RLC Annual Report 2013
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ANNUAL REPORT 2013-2014 Redfern Legal Centre is an Acknowledgement independent, non- Redfern Legal Centre acknowledges that we work on Aboriginal profi t community land, tradi onally the home of the Gadigal people of the Eora Na on. We pay respect to elders past and present. centre dedicated to promo ng Editor: Nick Manning social jus ce and Photographs: Ella Semega-Janneh, Nick Manning, Sophie Farrell Design and prin ng: Jo Sievert, Thomson Reuters human rights. 2 Redfern Legal Centre Annual Report 2013-2014 Contents Welcome from our Chair 4 Message from our CEO 5 Our Special Thanks 6 Rock Trivia Fundraiser 8 Our Vision 10 Domes c Violence 11 Tenancy and Housing 14 Credit, Debt and Consumer Complaints 17 Police and Government Accountability 20 Discrimina on and Human Rights 22 Employment 24 Regional Legal Assistance 26 Interna onal Students 27 Sydney University Postgraduate Students 29 Sydney Ins tute of TAFE 31 Our Educa on, Engagement and Communica ons 32 Our Clients and Services (Sta s cs) 34 Our Board of Directors 35 Our Volunteers 36 Our Staff 38 Our Financials 40 Join Us! 47 73 Pi Street, Redfern NSW 2016 Phone: (02) 9698 7277, Fax: (02) 9310 3586, [email protected], www.rlc.org.au 3 Welcome from our Chair Redfern Legal Centre specialises in The shopfront of our Centre is open to leverage the goodwill of the wider legal six areas of law: domes c violence, the public and staff ed by volunteers. It community. tenancy, credit and debt, employment, is open from 9am fi ve days a week, and The support for the Centre was apparent discrimina on and complaints about un l 6pm most days. In addi on, the at our fi rst “Rock Trivia Fundraiser”, police and other governmental agencies, Centre off ers a free advice service four which was held this year. That night, the in addi on to providing generalist legal nights a week. That service is staff ed by excitement in the room was palpable. services to vulnerable clients, including volunteer solicitors and barristers. In the Staff met with those who established the interna onal students, and students from 2013 - 2014 fi nancial year, RLC benefi ed Centre. Old volunteers swapped stories the seven campuses of the University of from the support of over 300 volunteers, with new. And everyone put their hand Sydney and the eight campuses of the contribu ng 11,600 hours of work, which in their pocket to raise funds for their Sydney Ins tute of TAFE. we have conserva vely es mated at a beloved RLC. The fundraiser was a huge value of $2,160,000. With the excep on of our domes c success, not only because of the money violence and tenancy teams, our specialist Addi onally, each of our specialist teams raised, but because it reminded us all that areas are each staff ed by one solicitor, is supported by a partner law fi rm from our passion for the Centre is shared by and in the case of employment and the big end of town, who provides a many. discrimina on, one solicitor staff s both substan al amount of pro bono advice Thank you to everyone who has areas. Each staff member works relessly and support. The strength of our contributed to the Centre this year. to provide holis c assistance to their partnerships has enabled us to grow our Without your dedica on, diligence, clients, build rapport with the community, capacity to assist the most vulnerable. commitment and kindness, the Centre and build networks within the sector. For example, this year saw the expansion would not be able to assist the most Our staff are commi ed to delivering of our unfair dismissal and general vulnerable members of our community. quality legal services and community protec ons advocacy scheme. With the We are very grateful for your support. legal educa on, in addi on to iden fying invaluable assistance of Clayton Utz, we systemic issues and advoca ng for law are now able to provide representa on in reform. They are the backbone of the general protec ons concilia ons before Centre, and are inspiring. the Fair Work Commission, as well as unfair dismissal concilia ons. Given our limited number of staff , volunteers and pro bono support are We are indebted to our volunteers and essen al to our ability to deliver quality pro bono partners for their generosity legal services and to eff ect change and enthusiasm. Your support enables for our clients. The structure of the us to maximise the value of every dollar Amy Munro Centre enables us to use the generous invested in the Centre. I would urge those Chair of the Board contribu ons of the legal community who are considering reducing the funds to maximise the outcomes for the most allocated to the Centre to give great vulnerable. considera on to its unique ability to We are indebted to our volunteers and pro bono partners for their generosity and enthusiasm. Your support enables us to maximise the value of every dollar invested in the Centre. 4 Redfern Legal Centre Annual Report 2013-2014 Message from our CEO In another challenging year for Community that support our clients. This has been Another example is the policy work of the Legal Centres, RLC lost one-off funding made possible by funding from both the domes c violence team which contributed granted to us by the previous federal federal A orney-General’s Department to the current NSW reforms in delivering government’s A orney-General and gained Regional Legal Assistance Program and the services to women at threat. Our service one-off funding from the current federal City of Sydney Community Grants program. was chosen to run one of the two launch A orney-General. While we are s ll in the sites for the delivery of a local coordina on The federal Regional Legal Assistance unfortunate posi on of having uncertain point and safety ac on mee ngs in which Program funding also enables us to provide funding and having to employ staff on the police and government departments advice via videolink to interna onal temporary contracts, the addi onal funding work together to ensure the safety of students in partnership with UNE Armidale. has allowed us to maintain current staffi ng women at high risk. This year we were able to expand our levels and provide services in the six key assistance to clients of Coff s Harbour These are just some of the achievements areas of credit and debt, housing, domes c Neighbourhood Centre. This has been a of the Centre you can read about in more violence, police powers and administra on great case study of using new technology detail in the reports and case studies from law, employment and discrimina on. to make use of the pro bono resources we each team. Without the dedica on of our We have also been able to maintain our have access to at Redfern Legal Centre to staff and volunteers, our Board members statewide service to interna onal students provide assistance in regional areas. While who volunteer their me, our pro bono which is gaining recogni on as a highly Coff s Harbour has a Legal Aid service, it partnerships and the support from local, valuable, successful service, fi lling a gap in does not have a Community Legal Centre state and federal government as well as the need for legal services and helping to and there are many posi ves to having private funders, we would not be able to further NSW’s reputa on as a great place both of these services, including being able deliver these much needed services to for interna onal students to come to study. to advise where Legal Aid has a confl ict, our community. Thank you to all of those The Centre has accomplished many being able to use an interpreter in a face people and organisa ons for helping the things this year and con nued to develop to face interview who is not from the local Centre to go from strength to strength. I new ways of innova vely delivering legal community and being able to complement am so proud to work for an organisa on services to our clients and community. each other in the areas of advice we can that makes such a diff erence to the We launched our new website which, assist in. With that funding coming to an community and I look forward to another a er consul ng with focus groups and end we are currently trying to fi nd ways to year of achievements for the Centre. undertaking user tes ng, organises con nue delivering this service. informa on and resources in a far more Our staff are con nuously focussed on how user-friendly way. Through the website to best meet the changing needs of our people can now subscribe to our e-bulle n, community. Another achievement, in this make dona ons to the Centre or subscribe case by our tenancy team, has been the to our community worker mailing list to support and assistance to tenants at Millers receive informa on about our community Point, with the generous assistance of City worker training as well as informa on and of Sydney which allowed us to employ legal updates on areas of law they are addi onal staff to meet this new demand. Jacqui Swinburne par cularly interested in. Our staff have been a great support to Ac ng Chief Execu ve Offi cer Our community worker legal educa on the local community providing both legal training program has been very successful, informa on at community events and being delivered to large numbers of advice and support to residents on an community workers with very posi ve individual basis.