'Having looked at the dire financial situation that Community Legal Centres are in across New South Wales, the meeting concluded that the only way to ensure that Community Legal Centres do not have to close their doors on July 1 this year, is for the federal government to reverse their funding cuts,' said Nassim Arrage, Chairperson, Community Legal Centres NSW and Principal Solicitor, Central Coast Community Legal Centre.
'If Community Legal Centres across New South Wales are forced to close from July 1, tens of thousands of disadvantaged Australians will miss out on receiving free legal advice,' said Mr Arrage.
'Community Legal Centres in New South Wales are already having to stop providing services and experienced lawyers are leaving the community legal sector,' said Mr Arrage.
‘Redfern Legal Centre has been told it stands to lose 50% of its legal casework capacity as of July 1. This will mean the closure of at least two of its practices. Its Police Complaints and Employment and Discrimination services are in danger of being shutdown,' said Jo Shulman, CEO at Redfern Legal Centre.
'Last year RLC's general legal team assisted more than 1000 clients. These cuts will mean that we will be turning away half of our current number of clients, not because they don’t have a valid case, but because we won’t have the capacity to assist them.’
‘RLC serves an historically disadvantaged community,’ She said. ‘Many of our clients are Aboriginal or from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, have intellectual or physical disabilities or other factors that make it difficult for them to gain access to justice.' said Jo Shulman. ‘These cuts mean we are shutting down what is often the only avenue for legal help to disadvantaged people in our community.’
'Our employment service is not just a vital recourse for justice for our community, it’s also cost effective. Through our pro-bono partnership with Clayton Utz, we are able to offer representation to many more disadvantaged clients than we could otherwise, through training and supervision of Clayton Utz pro bono solicitors at Fair Work,' said Jo Shulman.
‘As seen on ABC’s 7:30 Report last night on the story of Melissa Dunn and her treatment by the NSW Police Force, our police complaints practice is the only state wide service in NSW that focuses on police complaints. Losing this service will be felt across the state.’
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Redfern Legal Centre is a community legal centre providing a one-stop shop approach to accessing legal advice for vulnerable people.
Community Legal Centres NSW is the peak body for Community Legal Centres (CLCs) in NSW. It has 40 member organisations including generalist and specialist CLCs. CLCs deliver legal services to economically and socially disadvantaged individuals and communities.
