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11 Dec 2019

Welcome to new CLCNSW Chairperson, Arlia Fleming.

11 Dec 2019

 The Northern Rivers CLC led a CLSD project where young people made films about legal issues relevant to them.  Story provided by Katja McPherson, Solicitor, Northern Rivers CLC.

11 Dec 2019

 The opening plenary session of the November 2019 Quarterlies posed the question “Do we need to be different in 2022?” to get the sector’s thinking caps on well ahead of tendering for State and Commonwealth funding in 2022. Introduced and facilitated by outgoing Community Legal Centres NSW Chair Katrina Ironside, the plenary featured three compelling visions for the future of the community legal sector posed by three external allies of the sector: Professor Simon Rice, Director of Professional and Community Engagement at the University of Sydney, Anne Cregan, Partner at Gilbert + Tobin, and Geoff Mulherin, Director of the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW.

11 Dec 2019

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.

07 Nov 2019

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.

05 Nov 2019

26-27 November 2019 | The Community Legal Centres NSW Quarterlies are two-day community legal centre sector network and training opportunities held in Sydney four times a year.

31 Oct 2019

Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre is excited to have opened the doors to its second office, located in Coffs Harbour, with additional State funding. Coffs Harbour, Nambucca and Bellingen local government areas were identified by the Cameron Review in 2018 as a gap in community legal centre services.

16 Oct 2019

The University of Newcastle Legal Centre recently launched the Older Persons’ Legal Clinic as a response to the many elder law issues that arise. The service offers free legal advice and assistance to people aged 60 years and over, to people of indigenous descent aged 50 years and over, their families and carers.

08 Oct 2019

Submission to the CAG Family Violence Working Group consultation paper on Options for improving the family violence competency of legal practitioners

02 Oct 2019

Inner City Legal Centre, Kingsford Legal Centre, Marrickville Legal Centre, and Redfern Legal Centre have together established a new statewide service to address the employment exploitation of migrant workers.

01 Oct 2019

 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.

26 Sep 2019

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.

10 Sep 2019

How can Artificial Intelligence be used to improve access to justice? Marrickville Legal Centre is leading the charge on this technology to build a chatbot that will transform service delivery for community legal centres, thanks to a $250,000 investment from the NSW Government’s new Access to Justice Innovation Fund. 

29 Aug 2019

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.

27 Aug 2019

Every Thursday, Katrina Ironside, Senior Solicitor with Women’s Legal Service NSW, heads for the office of Bonnie Women’s Services in Canley Heights. Bonnie’s provides accommodation, crisis and other support services to women escaping domestic violence in the Fairfield and Liverpool areas of south-west Sydney.

20 Aug 2019

For justice advocates, Budget Estimates sessions provide an important opportunity to dig into the details of government policy and gain crucial information about priority areas of law reform. 

20 Aug 2019

We chat with Natalie Ross, who may be new to the role of Principal Solicitor at Welfare Rights Centre but has dedicated her career to working in the sector.

14 Aug 2019

26-29 August 2019 | This year's National CLCs Conference is being held in Brisbane on 26-29 August, hosted by Community Legal Centres Queensland. This year's theme is 'Power, Purpose, Possibilities'.