Rachael Natoli says that Redfern Legal Centre made "a massive difference to my life and the life of my boys".
"It was the first time that ASIC had ever acknowledged financial abuse had taken place," Ms Natoli said.
Three years later, she is the chief executive of her own charity, the Lokahi Foundation, which provides casework support services to survivors of domestic and family violence.
Redfern Legal Centre chief executive Joanne Shulman said the centre was now "looking at starting a service" directed solely at financial abuse cases.
NSW Attorney-General Mark Speakman won plaudits on Wednesday when he announced the state government's response to a review of CLC services, which was headed by NSW Law Reform Commission chair and former ASIC chief Alan Cameron.
The government accepted most of the review's 12 recommendations, including increasing annual funding to cover "critical gap areas". From 2019-20, state funding will increase to $12 million a year, an increase of more than 85 per cent from 2015-16 funding levels.
The government will also introduce a three-year funding cycle for CLCs, so they are no longer subject to the uncertainty of an annual funding model. A new application-based process would result in "transparent and targeted funding", Mr Speakman said.
Read the full Sydney Morning Herald article (SHM, 1 August 2018)
See also
NSW Government Supports Community Justice (Joint media release: RLC and CLCNSW)
