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Community Legal Centres throughout Australia travel to Wollongong for the National Community Legal Centre conference. Participants of the conference were able to purchase a unique souvenir inspired by the workers at the Illawarra Legal Centre – “Cooking Up Justice” - a 2007 calendar with twelve delicious recipes and legal tips! Full of delicious recipes including Principal's Perfect Poppyseed Cake, Muzza & Nik's Autumn Fish, Spicy Chicks Hummus Dip, Brown Rice & Roasted Sweet Potato Salad, and Julia's Crumble Topped Blueberry Muffins
To celebrate International Human Rights Day the Illawarra Legal Centre in partnership with the Do Good Business Project hosts a movie screening of Kanyini. The movie is the story of Bob Randall, a singer, songwriter, activist and a member of the stolen generation. It tells of his personal journey and the wisdom he learned from the elder people living in the bush.
Thirty eight lucky kids scooped prizes, after entering the 2006 Law Week colouring competition. Children were handed out colouring sheets at school and their local libraries and encouraged to return them to the Illawarra Legal Centre located in Greene Street, Warrawong. Local Aboriginal Artist, Lorraine Brown from Coomaditchie United Aboriginal Corporation who designed and judged the competition also present the winner with her prize, a ticket to Disney on Ice.
Party time for vital community service. The Illawarra Legal Centre celebrates it’s 20th anniversary at the Wollongong Art Gallery, featuring guest speaker, human rights barrister Dr Jocelynne Scutt and Centre chairperson Dr Judy Stubbs.
Illawarra Legal Centre wins two Office of Fair Trading Awards for its innovative African Legal Theatre performance (which discussed issues of credit and debt, Centrelink and tenancy). The first award was a service award for the best regional community organisation. The second award was the Einfeld Awards which recognises organisations or associations that demonstrate outstanding work in protecting vulnerable consumers, such as ethnic communities. This is the third year in a row that the Centre has won Fair Trading awards!
The Tenants Service is recognised as an essential advice and advocacy program after celebrating its 10th anniversary and receiving funding to continue its work.
To celebrate International Human Rights Day 2005 the Illawarra Legal Centre, Illawarra Muslim Women Association and Illawarra Multicultural Services organised a unique photography exhibition from the eyes of the Illawarra Muslim community. The exhibition was the result of 40 Muslim families being provided with disposable cameras and taking part in a PhotoVoice project, to record and reflect on the community’s strengths and concerns. This action research, community development project promotes a genuine glimpse into life in the Muslim community, capturing beliefs, fears, struggles and celebration. But most importantly, it promoted a community dialogue for Muslim families and serves as a catalyst for change.
To "Start Out Right" is a valuable lesson taken to over 2000 students this year when the ILC continues to work in partnership with local Legal Aid workers, Wollongong Youth Centre staff and members of the University of Wollongong Law Faculty to provide consumer information to high school students.
The ‘Start Out Right’ project receives the NSW Consumer Protection Award in recognition of the success it has achieved in reaching young people and providing essential consumer information.
The legal needs of the Vietnamese community are the subject of a research project providing the ILC with insights on how our services can effectively reach Vietnamese residents who are seeking legal assistance.
We launch our website with immediate engagement from those seeking information about our services.
Strategic service delivery is our focus now thereby making links between our casework, our community legal education, the resources we produce and our legislative reform work.
The Centre targets clients with Family Tax Benefit problems and runs a number of cases in the Social Security Appeals Tribunal (SSAT) to test the legislation. A fact sheet on Family Tax Benefit (FTB) is developed for community legal education sessions. Materials developed on FTB are used to lobby politicians and inform our submission to the Federal Poverty Inquiry and other relevant inquiries.
Legal workers at the ILC continue preparations to lodge a complaint against the Child Support Agency with the Human Rights and Equal Opportunity Commission. The class action, with over 100 clients involved, is in response to many years of individual casework by the Centre to recover monies owing for clients.
A Children's Court Assistance Scheme at Port Kembla Court House is set up with an emphasis on supporting young people in their interaction with the criminal justice system.
The Tenants Service meets the challenge of a thorough review and receives funding with three years security so the work can consolidate and continue. The Welfare Rights and Child Support projects are also moving on with financial security allowing the Credit and Debt service to conduct a project for Aboriginal consumers.
The "Money Troubles Project" produces a community resource booklet for Aboriginal community workers and consumers. The guide goes on to win a NSW Consumer Protection Award.
The Sole Parents Union launches our Child Support Kit, and the resulting media attention is useful in promoting this valuable resource.
Older women are the focus of our extensive consultation on the issue of violence and we have over 150 women participate. Women from five different language groups, Aboriginal older woman and English speaking woman are part of the consultation. A culturally appropriate educational resource is produced for women from these groups.
We take to the streets in the community cultural "Viva La Gong" Festival. The extraordinarily large and possibly "beautiful" magistrate puppet called "Lucy Law” leads the way in the community parade. We want people to know that our centre is a strong, long-standing community service, available for everyone who needs our services. The Centre wins the community organisation award for our entry.
The streets are at the centre of our work when Wollongong City Council's "No loitering and Disorderly Behaviour" zones are trialed in Port Kembla. An intensive twelve month campaign sees a community coalition organise a street festival, street demonstration, conduct research, publicise the issues in the media, present community legal education and the ILC conduct a court challenge. The Centre plays a significant role in the discontinuation of the new zoning and go on to participate in the formation of an Illawarra Branch of the NSW Youth Justice Coalition.
