Flemington & Kensington
Community Legal Centre INC
ABOUT US
Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre (FKCLC) has a history of working closely with its community to address legal issues of
concern. We assist people who live, work or study in the Flemington and Kensington area. Our service may at times take on casework from other
agencies on a referral basis.
Our Aims
Our Centre seeks to ensure that all people in the community have equal access to justice, are aware of and
can assert their legal rights, and that they understand and respect the rights and responsibilities of others in the community.
The Centre also aims to ensure that the process of changing laws is responsive to changes in the community, and that laws have the same impact
on people regardless of their income or power. In short, the Centre aims to assist disadvantaged groups within the community to understand and
deal with what can at times be a disempowering legal system.
OUR WORK
The Centre works to provide a safe, reliable and accessible legal resource by:
• Providing free, accessible, high-quality legal casework relating primarily to consumer rights, debts, fines, general family law (advice and
referral only), police issues, social security, tenancy and wills, and an offshore refugee migration service.
• Contributing to law and policy reform by seekingthe views of individuals on issues of law reform and working through state-wide and national
Community Legal Centres, working groups, and local community networks.
• Providing community legal education by presenting sessions at local secondary schools, cultural community groups, nursing homes, and other
community agency forums, and updating the Police Powers Booklet, a joint bi-lingual publication between FKCLC and Victoria Legal Aid.
• Working to improve the skills and social justice awareness of legal students and other community members through a strong, accessible
volunteer program.
• Developing strong collaborative networks and relationships, including relationships with individual community members who play a key role in
educating others about the law.
• Working with the community on changing laws that disadvantage them, and empowering them to take control of the problems they are
experiencing.
CONTACT US
Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre (FKCLC)
P.O. Box 487,
FLEMINGTON VIC 3031
22 Bellair Street,
KENSINGTON Vic 3031
Phone: 03 9376 4355
Fax: 03 9376 4529
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.communitylaw.org.au
Donations: www.ourcommunity.com.au/fkclc
HOURS OF OPERATION
Monday to Friday: 9am – 5pm
Monday Evening Service (Appointments Only): 5:30 – 6:30pm
Thursday Drop-in Outreach for young people @ Flemington Community Centre, Mount Alexander Road: 3-5 pm
Monday evening appointments are made by phoning our service or calling into our office. We also offer community outreach, home and hospital
appointments as requested. For urgent matters staff will assist you as soon as possible
FKCLC
Annual Report 2008-2009
Staff 08-09
Volunteers
08-09
Karen Pyke (Chair)
Tim O’Neill (Public Officer)
Mark Evers (Treasurer) - Resigned April 09
Amanda Pagan - (Treasurer)
Adam Horner
Kathy Richardson
Simon Herd - Resigned April 09
Linda Gale
Alexander Nielsen
Gen Nihill
Steven Jell
Askulla Teila
Adrian McMillian
Afrar Ibrahim
Alicia Dyer
Amy Lin
Amy Yang
Andrew Maher (solicitor)
Anika Holden
Austin Zhang
Blaise Alexander
Chelsea Hill
Christina Wong
Christopher Rodriguei-Nafcimento
Dakshinee Kodituwakku
Dan Hagan
Despina Bedovian
Emma Schulz (solicitor)
Fiona Hintum
George Newhouse
Heather Boyle
Henry Kwan
Jack Kenchington-Evans
James Richardson
Jenny Si
Julie Evans
Liam Condon (solicitor)
Lisa Wood
Lu Cheng
Michelo Napolitano
Nadine Di Blasi
Paul Lamb
Ramon Fowler
Simon Breheny
Steve Jell
Steven Kocaj
Tallace Bissett
Thomas Ashton
Tim OíNeill (solicitor)
Trac Trinh
Yi-Meng Gong
Thanks To
ABL, Blake Dawson,Hall & Wilcox, Holding Redlich,The Legal Services Board, Victorian
Law Foundation, VLA, City of Melbourne, Foundation House, Refugee Minors Program,
Matt McDonald, Adrian Vednick, Joh Kirby, Jennifer Kanis, Lindsay Tanner and staff,
Susan Ball, Geradine Daniels, Mark Courtney, Rachna Muddogouni, Robin Inglis,
Hugh de Kretser, Annie Nash, Geoff Adsett, Justine Finigan, Peter Seidel, Emma
