADAC), Cafs and Ballarat City Council for co-hosting this event. Nikki Foy Stacy Lovett - Kanoa Erin Churchill Robert Brown Shakirah Ilsley Peter Noble Jodie Cheeseman Ashley Morris

In the last financial year, the Victorian courts dealt with more than 146,000 listings related to family violence. There are now 13 specialist family violence courts in operation across the state with more due to open later this year. An evaluation of the legal services set up to support Victoria’s first five specialist family violence courts demonstrates the important role holistic legal assistance plays in addressing gender-based violence in Australia. The services are provided by Victoria Legal Aid and community legal centres who hope to extend the model to all specialist family violence courts across the state. ‘The evaluation demonstrates that legal services with a holistic approach have a key role to play in improving the safety of women and children in Australia who are experiencing family violence,’ said our Associate Director Family Violence, Sharika Jeyakumar. [$] https://lnkd.in/gXEf9HxT

Today marks the 17th anniversary of the National Apology to the Stolen Generations. The apology is an important moment in our shared history that acknowledges the devastating impacts of past government policies that led the forced removal of Aboriginal children and provides an opportunity for healing for First Nations people, particularly members of Stolen Generations. Seventeen years ago, Prime Minister Kevin Rudd said ‘The time has now come for the nation to turn a new page in Australia’s history by righting the wrongs of the past and so moving forward with confidence to the future.’   According to SNAICC - National Voice for our Children’s latest Family matters report, First Nations children in Victoria are now 17.7 times more likely to be in out-of-home care than non-Indigenous children. Over the past decade, this figure has continued to rise steadily. Victoria has the second highest rate of forced removals of First Nations children in the country, exposing families to ongoing cycles of harm and trauma. The past remains with us. We see this play out every day in our work and know that meaningful action is needed to reduce the number of First Nations kids who are taken away from their families at alarmingly high rates.  Initiatives like Marram-Ngala Ganbu (Koori Family Hearing Day), the Community protecting Boorais pilot and the expanded Aboriginal Children in Aboriginal Care program demonstrate the positive change First Nations-led solutions can make. The work of Aboriginal legal services and remains crucial. We call for increased support for them, other First Nations community-controlled services and the immediate  implementation of all recommendations in the Yoorrook for Justice report. Read SNAICC’s 2024 Family matters report https://lnkd.in/ga8Bmx_P VACCA - Victorian Aboriginal Child and Community Agency Ballarat & District Aboriginal Co-operative (BADAC) Bendigo & District Aboriginal Co-operative Gippsland and East Gippsland Aboriginal Co-operative Ltd NJERNDA ABORIGINAL CORPORATION Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service DjirraVIC #VoiceTreatyTruth #BringingThemHome #NationalApology

'Bringing them Home' is a report published in 1997 which investigated the forced removal of Indigenous children from their families. Almost 30 years since the inquiry, only 5 out of 83 recommendations have been implemented by governments and institutions.  The Healing Foundation has issued an urgent call to implement the recommendations in full to prevent further ‘distress’ and ‘damage’ for survivors and their families. https://lnkd.in/g23kKBNJ

Any consideration of changes to Victoria’s bail laws or other related laws and policies must include meaningful consultation with the legal assistance sector, Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and the Aboriginal Justice Caucus.   There is clear evidence about what works to reduce offending rates and this should be the focus if changes are being considered by the state government. Any changes should focus on tackling the causes of crime, and reducing the disproportionate impact the criminal system has on First Nations people in Victoria. Read our statement https://lnkd.in/gFpCNhD2