Tuesday, 22 March 2022

Eastern Community Legal Centre

Mr FOWLES (Burwood) (19:26): (6285) My adjournment matter is directed to the Attorney-General, the Honourable Jaclyn Symes in the other place, and the action I seek is for her to join me to visit the Eastern Community Legal Centre, which provides vital support for my constituents and indeed all residents of Melbourne’s eastern suburbs. The Andrews government recognises the importance of what community legal centres do. They are critical parts of our social fabric, because all Victorians deserve timely and equitable access to justice. That is why in the last state budget the Andrews government committed to investing $30 million in vital legal assistance and critical early intervention support services, including support for community legal centres, legal aid and dispute resolution services, to support their critical work.

Our community legal centres are a critical component of our justice system, and some of the crucial programs being funded by this government through community legal centres include the Mabels family violence service and specialist services for the LGBTIQA+ community. This of course is in addition to the funding provided for the Victorian Equal Opportunity and Human Rights Commission to implement a civil response scheme to address harmful LGBTIQ+ plus change or suppression practices. There is no doubt that the pandemic has highlighted social and economic inequality both locally and around the world, and only an Andrews Labor government is committed to tackling these complex and multifaceted challenges. One element of our response has been to fight injustice at its roots. Whether it be the sick pay guarantee, the 12 000-dwelling Big Housing Build or a $3.8 billion rebuilding of our mental health system, each of these reforms will go a long way to reducing systemic inequity in our state.

But alongside these broad legislative and policy reforms it is crucial we support Victorians to tackle injustice on an individual level in their day-to-day lives, which is where our community legal centres come into play. For many of my constituents it is the Eastern Community Legal Centre that comes to their aid, providing free high-quality legal advice and guidance on a broad range of issues. In serving my constituents my electorate office makes many referrals to this legal centre, and those referrals cover a whole range of matters, including family law, victims of crime compensation and neighbourhood disputes. Often these constituents are from lower socio-economic backgrounds or diverse backgrounds, and if it was not for our local community legal centres, they would not have access to the justice they deserve and we would all be worse off. This has been especially true in the times of economic and social upheaval brought about by the COVID-19 pandemic. So I would be delighted if the Attorney-General could join me at the Eastern Community Legal Centre to hear firsthand about the terrific work they do for constituents in Burwood and right across the east.