Rattray, Carly Marcs, Simone Elias, Ruth Hammnet, Claire Harris, Gabi Crafti, Emrys
Nevapil, Debbie Mortimer SC, Dyson Hore-Lacy SC, Jane Dixon SC, Brian Walters SC,
Charandev Singh, Chantelle Higgs, Andrea Tsalamandris, Liat Blatcher, Sara Hinchey,
Prof.Jude McCulloch, Nola Karapanagiotidis, Phoebe Knowles, Shane Reside, AMES,
Trish Burrows, Stan Winford
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009 The People
Simon Roberts
Coordinator
Joni Gear,
Volunteer Coordinator, Solicitor
Denise Gardner,
Migration Agent
Tamar Hopkins,
Police Accountability Project, Joint Principal
Gregor Watkins,
Solicitor, Joint Principal
Sharon Carr
Solicitor
Gen Nihill
Solicitor
Thuan Nguyen
Administration/Finance
Abdiqadir Muhammed, CD,CLE Worker
Committee of
Management 08-09
Centre well set after
year of change
Karen Pyke
Convenor
Simon Roberts
Coordinator
Reports
The past year has been one for new staff
to settle in and for a small expansion in our
activities. It is amazing that such a small centre
manages to achieve so much and cover so
much ground, we would like to thank all the
staff and volunteers for their hard work and
enthusiasm.
The Committee has gone through some
changes in the past 12 months. Mark Evers,
our every trusty treasurer has moved to PNG
for work. FKCLC will be ever grateful for mark’s
efforts in steering us out of harder times and
modernizing our financial reporting. The Centre
found the new treasurer, Amanda Pagan who
works in finance at St Vincent’s hospital,
through goodcompany and there has been
a seamless transition. We have been very
fortunate in having had two excellent treasurers
this year.
Simon Herd resigned from the committee due
to work, family and volunteering pressures but
he found an able replacement in Alexander
Nielson, a solicitor at Mallesons. Linda Gale,
an industrial officer at the National Tertiary
Education Union and Joel Townsend from the
VLA Human Rights and Civil Law Section also
came on board. Joel has also worked in CLCs.
The new members give us a good balance
of private and public law experience along
with human resource and industrial relations
knowledge.
Karen
Simon
works. A committee comprising Kathy, Gen ,
Sharon and Simon expect to complete this work
by the end of 2009. The Human Resources
Sub-Committee also worked on aspects of
this area as it looked at risk management
and the delegation of the Committee’s dayto-day human resource responsibilities.
Recommendations to delegate more
responsibility to the Coordinator are in place
pending the organisational review outcome.
It was sad to say goodbye to other staff
members. Thanks to Cathy Kirwin, Coordinator
and Capacity Builder, Donna Williamson, CD/
CLE, Lisa Woods, solicitor, and Carly Marks,
police accountability, for all their hard work.
Gregor Husper is now only working one day per
week as he has another position with PILCH.
Gen Nihill also joined the committee after she
ended her time as an employee in late 2008.
No words can do justice to how much the
Centre owes to Gen for providing a guiding
hand for so long. Her vision and compassion
continues to inform the work of the Centre.
The finances of the Centre for 2008-09 look
extremely healthy. However, there were long
periods when certain positions were not filled.
In particular, the absence of Tamar on the
Victoria Law Foundation CLC Fellowship meant
that there was a delay in starting to spend the
one-off money from the Commonwealth on the
police accountability project. The Coordinator
and CD/CLE positions were also vacant for
some time. The Committee resolved to spend
the surplus for more staff hours in 2009-10.
More to the point, however, is the fact that
this centre and all small CLCs have been
underfunded for years and we are actively
involved in campaigning for great funding for
the sector.
The Committee was ambitious in attempting to
review the policy manual this year. However, we
decided to take on the biggest policy area first
and that will take some time to work through.
The organisational structure is being recast
to accurately reflect how the Centre actually
The Centre welcomed new staff and with
them, we hope for a period of stability. Simon
Roberts started as Coordinator in August
2008, Abdiqadir Muhamed started in CD/CLE
in September and Sharon Carr started as a
solicitor in November.
