Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated ABN: 93 984 383 421

www.advocacylaw.org.au

Advocating for fairness.

Annual Report 2014-2015

www.da.org.au www.mncclc.org.au

(Head Office: 408 King Newcastle West NSW 2302 Phone: 02 4924 3599 email: [email protected] )

Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Advocacy Law Alliance Inc (ALA)

The story of Advocacy Law Alliance (ALA) began in Tamworth NSW in 1985 where a small group of locals set up an association to advocate for people with an intellectual disability (Citizen Advocacy Northwest). In 1994, Disability Advocacy Service Hunter (DASH) was established in Newcastle NSW to advocate for all people with a disability and mental illness. In 2006, DASH and Advocacy Northwest joined forces to become Disability Advocacy NSW (DA) and gradually expanded to cover the region.

Mid North Coast advocates found that the region was one of the few in NSW that did not have a community legal centre that could ensure disadvantaged people (including people with a disability) get fair access to justice. DA advocates worked over a number of years with local groups to research legal needs and gather relevant evidence to show that a community legal centre should be based on the Mid North Coast. In 2010 the Commonwealth and NSW governments offered funds to establish a community legal centre in . Disability Advocacy NSW was the successful applicant in an open tender and the doors of the new Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre opened in mid 2011.

We believe the strength of our organisation lies in combining the expertise of different professions (lawyers, social workers, disability workers) to achieve the best outcomes for our disadvantaged clients.

To reflect the diversity of the services it provided and the alliance between legal and social advocacy, Disability Advocacy NSW changed its name to Advocacy Law Alliance Inc and registered the business names Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre and Disability Advocacy NSW.

ALA operates in the regional and rural areas of the Hunter, Mid North Coast and New England regions of NSW. The service covers over 120,000 square kilometres and services a population of over 1 million people. ALA has offices in Newcastle, Port Macquarie, Tamworth, , and Armidale.

Advocacy Law Alliance (ALA)

Disability Advocacy NSW Mid North Coast (DA) Community Legal Centre (MNCCLC)

Hunter, New England & Taree, Port Macquarie, Kempsey Mid North Coast Regions Local Government Areas

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Funding

Disability Advocacy NSW

 Department of Social Services (DSS)  NSW Department of Family and Community Services (ADHC)

DSS and Ageing Disability & Home Care (ADHC) are the main funding contributors to DA NSW.

DA has also received funding support from the following organisations to assist in the operation of special projects:

 Legal Aid NSW o Hunter – Cooperative Legal Service Delivery Project

Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre

 Commonwealth Attorney General’s Department and Legal Aid NSW o Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre.

 The Law and Justice Foundation of NSW o Reach Out Project

ALA thanks all of these organisations for their support this year.

ALA Board, Staff and Members Profile at 30 June 2015

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I have had broad experience in government and community welfare, having worked at Commonwealth and State levels, and as a Local Government Councillor. I have been a 'hands-on' manager of an accommodation service for disabled men, University Chair Richard Dash lecturer and TAFE teacher, a volunteer advocate, a Trade Union official, a committee member of organisations such as Landcare, Arts Council and Catchment Management. I have recently been Vice President of another Community Legal Centre (3.5 years). For the last nine years my day job has been as a tenants' advocate. I have over 20 years’ experience across the not-for- profit sectors as a Senior Manager and Business Improvement Executive, specialising in corporate governance, business excellence, program management and stakeholder engagement. I hold a Master’s Degree in Management, and a Diploma in Project Management, Workplace Counselling and Public Participation. I value servicing the community through both my professional work and volunteering Vice Chair Jane Mendelson my personal time. Jaclyne Fisher retired from fulltime work at Port Macquarie-Hastings Council in October 2014. During her five years with Council Jaclyne worked as the Group Manager Community Engagement and Planning for two years and the Group Manager Community Development for three years. These responsibilities included developing and implementing the integrated planning and reporting framework at Council, implementing community engagement, communications and customer service as well as managing the libraries, community grants program, social planning and a range of community development functions for Council. Prior to working at Council, Jaclyne was a Senior Executive with the Australian Customs and Border Protection Service for over 10 years working in various regions in Australia, as well as working with the Australian Taxation Office for two years with extensive experience in managing diverse operational teams to deliver outcomes. Jaclyne also worked with Ernst and Young as an indirect taxation senior manager. Jaclyne holds a Bachelor of Commerce from the UNSW and a Masters of Business Administration from the University of Queensland/Mt Eliza Business School. She has also undertaken training in social planning at the University of Technology NSW Secretary Jaclyne Fisher and community engagement with IAP2. I have been working as an accountant for 30 years, Robert both in private practice and in commerce. I am Treasurer Carrington currently working for a firm of Chartered Accountants