Focusing on access to legal advice results in the ILC’s long-standing Thursday evening volunteer solicitor advice sessions moving to the Wollongong City Library. This collaboration proves to be a valuable strategy to ensure improved access for greater numbers of people seeking free legal advice.
The long-term vision of fostering the establishment of a new independent community legal centre in the Shoalhaven is realised with the opening of the "Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre". The Illawarra Legal Centre has a valuable new link to the south coast regions.
The Save Our Services Campaign strenuously protests the withdrawal of government services, such as Social Security offices, from the Warrawong area. Many local families and individuals have lived a lifetime of hardship yet essential services continue to disappear leaving vulnerable residents without assistance.
The Tenants Service welcomes a specialist residential parks colleague to work with the residents of the 171 parks in the services boundary area and find solutions to the unique problems facing park residents.
As well as the rights of women to live without the fear of violence, the ILC focuses on the rights of the unemployed who are at risk of poverty and homelessness due to the Commonwealth system of processing and breaching recipients on unemployment benefits.
The right to access legal assistance is the focus of an ILC campaign to stop funding cuts to the Legal Aid Commission, a valuable legal service for the poor and marginalised.
The ILC Shoalhaven Office officially opens enabling the new Nowra-based worker to extend the work of the ILC and reach those disadvantaged by the lack of services in regional centres.
“Whose Haven”? describes the legal needs of the Shoalhaven. A community worker and a part time legal worker are employed to begin the task of addressing the research findings.
The Migrant Resource Centre, the Illawarra Legal Centre and local women’s services collaborate to establish a Women’s Domestic Violence Court Assistance Program.
After 10 years of providing services to the Illawarra community the ILC reflects on what work had been achieved and possibilities for the future.
We now have a Tenants Service as part of the state wide Tenants Advice and Advocacy Program. Free tenancy advice, advocacy and representation before the Tenancy Tribunal is available to tenants in the regions extending from Helensburgh to Eden and the Southern Highlands.
The Lawline Project ends without adequate funds but short-term funds are given to the ILC to establish a Youth Advocacy and Court Support Service. While a valuable project, its real strength would have been evident if it was in place alongside the Youth Lawline and Youth Education Project.
The Welfare Rights Project is back with funds to do their valuable work following three years of intense lobbying and demonstrating the desperate need for this service.
The security of funding allows the Centre to make submissions to the Australian Law Reform Commission’s Inquiry into the Equality of Women Before the Law. A Human Right to Justice, details the legal needs of women who live with the greatest legal and social disadvantage. A Human Right to Justice is publicly launched by Justice Mary Gaudron in July 1994.
The Youth Lawline continues with additional funds for two more years. Volunteers are trained, meetings held with police, teachers, community workers and local young people and the Centre is abuzz with young people and their advocates.
Celebrating the completion of the refurbishment of the old Council buildings is called for as workers now have a clean, well equipped, and reasonably spacious work environment. We now have private interview and meeting spaces that provides opportunities for centre-based activities for our services and other groups in our networks. Justice Elizabeth Evatt oversaw the official opening of our newly renovated centre on the 14 February 1991.
A whole new area of legal activity commences with the establishment of the Child Support Project.
A
new emphasis on young people results in The Youth Lawline and Youth
Legal Education Project commencing and providing an after hours service
offering information, referral and advocacy for young people who find
themselves at the police station being interviewed.
The education work of the Youth Lawline Project takes to the streets,
schools and shopping malls to tell young people about police powers,
their basic rights and responsibilities and how the court system works.
The Welfare Rights Service has its funds withdrawn resulting in a strenuous lobbying campaign to have the service refunded, but unfortunately without success.
What a turbulent time! New funds for a Child Support worker and a general support worker are granted while other project funding is being cut or withdrawn. Despite the ups and downs, the ILC continues to consolidate the legal casework and community education programs.
Over to Greene Street we go, which is our current home. What a massive project, with a new lease, building works and the financial advocacy, welfare rights and voluntary and paid legal work continuing in the midst of upheaval.
The need for advice on credit and debt issues sees the establishment of our Consumer Credit Service (CCS) to work with those who are vulnerable to unworkable credit and financial arrangements and are facing financial disadvantage.
Community Education with culturally and linguistically diverse communities and young people to protect their consumer rights is a priority.
A community campaign to challenge the government's proposed changes to the Social Security system is initiated by the Illawarra Legal Centre (ILC).
The May 1987 budget proposes changes that would see the rules applying to sickness benefit extended to apply to the invalid pension, rehabilitation allowance, sheltered employment allowance and unemployment benefits. Those receiving workers compensation lump sum settlements and would be reliant on pensions and benefits into the future are also disadvantaged by government legislative changes.
Attacks on the poor continue with the drastic legislative changes made by the government to the Supporting Parents' and Widows' Pension. These changes would see all people whose youngest child had turned sixteen taken off the pension and put on to unemployment benefits.
The Wollongong Widows' and Sole Parents' Action Group is formed through the ILC and directly influences the introduction of the Jobs, Employment and Training (JET) program by the Department of Social Security. This national program has an educational focus to assist women getting back into the workforce.
A Welfare Rights worker is employed to address these specific legislative changes and protect the entitlements of the most vulnerable members of our community.
A part-time administrator and a solicitor are now part of the team that is shaping the legal centre and making links to the local community.
The Warrawong Neighbourhood Centre is our first “home” and the first worker, with assistance from a local solicitor on the Management Committee, develop our first volunteer solicitor roster.
Connections are made with young people on legal issues through our radio program called "Girls on Radio".
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Last updated on Tuesday, 9 Dec 2008 |