Community Justice on the Frontline is the theme of our Annual Report for this year. You can find it on our website by clicking the link below. We welcomed about 70 people to the Report launch on Thursday 11 November, to hear from guest speakers North East Law Association President Amanda Toner, and Health Justice Australia Research Director Suzie Forell. 

Our response to the pandemic and the 2020 bushfires was a major focus, as our communities endured lockdowns and border closures, and emerging legal issues post-bushfires. The client stories we feature show how we helped people under the stress of these disasters.  

Making the lives better for young people experiencing family violence has been the core success of the Invisible Hurdles Project. The Stage II Report was launched on Thursday 18 November, and this gave us a chance to outline the highlights of this innovative Integrated Justice Project, which has evolved significantly since beginning in 2016. Hon. Assoc. Prof. Liz Curran, who co-evaluated the report, spoke about the growing impacts the project continues to have, and Wodonga Flexible Learning Centre staff shared how the expanded approach had benefited students during Stage II.    

You can read the full Report and look back across the Project at our Invisible Hurdles Project webpage.

Some of our lawyers are back out giving face-to-face advice, at the Centre Against Violence and the Women's Centre for Health & Wellbeing. The transition has also begun for our lawyers to return to all other outreaches, with the aim to be back to normal across the board in 2022. We will keep you updated as our schedules change.

The Orange Door Ovens Murray Area is hosting 30-minute online workshops in December to develop a deep understanding of the role of The Orange Door and referral pathways. Workshops are designed for staff or volunteers in the Ovens Murray Area (Alpine, Benalla, Indigo, Mansfield, Towong, Wangaratta, Wodonga LGAs) who will potentially refer clients to The Orange Door.

The Orange Door provides free support for:

• People experiencing family violence or at risk of family violence

• Seeking assistance with child wellbeing and development

Flyer attached for December workshops dates and links.

The Disability Support Pension (DSP) is probably the most complicated of the Centrelink payments and understanding how it works will help navigate the system. The DSP session proposed runs for about 90 minutes on these areas:  

• Intro to Welfare Rights Centre 
• General eligibility for Centrelink payments 
• The different things needed to prove eligibility for DSP – there are about 6 different things needed to be shown 
• More detailed info on the Impairment Tables (one of the 6 things) 
• Tips on medical evidence 
• Appeal limitations

The training is aimed at community workers being able to assess someone’s eligibility, seeing where the holes might be in their evidence and knowing where to go to get the evidence needed.

Date: Tuesday 1 March 2022

Time: 10am

Where: Zoom, please register beforehand

COVID-19 has impacted many aspects of our lives and routines, but times of stress and hardship are never an excuse for violence or abuse.  

Are You Safe At Home? is a family violence early intervention campaign and set of resources aimed at increasing access to family violence information and support for victim survivors and their family and friends. It includes a toolkit, website, wallet cards for victim survivors and family and friends, key information translated in 15 community languages and Easy English translations, and a media toolkit for organisations.