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in Tamworth. I worked for a disability service provider for 8 years in a finance / IT role. I have been a director of the Northern Inland Credit Union for the past 8 years. My skills are basically a long term board member on several NSW and Federal Government Boards dealing with regional development and community issues. I have chair several community organisations and have been he President of Newcastle and Cardiff Panthers as well as serving as a board member on the Panthers Group. I have extensive experience in the industrial relations area and in Occupational Health And Safety in my past role as the Secretary of the Newcastle Trades Board Hall Council, and previously as the NSW President of Member Gary Kennedy the Communications Workers Union I currently hold a Bachelor of Commerce with majors in Financial Accounting, and Management Accounting and Business law, and a minor in Human Resource Management. I have for the past 8 years been the manager of a University student Access Centre. This position requires management, HR, Accounting, organizational and OH&S skills. Prior to this position I had worked, over a 30 year period, in both public and private practice accounting. Many of these positions were in a managerial role. Through Advocacy North Board West I was a volunteer advocate for a person with a Member Margaret Keane disability (I retired as Treasurer of ALA post 30 June). I retired in March 2012 after over 41 years as a Federal public servant, the last 20 as a Senior Executive. During this time I worked in several Departments, in a range of administrative and managerial roles, in Melbourne, Sydney and Canberra. My last position involved managing over 1,000 staff in five different locations, and an annual budget of over $85 million. I have a Law degree from Macquarie University and a Master of Business Administration degree from Monash University. As a retiree now living in Port Stephens, I see my role on the Board as providing me with the opportunity to contribute to ALA’s important work Board using the skills and experience I developed during my Member Gayle Brown career. I have a law degree from ANU, graduating in 1978. I was admitted as a solicitor and barrister of the ACT Supreme Court. I worked as a legal officer in a number of Federal Departments. I also worked as an advocate in the fields of public law and international law. I have extensive management experience. After retirement I Board moved to the Mid North Coast and have become Member George Hegarty involved in a number of community groups. Board I have a Diploma in Community Services (Disability) and Member Steven Lord a Diploma in Government (Management). I worked as a

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Disability Advocate for ten years before moving to the Anti-Discrimination Board, with the Department of Justice, as a Conciliator in 2005 where I continue to work. During my time as a Disability Advocate I was also Chairman of the Central West Special Needs Centre, which provided several disability services. In addition I was a Community Representative on the Regional Advisory Group (Disability) for ADHC. I have also done work as an Access Consultant. Currently I am part of the Staff with Disability Network for the Department of Justice which I have been part of since I started with the Department in 2005.

Thanks also go to retiring Vice Chair Ross Pfenningwerth.

Members ALA has approximately 50 members. The majority are people who have used the services with the remainder made up of interested members of the public, volunteers and staff members.

ALA Staff Mark Grierson (Chief Executive Officer); Catherine Peek (Executive Officer – Legal Advocacy).

DA Staff Darcy Burgess (Executive Officer – Social Advocacy); and Maureen Bloemers (Admin and Finance Officer), Ndinawe Mtgonga (Advocacy Coordinator and EMR Support).

Hunter Region: Greg Williams (Hunter Regional Coordinator); Susan Wilcox (Advocate & CLSD Regional Coordinator); Jo Blundell (Intake Officer); Ben Hamilton (Advocate & EMR Support); and Diannia King (Admin and Client Services Assistant).

Volunteers: Bill Jackson, David Whittaker and Erin McOnie

New England Region: Helen Sutherland (Regional Coordinator); Shaun Peters (Tamworth Advocate); Chris Foord (Armidale Advocate); Melinda Ashton (Admin Assistant); and Susan Ridley (Admin Assistant).

Volunteers: Linda Hutchings and Sandy Moylan

Mid North Coast Region: Belinda Garvey (Regional Coordinator/Advocate); Robert Manwaring (Coffs Harbour Advocate); Marita Dahlhausen (Port Macquarie Advocate); and Fran Pearce (Intake Officer/ Advocate).

MNCCLC Staff Jane Titterington (Principal Solicitor); Melanie Kallmier (Admin and Projects Officer), Eugene Renard (Solicitor); Russell Cavanagh (Aboriginal Access Officer); Patrick Hourigan (Solicitor); Liz Jokantas (Admin and Client Services Assistant) and Tim Bauer (Admin and Client Services Assistant).

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Volunteers: Liz Jokantas (UNE) Legal Assistant and PLT (ANU); Kathy Dibbs (SCU) Legal Assistant; Sarah Hamilton (PLT program, College of Law); Natalie Cooper (SCU) Legal Assistant; Tim Bauer (MacqU) Legal Assistant; Rob Oakeshott (MacqU) Legal Assistant; David Gunter (Newcastle Uni) Legal Assistant; Bishoy Elias (PLT, College of Law); Peter Alley (SCU), Legal Assistant; Maura Stanley (TAFE NSW), Legal Assistant; Megan Baldwin (College of Law) PLT; Jonathon Paff (College of Law) PLT; Gerard Shea (College of Law) PLT.

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ALA Chairperson’s Report Richard Dash

This year I would like to pay particular tribute to our staff.

Advocacy Law Alliance is very fortunate to have such a great group of workers.

With superior leadership and support our organization is providing excellent, valuable service to its various clients – advocating, advising and supporting as appropriate.

ALA (as DA and now incorporating MNCCLC) has a proud history of positive outcomes for individual clients and groups, and bringing about systemic change.

Organisations such as ours cannot succeed without hardworking and dedicated volunteers – I would like to sincerely thank you all for your contribution.

The rest of the Board and I express our appreciation for the efforts and achievements of the whole team – all our workers in all our locations.

Once again, and for the last time, we would offer our profound thanks to Margaret Keene, who has been so valuable to ALA, but has had to leave us because of a move interstate. We won’t forget you Marg.

ALA Treasurer’s Report Rob Carrington

This report is written in relation to the Financial Report for the year ended 30th June, 2015 of Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated. The Financial Report has been compiled, and audit conducted, by Erminio Adoranti of Adoranti & Co Pty. Ltd. The Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre audit was conducted by R A Evans. The Audit Reports are contained at the end of this document.

