Established in 1977, the Redfern Legal Centre is a non-profit
community centre in Redfern that provides free legal advice and service to
disadvantaged people and the groups that advocate for them. Operating on a very
limited budget, the centre relies heavily on volunteer labour and pro-bono
assistance from legal professionals.
“Winning the award is nice but really we would do the work
anyway. The award is more about raising the profile of the centre in the
community more generally and validating the work we’ve done,” says Elizabeth Morley, Redfern Legal Centre’s principal
solicitor.
Much of the centre’s activities are concerned with domestic
violence, disability discrimination, racial discrimination and Indigenous
issues.
The centre co-ordinates the Redfern Women’s Violence Court
Assistance Scheme which has been recognised as an innovative and successful
program to help women seeking a restraining order to have access to legal and
support services.
“Our clients are wonderful. In the face of great
disadvantage and great trauma they fnd time to smile, they have time to laugh
and they are resilient,” Ms Morley says.
In February this year, in participation with Mudgin-gal
Aboriginal Women’s Corporation, the centre will run an information session on
the Queensland Redress Scheme which provides compensation to people who experienced
abuse and neglect as children in Queensland
institutions.
Ms Morley emphasises the centre’s aim is to help people help
themselves: “We can continue placing Band-Aids on individuals but that doesn’t
do anything to prevent people needing Band-Aids. We always try and balance our
resources, firstly by not duplicating mainstream services but applying some
Band-Aids, providing some information to the community so that they can avoid
needing the Band-Aids and changing the system in order to prevent the injuries
that will need the Band-Aids.
“What we would like to do ultimately is to work ourselves
out of a job, to have a well-functioning legal system to which all members of
the community have access, and a fair and just society that will make us
completely unnecessary. That is probably a long way off and we will continue
working in the meantime,” Ms Morley says. SO
Source:
South Sydney Herald February 2008 – www.southsydneyherald.com.au