RLC in the media

Our solicitors Will Dwyer (Credit & Debt) and Linda Tucker (Employment & Discrimination) talked to Hannah Pett on FBI's Backchat about what the pending federal govt cuts to Community Legal Centres will mean to our clients.

Redfern Legal Centre has announced the closure of its International Student legal advice service later this year following cuts to much needed funding.

May 2015 - Australasian Lawyer Samantha Woodhill The 2014 Productivity Commission inquiry into access to justice recommended an additional $200m in funding for community legal centres, but the latest federal budget will force centres to endure further funding cuts.

'One of the nation's busiest community legal centres is on the verge of cutting half its staff.'

Community legal centres around Australia will no longer have their budgets slashed by $25.5 million over the next two years, federal Attorney General George Brandis announced last week in a reversal of cuts handed down in the 2014 budget.

DOOR-TO-DOOR selling, cold calling and other aggressive marketing tactics helped two private colleges sign up more than 10,000 students to expensive taxpayer-funded Business Diplomas in 2013, many of which will never be completed.

RLC's International Student solicitor, Kate Gauld, speaks to Widyan Al Ubudy of SBS World News Radio, on the particular vulnerabilities of international students in relation to work place rights.

JUST three days into its seven-week social media campaign to attract international students, Austrade had received 2000 entries with predictions the original estimate of 20,000 will be far exceeded.

Discussion about the proposed Human Rights and Anti-Discrimination legislation has been dominated by a debate on religious organisation exemptions and freedom of speech. There has been public outcry over religious organisations being exempt from the legislation and the ramifications for service provision to some of the most vulnerable people in Australia.

I sympathise with Michael Texilake's concerns (Letters, July 20), but many of his complaints can effectively be dealt with by existing legal remedies where the conduct is threatening or excessive. A more effective short-term solution to "music, burn-outs, fights and all-night public rampages" may be found in the Summary Offences Act and the Protection of the Environment Operations Act.