Profit and Loss Statement Income for the 2015 financial year totalled $1,983,871.25 (2014 $1,894,248). The majority of this income was received from funding provided by government and non-government organisations. Bank interest contributed $14,087.35 (2014 $22,315) to this amount. Reported expenditure for the period totalled $1,948,440.10 (2014 $1,764,327). This resulted in a net surplus for the financial year of $35,431.87 (2014 $129,921). When non cash items being depreciation $68,432 and loss on sale of non current assets $2,566 are added back the cash surplus is $106,429. The single largest difference between this year’s surplus and last year’s is the increase in payroll & recruitment expenses of $226,026.

Assets and Liabilities Assets for the reporting period totalled $847,396.70 (2014 $670,596) of which $602,447.55 (2014 $411,864) are held in bank accounts. Liabilities totalled $366,957.95 (2014 $223,589), leaving the Association with Net Assets of $482,438.75 (2014 $447,006). It should be noted that Provisions for Annual and Long Service Leave contribute significantly to the Association’s liabilities. A term deposit is in place to cover a major proportion of this liability.

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Overview Even with the uncertainty of funding in 2016 and onward, ALA is still considered to be in a sound financial position. In assessing an organisation’s liquidity it is advisable to look at the organisation’s Net Working Capital Ratio (Current Assets minus Current Liabilities) and Current Ratio (Current Assets divided by Current Liabilities). At the 30th June, 2015 ALA had a Net Working Capital of $281,535 and a Current Ratio of 1.85. As this ratio is greater than 1 ALA is considered to be in a strong position to be able to meet its financial commitments if and when they fall due.

The management and staff of ALA should therefore be commended for their financial stewardship of the organisation.

ALA Chief Executive Officer’s Report Mark Grierson

Staff have extensively contributed to this report as a place to document and showcase what we do with the funding we receive each year. They have provided detailed statistics, case studies and descriptions of education, systemic advocacy and law reform work. It is important to get our clients a fair go but it is also important to document how we go about it in a professional manner.

While non government sector continues in a period of significant policy and environmental change, the organisation has planned around a number of future scenarios and is in a good position to continue to grow and provide quality services to people with a disability and other disadvantaged groups.

ALA has continued to work on providing high quality professional services, yet we still focus and providing a human and responsive to service to people who deserve a fair go.

Accreditation ALA has worked hard over the last few years to improve the quality and professionalism of our service. Proof of this is that in 2012 both DA and MNCCLC have been independently audited against the quality standards and on both occasions have received accreditation. In November 2014 DA has again had an independent accreditation audit and is the first disability advocacy service to achieve both NSW and Australian accreditation. DA was re- accredited for compliance against the National Standards for Disability Services in September 2015 with a complete all of service audit

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MNCCLC: DA NSW: National NACLC Accreditation (NSDS) National Standards for Disability Services & NSW Disability Service Standards

ALA has put a lot of effort into ensuring that people who use our services can openly provide feedback about their experiences. The feedback received has been overwhelmingly positive thanks to the professionalism and dedication of our staff. However when we receive negative feedback or input from clients or stakeholders, we are always keen to examine our practices and look for improvements.

The Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre is now in now well established. Our staff members at MNCCLC have worked hard to establish the Centre and make it an important place for disadvantaged people to get professional and timely legal advice. The staff members are now working towards providing more community legal education and other projects in an attempt to short circuit common legal problems faced by people in the region.

ALA, through DA, employs qualified skilled and independent advocates to ensure people with a disability are treated fairly. Some of our advocates have a disability themselves and have developed advocacy skills through traineeships offered by the organisation. ALA, though the MNCCLC, has employed lawyers and staff with legal qualifications to assist a range of disadvantaged groups, including people with a disability and indigenous communities.

I would like to take this opportunity to thank all staff, board members and volunteers for their work this year.

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Disability Advocacy NSW (DA)

Disability Advocacy NSW is located in the Hunter, New England and Mid North Coast regions of NSW Australia and believes that people with a disability have the same rights (and responsibilities) as non-disabled people. We aim to ensure that people with a disability obtain these rights in practice by advocating with them and for them.

Disability Advocacy NSW is for people with: . mental illness . neurological disability . physical disability . brain injury . sensory disability . intellectual disability . their family or carers

Advocates seek to assist people with a disability who have been treated unfairly. (As a guideline, a person with a disability is treated unfairly if he or she is treated contrary to: law, human rights, policy, standards or well accepted conventions such as procedural fairness/natural justice).

Put in another way, advocacy is about 'standing by' someone, or 'speaking out' for someone's rights, or 'going in to bat' for another person - being 'on their side', especially when the chips are down." (Ian Parsons, 1994).

Philosophy

DA believes that people with a disability have the same rights and responsibilities as non- disabled people.

Aim

DA aims to ensure that people with a disability obtain these rights in practice by advocating with and for them.

Strategies

The Service will use a combination of four strategies to meet its aim.

1. Individual Advocacy: Assisting individuals to deal with disadvantage and unfair treatment.

2. Systemic Advocacy: Assisting individuals or groups to deal with recurrent or systemic problems that relate to disability. This strategy may involve assisting people to

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undertake community action such as lobbying decision-makers or by using community development strategies to reduce disadvantage.

3. Community Education: Actively educate the community about disability in order to reduce disadvantage and discrimination faced by people with a disability. This strategy will promote the abilities of people with a disability.

4. Information: Provision of information services to ensure that people with a disability and those who support them have the best access to relevant information and resources.

