Community legal centres around the country celebrated Attorney General George Brandis’s announcement that funding cuts due to take effect on 1 July 2017 would be reversed. 

The decision comes as a result of the collaborative efforts over 3 years of CLCs, community organisations, the legal profession, service users, politicians and prominent people, and in particular, the National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC). 

That’s the good news…the bad news is that we don’t yet know how the reinstated funds will be allocated in the Northern Territory.  Despite this, DCLS remains committed to providing high quality, easily accessible legal assistance to people who couldn’t otherwise afford it.
 
But wait, there’s more good news!  We are very excited to announce 2 new projects: Elder Abuse Prevention and NDIS Appeals.
 

We have received funding from the NTG for one year to establish an Elder Abuse Prevention Project.  The project will focus on increasing community awareness of Elder Abuse, and will provide information and assistance to people experiencing or at risk of Elder Abuse.
 

With the roll out of the NDIS in the Northern Territory underway, we are delighted to announce that we have received funding for an NDIS Appeals Advocate to work in our Seniors and Disability Rights team (formerly known as Aged and Disability Advocacy Service). This work will compliment our general NDIS advocacy work.

 
Tech update.  We’ve recently changed our email system -  emails to our old addresses will still be delivered and you will receive an auto reply containing the new address.  Our general email is still info@dcls.org.au.
 
On a personal note, I have resigned as Executive Director of DCLS and accepted a position with the NT Council of Social Service which I begin this August.   It’s been a privilege working at DCLS, an organisation that aligns with my values and provides such important services to the community.
 

Our Tenants Advice Service (TAS) has identified two major issues affecting people in the NT, tenancy data bases (aka blacklists), and problems around payment and refund of bonds.  TAS is preparing a submission to the NTG in relation to these issues and is running a public survey to gather valuable insights,
 

The General Legal Service team has recently achieved a number of significant victories for our clients.
In relation to Adult Guardianship we have identified a significant service gap that is affecting many families who are caring for adults who require substitute decision makers.  We are concentrating efforts in this area and are assisting a growing number of clients in adult guardianship matters, both in the Local Court (old rules) and in the Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal.  

The GLS team continues to work on credit and debt matters, including sharp business practices and unfair contracts, often for clients who have language and literacy difficulties.   We have also been working in partnership with other DCLS teams in specific topical areas.  One such area is landlord’s insurance, where GLS lawyers are partnering with Tenancy Solicitors in response to wrongful insurance claims being made against tenants.  

Another partnership area is the NDIS, where GLS lawyers work closely with our Aged and Disability Advocacy Service to address any legal aspects that arise during the roll out of the NDIS in the NT and the implementation of Appeals processes.

Solicitors, barristers and law students of Darwin please lend us your ears.

We are looking for talented and enthusiastic solicitors, barristers and law students keen to make a difference in the area of social justice and assist some of the most disadvantaged members of our community. The Darwin Community Legal Service is a not for profit non-Government organisation that provides free legal advice, casework, community legal education and undertakes some law reform work in a range of legal areas.

Please contact Maureen on (08) 8982 1111or info@dcls.org.au to learn more.

In addition to regular case and advocacy work the Tenants Advice Service has been developing a campaign to improve protections for tenants against unfair and onerous listings on Residential Tenancy Databases (RTDs), known as blacklists.   The NT is the last jurisdiction in Australia to improve legislation in this regard and we are confident that with time and effort our campaign will result in significant reforms.

As part of Law Week 2017 we delivered a presentation on this topic to an invited group of people from partner agencies and we are in the process of refining model legislation.   Advocate Katherine Shaw has been active in the media, conducting interviews with ABC Radio Darwin which can be listened to here. ABC Radio also interviewed Quentin Kilian, CEO of the Real Estate Institute of the NT and Philip Nounnis, Managing Director at TICA Default Tenancy Control Pty (the largest RTD operating in NT).

The Seniors and Disability Rights team is based in Darwin and regularly visits Katherine, Nhulunbuy and other locations across the Top End of the NT. ADAS operates the Elder Abuse Information Line – 1800 037 072. It is a free, confidential and independent service which anyone can call for advice.

We have been tackling some hard issues relating to the social and cultural challenges of talking with people about elder abuse. In response, we are moving towards a change of messaging in our outreach work, using the term elder security and safety as opposed to elder abuse.   The ADAS team has been proactively engaged in the development of policy and practice in this area, contributing a presentation to the Aged Care Quality Agency Forum and to the Office of Senior Territorians.

Another focus area has been the rollout of the National Disability Insurance Scheme in East Arnhem.  We attended a very constructive data exchange workshop hosted by the Department of Social Security at the Darwin Disability Awareness Festival which was a positive step towards improving inter-agency cooperation. In partnership with the Older Persons Advocacy Network we successfully tendered for funding from the National Aged Care Advocacy program.  These funds will be used to employ a full-time solicitor to assist our work in this area.

The Communications and Outreach team was involved in Law Week 2017. With support from the Law Society NT we delivered our popular interactive workshop ‘Identifying legal issues for your clients’ to 70 service providers.  Scenarios vigorously discussed by attendees focussed on housing, workplace rights, discrimination and credit and debt issues.

We also worked with the Tenancy Advice Service, helping launch their Residential Tenancy Database reform campaign, with an afternoon tea and overview of the issues facing NT tenants.

Youth Week was busy for DCLS - an information stall and interactive quiz at Anglicare’s popular couch surfing races was well attended and NT Electoral Commission’s ‘Democracy Dash’ event, a student race to visit service providers, was great fun. Teams of students visited our office to play our ‘Human Rights Are Aussie Rules’ handball game and participate in a quiz about civil law issues. Students were awarded prizes for participating and have vowed to come back stronger and faster for the 2018 Democracy Dash!

School Expos Darwin High School’s Healthy Living Expo and Casuarina Secondary College’s Student Expo were both attended by hundreds of students who interacted with our stalls, quizzes and human rights handball game – a great success!

Our objective is to create informative, valuable communications.  We encourage you to share your thoughts about our newsletter and invite suggestions and ideas for improving it.  Please contact the Communications and Outreach Manager on (08) 8982 11111or info@dcls.org.au