Disability Advocacy NSW - Service Report

DA is funded by the and Australian governments to carry out a range of advocacy services for people with a disability. DA also uses its own resources and special grants to operate other programs. This report looks at the number of people we have assisted and the types of advocacy assistance provided. However for a view of what clients think about the service, please see survey results at the end of this report and on our website www.da.org.au .

A great source of up-to-date information is our public social media pages: Disability Advocacy NSW Facebook Twitter

Executive Officer – Social Advocacy Darcy Burgess

This past year with DA NSW has been an ideal learning experience for me. I am continually amazed at the dedication, motivation and innovation of DA staff to assist and empower people with disability. I have had an abundance of support from the ALA executive team and the Advocacy Coordinator that has enabled me to perform functions aligned with the ALA strategic plan.

Some of the improvements that the DA team has successfully implemented through the year is an updated Intake procedure in order to provide timely and quality service provision to our clients, in addition to, some changes to priority ratings, initial contact dates and timeframes to not only provide quality timely service but to enhance standardisation of service across the regions. Through consultation, the DA team has also made improvements to and updated the DA Practice Manual to provide the pillars of best practice Advocacy and again enhance the standardisation of service delivery across the regions.

The DA NSW team has been reviewing the Disability Advocacy NSW Business Plan 2014 – 2017 to monitor the progress, outcomes and ongoing relevance of identified strategies. DA are having a number of second tier meetings with Regional Coordiantors to discuss ongoing strategies and hope to finalise and update the DA business plan at our all ALA day in November 2015.

Through continuing funding uncertainty the DA team is forging ahead with collective strategies to overcome some of the scenarios that could play out for the service in the next few years. One success has been in securing additional funding to provide External Merits review support to the Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Hawkesbury and Penrith Local Government

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Areas, in addition to, receiving a request from a like minded service to provide a proposal to merge.

As part of ALA’s strategic ongoing improvement we have implemented a HR solution tool (enableHR) that simplifies day to day HR and WHS responsibilities. EnableHR supports ALA with a best practice integrated framework in relation to recruitment, complaince, WHS, performance, onboarding, and staff retention. ALA’s WHS management system now includes comprehensive hazard management, incident management, consultation, workplace audit tools, policies, templates and reporting.

I look forward to continuing to work through challenges with DA and the wider ALA team in the months and years to come.

Advocacy Coordinator Report Ndinawe Mtonga

This past year has been a challenging but exciting one for DA, with one of the major changes being the creation of the new position of Executive Officer – Social Advocacy. This has helped streamline the organisation’s processes. DA has also seen a number of staff changes across all regions, farewelling old colleagues and welcoming new faces to the team.

Training and Networking

DA staff during planning day in Port Macquarie (May 2015)

DA made a two day trip to Port Macquarie for an All DA Planning Meeting and staff training in May 2015. It was a good way to allow new staff to meet those from the other regions. On 13 May 2015, DA staff had a successful team building and planning activity session. Future planning regarding DA’s endurance in the current changing disability environment was also discussed. On the next day DA staff discussed the NDIS. Hunter staff shared their knowledge of the scheme to help address the training needs of other regions. During the second half of that morning Jane Selwood, a senior legal officer from FaCS, provided training to staff regarding the Disability Inclusion Act.

DA has continued to network with other organisation to explore ways to improve service delivery to clients. Past networking with IDAS has resulted in collaboration between the two organisations to provide External Merits Review support in areas DA was not previously funded to service. Refer to External Merits Review update below.

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External Merits Review Program Update To date, DA has assisted five clients to appeal NDIS matters to the AAT. Two of those matters concerned access to the scheme while the other three were in regards to clients wanting to challenge the National Disability Insurance Agency’s decision to exclude certain supports from their plans. One of DA’s EMR matters which was unsuccessful at the AAT, successfully appeal to the Federal Court. This matter has now been remitted back to the AAT for a re-decision.

EMR staff continue to participate in teleconferences with other EMR staff in other regions on a monthly basis to identify ways to improve service delivery and share knowledge around this new area of disability funding. EMR staff also participate in annual meetings with all stakeholders involved in the EMR program, for example DSS, Legal Aid, the AAT and other EMR organisations.

DA advocacy Staff at EMR stakeholders’ meeting in Melbourne (September 2015)

DA’s ongoing relationship with Indigenous Disability Advocacy Service (IDAS), which began with an MOU in 2008, has now been cemented with DA and IDAS recently being awarded funding to provide EMR support for the roll out of the NDIS in the Blue Mountains, Lithgow, Hawkesbury and Penrith Local Government Areas.

CLSD project The Cooperative Legal Service Delivery (CLSD) Program is a regionally-based approach which aims to improve legal service delivery outcomes for economically and socially disadvantaged people including people with disabilities.

ALA is the regional coordination agency for this project. Susan Wilcox is the Hunter Regional CLSD Coordinator.

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The CLSD Program is a regionally-based approach which aims to improve legal service delivery outcomes for economically and socially disadvantaged people including people with disabilities.

In the Hunter ALA is the coordination agency for this project. Susan Wilcox is the Hunter Regional CLSD Coordinator.

Key activities this year included:

 Participation in the orientation day for international students at Newcastle TAFE  Law Week 2015 – information session about internet safety and a legal information expo  Opening doors drama workshop at the Regional Youth Development Officers Network Conference  Young people and AVOs (Apprehend Violence Orders) – information about AVOs, breaches and the consequences of a breach for young people (development stage)  A CLSD partner meeting about legal needs of young people  Information session about tenancy for TAFE students with a culturally & linguistically divers background

Systemic Advocacy Hunter The Hunter continues to work on their systemic project concerning the NDIS. In addition to the ongoing bi-monthly meetings that DA Advocates have with a senior member from the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA), DA has engaged in heavy marketing regarding advocacy assistance under the NDIS and EMR support specifically. This marketing has been achieved through media releases, radio interviews and the distribution of NDIS specific brochures as well as DA promotional material.

The Hunter also has a new systemic project regarding subpoenas of DA client files made during legal proceedings. On a few occasions DA has had their client files subpoenaed by the other party in care and protection matters, family law proceedings and vehicle accident claims for clients they have been assisting. This has resulted in DA client’s being disadvantaged, for example the other side’s solicitors have obtained information about solicitors’ advice given to the DA client, even though this information would be privileged.

This project involves obtaining legal advice from the pro-bono firm Ashurst about this issue. The advice obtained will be used to tailor information sessions for advocates and other organisations that support clients in legal matters to advise appropriate note taking techniques and/or their right to challenge the subpoena under an extended privilege claim.

Mid-North Coast The Mid-North Coast’s systemic project continues to be the Disability Information Hubs in Coffs Harbour and the Education Hub in Port Macquarie. These hubs are intended to provide education and support for persons with disabilities, their carers and other family members so as to strengthen their self-advocacy skills. The hubs enable people with disabilities to have a common place to meet, share their own experiences/ideas with others and get advice from DA and other services present.

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The info hub in Coffs Harbour will continue to occur every first Thursday of every month between 10:00am – 12:00pm. Rob Manwaring has also created a Facebook page for this info hub (https://www.facebook.com/disabilityinfohub?fref=ts). The Education Hub in Port Macquarie is now up and running for 2hrs per week every Tuesday. It is currently held at the PMQ Library and will continue to be held there, at least, until the end of the year.

Coffs Harbour Advocate, Rob Manwaring at one of the Disability Info Hub days

New England The NE region also continues to work on Disability Support Pensions (DSP) as their systemic project. They have been using the letter drafted by Shaun Peters to inform medical professionals what information Centrelink needs for assessing DSP applications. NE staff are also conducting education sessions around NE, informing relevant service providers and clients about DSP requirements and impairment tables so people are aware of the information needed when making an application.

Education Sessions DA has continued to run a range of information sessions and workshops about disability advocacy, the rights of people with a disability and EMR regarding the NDIS. DA conducted 155 information sessions and workshops for people with disabilities in group homes and supported employment as well as people with a disability, disability organisations, community groups, TAFE students, and university students. DA’s Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/DisabilityAdvocacyNSW provides detailed day to day information about our community education program to people with a disability and the public.

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DA Advocate participating at an expo in Scone (October 2014)

Individual Advocacy Statistical Information This financial year DA in the Hunter, New England and Mid North Coast Regions assisted with 934 advocacy issues for 730 clients. These figures do not count the hundred of calls requesting informal information and advice. Refer to the following graphs for more information on the individual advocacy provided by DA.

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DA Exit Surveys To ensure all that our work is accountable to clients, members, funding bodies and the general community we have undertaken to give all clients the opportunity to comment on the advocacy assistance they received from DA. Our new quality assurance approach is to survey all clients when an advocacy matter is concluded. While there are flaws in any research instrument we believe that this method gives a fair indication of the success or otherwise of our advocacy work. Any negative comments by clients are also raised at staff and board meeting with a view to continuous improvement of our work.

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DA NSW Client Feedback Total Item Entities Exit Survey ( July 2014 to 30 June 2015) 81 Responses 81 My advocate listened to me and treated me with dignity and respect Yes 77 Not Sure 3 No 1 My advocate gave me options to choose from when helping with my issue Yes 75 Not Sure 4 No 2 My advocate got my permission before talking to other people about my issue Yes 77 Not Sure 4 No 0 I knew that I had the right to complain if I was unhappy with the service Yes 72 Not Sure 8 No 1 My advocate helped me to achieve what I wanted Yes 68 Not Sure 6 No 7 I would recommend the service to others Yes 74 Not Sure 5 No 2 Additional Comments Yes 46 No 35

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Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre (MNCCLC)

The Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre (MNCCLC) located in Port Macquarie provides legal information, legal education and legal advice and advocacy to people living and working in the local government areas of Greater Taree, Port Macquarie – Hastings and Kempsey Shire. MNCCLC believes that improving access to justice for people who experience economic and/or social disadvantage is fundamental to a fair and equitable society.

MNCCLC provides legal information to all people living and working within the catchment area.

MNCCLC also provides legal advice from a solicitor to all people living and working within the catchment area, who need help in any of the following areas:

 Debt and money issues  Employment  Fines and traffic offences  Car accidents  Family violence & apprehended violence orders  Buying goods and services  Insurance  Discrimination  Solicitor complaints  Police complaints  Powers of attorney and Enduring Guardianship  Privacy and personal information  Government complaints  Care and Protection  Criminal law (limited)  Family law (limited)

MNCCLC advocates for people who experience economic and/or social disadvantage, including:

 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people  People with disability  Older people  People on low income  Young people

Philosophy All people, regardless of their economic and/ or social disadvantage, should have fair and equitable access to the justice system.

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Aim The Service aims to ensure that people are able to access courts, tribunals and legal services that are most appropriate to their means and needs.

Strategies The Service will use a combination of five strategies to meet its aim.

1. Legal Information and Referral: providing individuals with legal information and referring them to the legal service that best meets their needs.

2. Legal Advice: providing individuals with advice given by a solicitor.

3. Legal Casework: providing individuals with ongoing support by drafting letters, legal documents or court documents, negotiating with the other party & representation in alternative dispute resolution mechanisms as well as courts and tribunals.

4. Community Legal Education: actively educate the community about legal issues that affect people experiencing economic and/or social disadvantage.

5. Law and Policy Submissions: identifying and contributing to improving policies and laws that have a disproportionate and/or unfair impact on people experiencing economic and/or social disadvantage.

Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre - Service Report

Executive Officer – Legal Advocacy Catherine Peek

MNCCLC is funded through Commonwealth and State government grants administered by Legal Aid NSW.

Community legal centres are independent and community managed not for profit services which provide a range of assistance on legal and related matters to people on low incomes and those with special needs. They are a key component of Australia’s legal assistance system, providing services that complement and extend the services provided by legal aid commissions and the private profession.

This financial year has been a roller coaster, with ongoing funding uncertainty bringing out the best in the community legal sector as services across Australia rallied together to lobby all levels of government and resist cuts to services that assist thousands of vulnerable and disadvantaged people. For the time being MNCCLC is in a stable financial position, however the war is not yet won with the sector continuing to push for greater funding levels and stability into the future.

Despite these difficulties, MNCCLC has continued to provide quality, professional legal assistance and education to the Mid North Coast community and expand its outreach services to provide better access to justice for those most in need.

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Principal Solicitor Report Jane Titterington

This report looks at the number and type of people we have assisted and the types of assistance provided. Survey results at the end of the report provide a view of what clients think about the service.

Funding MNCCLC has entered its fifth year of operation and relies mainly on funding from the Commonwealth and State Governments under the Community Legal Services Program for community legal centres.

The Centre also receives funding from other organisations from time to time for specific projects. The Centre is currently rolling out a pilot program for legal outreach via video conferencing made possible by a grant from the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW.

MNCCLC does this work through provision of legal information and referral, legal advice, legal casework, community legal education and law and policy submission activities.

Information and Referral This financial year MNCCLC provided information and referral (not including information and referral provided when a MNCCLC solicitor gives legal advice) on 863 occasions. This represents an increase of 21.7% from the previous year and represents 143% of our annual target.

Legal Advice MNCCLC provides legal advice via telephone, via video conferencing or by face to face appointments in Port Macquarie or at outreach locations in Kempsey, Taree, Wingham, Bellbrook, South West Rocks and the Mid North Coast Correctional Centre.

This financial year MNCCLC provided legal advice to 946 people. This represents an increase of 5% from the previous year.

A total of 1123 legal advices were given. This represents an increase of 0.53% from the previous year and represents 140.38% of our annual target.

The following table shows the proportion of legal issues that arose in an advice sessions.

Area of Law % Credit and debt 13.0 Employment 10.4 Other civil/property 7.4 Family 2.5 Road & traffic offences/fines 19.8 Consumer 8.8 Wills & Power of Attorney 8.8 Administrative 7.9 ADVOs and APVOs 6.2

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Crime 3.7 Motor vehicle 2.5 Victims compensation 3.3 Discrimination 2.0 Neighbourhood disputes 1.8

The following table shows the areas in which people live who receive our legal advice:

Local Government Area (LGA) # Advices % Advices Greater Taree 264 23.51 Port Macquarie – Hastings 473 42.12 Kempsey Shire 286 25.47 Other 100 8.9 TOTAL 1123 100.0

The preceding table shows a significant increase in advice given to people living in both the Greater Taree and Kempsey Shire LGAs. This reflects our planned strategy to improve access to legal services for people living in and around Kempsey and Taree.

The table also shows assistance to people outside the LGAs covered by MNCCLC. This figure takes into account residents of adjoining LGAs such as Great Lakes and Gloucester Shires who access MNCCLCs outreach services and receive assistance at Taree Local Court through MNCCLCs traffic program.

Of the advices given, at least:  19.26% were given to someone who identified as being either Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander  34% were given to someone who identified as having a disability  7% were given to someone with no income  81% were given to someone who identified as having low income

Jane Titterington (Solicitor) and Melanie Kallmier (Solicitor/Projects Officer) Anti Poverty Week advice Clinic at Wauchope

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Legal Casework This financial year MNCCLC provided legal casework to 302 occasions. This represents an increase of 58% from the previous year and represents 301% of our annual target.

The following table shows the proportion of legal issues that arose in casework. The table shows a significant percentage of cases relating to road and traffic offences as a result the success of the Taree Traffic Program.

Area of Law % Credit and Debt 12.9 Road & Traffic Offences and other fines 39.1 Wills & Power of Attorney 10.8 Consumer 9.2 Other Civil 4.4 Family 1.5 Employment 3.8 Administrative Law 7.5 Motor Vehicle 1.4 ADVOs and APVOs 3.0 Victims Compensation 3.4 Crime 0.9 Discrimination 2.1 TOTAL 100.0

The following table shows the area in which people who we are assisting with casework live:

Local Government Area # Cases % Cases Greater Taree 115 38.08 Port Macquarie – Hastings 95 31.46 Kempsey Shire 66 21.85 Other 26 8.61 TOTAL 302 100.0

Of the new cases, at least:  26.5% were in relation to someone who identified as being Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander  44% were in relation to someone who identified as having a disability  6.9% were in relation to someone who identified as having no income  85.1% were in relation to someone who identified as having low income

Case Example 1: Credit and Debt Alice owed a large amount to Centrelink for overpayment of a Centrelink benefit as a consequence of receiving the incorrect benefit for many years. MNCCLC assisted Alice with an appeal to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. MNCCLC gathered evidence and statements and instructed Counsel in the matter and appeared in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. The case took many months and is one of the bigger matters taken on by

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15 the Centre. We were successful in having Centrelink substitute the decision with the result that Alice’s debt was significantly reduced.

Case Example 2: Traffic Law Section 10 for Low Range PCA Harold is a middle aged man who is the fulltime carer for an elderly parent. The parent relied on Harold as their sole form of transportation. Harold had been charged with a low range PCA offence. Harold had a history of drink driving offences. Harold was represented as part of MNCCLCs Traffic Program at Taree Local Court. Submissions were made to the magistrate that those previous offences were historical in nature and some 20 years old. Harold had no other offences and had not reoffended since. The magistrate agreed with MNCCLCs submissions and ordered a s10 dismissal without conviction. As a result Harold is able to continue driving and assist with his carer responsibilities.

Case Example 3: Negotiating an AVO Barty was a young person with an intellectual disability who had an AVO brought against him by a disgruntled former partner seeking protection for 2 years. MNCCLC appeared in the local court and after negotiations with the prosecutor and DVLO it was agreed that a lapsing interim AVO for 3 months would suffice in light of the fact there was no corresponding criminal charges and the allegations were not proved. An interim AVO will not appear on a working with children check as would a final AVO. Barty did not reoffend and on a further appearance at Court the interim AVO lapsed.

Case Example 4: Irresponsible Lending Practices Addie is a young single parent whose only income is a Centrelink benefit. Addie had taken out a $24,000 loan. With interest the loan almost doubled. MNCCLC obtained copies of the loan documents and noted that the bank had not accurately entered Addie’s personal information. We assisted Addie with lodging a dispute with the Financial Ombudsman Service. We were able to negotiate a $10,000 settlement payable by instalments of $100 per month in full and final settlement of the dispute.

Case Example 5: Licence appeal Jonty is a young school student who received a notice that his P1 licence would be suspended due to exceeding demerit points. Jonty instructed that he only had one offence on his record and it was that offence alone that exceeded the demerit points. Jonty relied on his licence to volunteer at a number of community organisations, assisted his single parent with running the household and caring for his younger sibling. We assisted Jonty in drafting written submissions for court. The Magistrate allowed the appeal and quashed the 3 month suspension. As a result Jonty retained his licence.

Case Example 6: Consumer law Alan has an intellectual disability and had paid over $5 000 for membership of an introductory service. MNCCLC had previously assisted Alan to negotiate a settlement with the service to have most of the membership fees refunded, however the service did not make payments due under the agreement and stopped responding to correspondence. Leave was granted for MNCCLC to appear for Alan in the Consumer and Commercial Division of the NSW Civil and Administrative Tribunal. MNCCLC were successful at hearing and the service was ordered to refund all money paid for membership fees. MNCCLC is now assisting Alan with enforcement of the order.

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Community Legal Education MNCCLC provided community legal education (CLE) in a variety of formats and across a range of legal issues during this financial year. The main focus continues to be connecting with local service providers and the wider community in each of the LGAs covered by MNCCLC.

MNCCLC provided community legal education by:

Organising and providing specific legal issue CLE to workers across the catchment as follows:  In conjunction with Welfare Rights Legal Centre on Centrelink legal issues on 3 occasions  In conjunction with Mid Coast Tenants Advice Service on tenancy law on 1 occasion  In conjunction with Legal Aid (Law Check Up) on 2 occasions  In conjunction with EWON on credit ratings on 1 occasion  Cyber-awareness on two occasions  Money matters and Funeral Fund issues (with Legal Aid via Money Counts)  With the Community Justice Centre on mediation alternatives on 2 occasions

Providing issue based CLE to local residents as follows:  Planning Ahead (Power of Attorney and Enduring Guardianship)to older people on 4 occasions  AVOs to single mothers on 2 occasions  Traffic law – presenting the legal component of the Traffic Offenders Intervention Program (TOIP) on 3 occasions  Wills for Aboriginal people (with Ashurst) in Kempsey on 1 occasion  Macleay Valley Vocations College to young people at risk on 2 occasions

Providing CLE to local communities about MNCCLC as follows:  To prisoners via the PEET program through TAFE on 3 occasions  Via stalls and events on 20 occasions including Seniors Expo, Playgroups and TAFE migrant English classes  Via one-off outreaches on 2 occasions (Elands, Tall Timbers Caravan Park)  To Aboriginal communities on 5 occasions for NAIDOC week, Closing the Gap Day and at the Saltwater Aboriginal Women’s Camp  Through Law Week by conducting outreach in local shopping centres and presenting a play for community members  To Aboriginal men via the Regional Mens’ Group on 1 occasion

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Tim Bauer (Legal Assistant / Admin Officer) – Community Connect Day

Providing assistance to Aboriginal communities in conjunction with Legal Aid’s Money Counts projects on 5 occasions in Taree LGA (Biripi, Bushlands, Ngarralinyi)

Visiting Aboriginal Service providers to enhance referral pathways (conducted by MNCCLCs Aboriginal Access Worker) on over 150 occasions

PLT student Bishoy Elias at Aboriginal Mens Health Expo in Port Macquarie

MNCCLC actively participates in many interagencies, to ensure that referral pathways to our service are being constantly promoted. We are regular members of the Hastings Interagency, the Family Law Pathways Network, the Kempsey Nambucca Cooperative Legal Service Delivery Network, the Forster Taree Cooperative Legal Service Delivery Network, the Hastings Domestic Violence Committee, the Bearlay Aboriginal Interagency, the Manning

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Youth interagency, the Hastings Employment, Education and Disability Network, the Macleay Valley Youth interagency, the Hastings Elder Abuse Prevention Network, Manning Valley Interagency and the Kempsey Interagency.

As part of these networks, MNCCLC has  Delivered one-off outreach to Elands (a remote community in the Manning Valley)  Attended NAIDOC and Closing the Gap events in Port Macquarie, Kempsey and Taree  Participated in a regular legal education program to students at Macleay Valley Vocational College  Assisted pro bono partners Ashursts to deliver a workshop offering free wills for Aboriginal people in Kempsey  Shared a stall at the Saltwater Aboriginal Women’s Camp near Old Bar  Hosted the Welfare Rights Legal Centre to present on issues around Centrelink and the law

Melanie Kallmier, Patrick Hourigan, Anna Johnson and Bishoy Ellias with staff from Welfare Rights Centre NSW

Quality Assurance MNCCLC collects feedback from clients who receive advice and casework services. The following table shows the results from this financial year.

Understanding # Accessibility # Responsiveness # Treatment # Usefulness # of explanation to client Very well 16 Easy 18 Very quickly 13 Very well 23 Very useful 16 Quite well 6 OK 6 Quickly enough 10 Quite well 1 Usefulness 4 Not well 2 Difficult 0 Not quickly 1 Not well 0 Not useful 4 enough

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Volunteers MNCCLC relies on the support of volunteers to deliver an effective and accessible legal service.

We would like to thank a number of student volunteers that have assisted us throughout the year.

These include: Tim Bauer (Macq Uni) (Legal Assistant) Kathy Dibbs (SCU) (Legal Assistant) Bishoy Elias (College of Law) (PLT) Megan Baldwin (College of Law) (PLT) Natalie Cooper (SCU) (Legal Assistant) Maura Stanley (Charles Sturt Uni) (Legal Assistant) Peter Alley (SCU) (Legal Assistant) Anna Johnson (Leo Cussens) (PLT) Liz Jokantas (ANU GDLP) (PLT) Sarah Hamilton (College of Law) (PLT) Gerard Shea (College of Law) (PLT) David Gunter (Newcastle Uni) (Legal Assistant) Rob Oakeshott (MacqUni) (PLT)

Russel Cavanagh (Aboriginal Access Officer) and Peter Alley (Legal Assistant) Elders Olympics - Taree

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Volunteer Voices During my unforgettable time with Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre, I was exposed to a broad range of situations which required interacting with various clients and professionals. I was able to grow a better understanding of the need for accessible legal services, such as the services provided by the Centre. Many of the clients I saw in contact with MNCCLC were calling through simply because they didn’t know where else to go or who could potentially help them. It certainly meant something to me to be a part of a Centre with a positive culture, always ready and willing to help in every situation in one way or another.

The experiences gained at MNCCLC from the range of legal matters I was exposed to, in particular during outreach advice clinics, and the various tasks I completed are invaluable to my career as that has helped me discover what type of legal professional I would like to be – helping those who are disadvantaged in what is often a complex and difficult legal system to navigate. Bishoy

Acknowledgments MNCCLC has continued its work in the local area and improved the Centre’s foundations and links in the area. The work of MNCCLC continues to be a challenging but rewarding experience. This has been an exciting year with results showing the Centre reaching more and more people from the community.

We would like to acknowledge the continuing hard work and commitment shown by Patrick Hourigan, Russell Cavanagh, Melanie Kallmier and Kyrie Couch at MNCCLC during the year.

We would also like to welcome new staff members, Eugene Renard and Liz Jokantas and acknowledge all they have contributed to MNCCLC this year.

MNCCLC would like to acknowledge our partners and hosts for our outreach legal advice clinics, Legal Aid New South Wales, Manning Valley Neighbourhood Services, Manning Uniting Church, Kempsey Neighbourhood Centre, South Kempsey Family and Community Centre and the Department of Justice/Mid North Coast Correctional Centre/ Corrective Services NSW.

MNCCLC would also like to thank the large number of firms and services throughout the Mid North Coast who have supported us by taking referrals and referring clients to the centre.

MNCCLC acknowledges the team at the newly opened Legal Aid office in Port Macquarie and looks forward to further collaboration with their office to enhance access to legal services for all residents on the Mid North Coast.

MNCCLC would also like to acknowledge the enormous support given to it by Advocacy Law Alliance Inc, particularly CEO Mark Grierson and Executive Officer- Legal Advocacy Catherine Peek. Darcy Burgess, Executive Officer Social Advocacy and Maureen Bloemers, Admin and Finance Officer have also provided invaluable support, along with many other staff and advocates at Disability Advocacy NSW who have contributed so much time and energy to ensure that the legal centre has had a successful year.

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Advocacy Law Alliance Incorporated Annual Report 2014-15

Eugene Renard (Solicitor), Liz Jokantas (Admin Officer), Peter Alley (Legal Assistant) and Jane Titterington (Solicitor) with members of Legal Aid Port Macquarie, Port Macquarie Court House staff and retired Magistrate Wayne Evans performing at the Port Macquarie Historical Court House during Law Week.

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