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009
In terms of programs, the Centre was
successful in being granted not only the VLF
Fellowship but also a Legal Services Board
Grant for a police racial profiling project. This
project starts in July 2009. We have also
signed a community legal partnership with the
law firm Hall and Wilcox. This gives our lawyers
access to their expert advice and we will be
exploring more ways to work with Hall and
Wilcox for the betterment of our community.
In our usual areas of generalist legal practice
and CD/CLE we continue to punch above our
weight and to deliver innovative and imaginative
programs that go a long way to righting
imbalances in the justice system and for doing
something tangible on the ground for social
inclusion.
Finally, we would like to thank all the
organisations that supported the work of the
Centre in the past year. Particular thanks to
Mark Courntney and the team at VLA and to
all the lawyers at ABL and the Bar who have
supported our work in human rights and police
accountability.
SpringClean
Gregor Husper
Co-Proncipal Solicitor
A few weeks before preparing the annual
report, we closed our offices for a much
needed clean-up day. I think this may have
been the centre’s first comprehensive purge,
and not surprisingly we managed to fill a
small van and many document bins with a
combination of old equipment and paperwork.
For example, issues relating to fines, overpolicing of newly arrived young people, police
car pursuits, and police use of deadly force
(where a containment policy is best practice)
are current issues all of which have long law
reform and policy histories.
The fact that these (and many other topics)
are still live today does not diminish the
importance of the sector’s law reform efforts.
It does, however, belie the oft-heard claims of
government and other agencies that problems
of the past are historical and have been
subsumed by revised culture and practice.
In some instances there have been significant
reforms, and CLCs have been instrumental
in driving change through their policy and
advocacy activities. In other instances it would
seem the sector must reassess its law reform
methods and activities, or be prepared to
remain focussed on specific initiatives over a
number of years. In the latter case, not the least
because bad policies and practices become
entrenched, but also because the interests of
the marginalised and disadvantaged are often
at odds with the self-serving practices of power
elites and decision makers.
Some of our earlier policy files (sadly culled
in the clean-up), looked oddly remote, but no
less relevant today. For example marijuana
law reform does not look promising with the
intervening war on drugs (anyone remember
Denise, Joni, Sharon and Gregor
the Mullers and Packers Union?). Nonetheless,
decriminalisation of drugs remains an
important initiative.
It is worth noting that a couple of bins were
filled with documents relating to endless
funding reviews. Those episodes have been
amongst the most draining experiences for
CLC workers, and have consumed countless
hours that might have been more productively
directed to casework, legal education and law
reform. There has been much vindication and
support for CLCs arising form those reviews,
but it remains that CLCs spend an inordinate
amount of energy satisfying funders.
Checking through papers for disposal also
reacquainted us with a non-exhaustive rollcall of the fantastic people associated with
the centre in days gone by (a few still here)
including: Neil Cole, Carol Innes, Genevieve
Nihill, Denise Gardner, Dominique Saunders,
the ‘police shootings’ families, Tanner Ozdemir,
Jude McCulloch, Thuan Nguyen, Lou Schetzer,
Hung Le, Frank Hulls, Maria Cabello, Carmen
Tommasi, Caroline Bicheno, Simone Elias, and
some wonderful volunteers and committee
members.
Onwards
In some ways, the centre’s past achievements
set a high bar for assessing our current
position. The CLC environment has also
evolved, with more sophisticated service
delivery models, including those for internships
and volunteers, partnerships with the private
sector, increasing recourse to external funding
sources, significant projects and outreach
programs and specialist services.
Many of these innovations have greatly
enhanced opportunities for CLCs and their
clients. FKCLC regards itself well placed to
operate within this environment, based on a
foundation of community-focussed service
delivery. This has been an enduring philosophy
of the centre, which has allowed it to remain
relevant, responsive and well appreciated by
its community. This commitment was evident
in the files examined by us during the clean-up,
and is reflected in the centre’s current services.
For example, the centre has a pre-eminent
migration case-work service available for
humanitarian offshore refugees. It is one of very
few of its kind and addresses overwhelming
unmet need. It is widely recognised for its
professional, compassionate and dignified
service delivery.
The centre also remains a leader in law reform,
policy and education in the area of police
issues, particularly for young people. Recently,
the centre has assumed a pivotal statewide role
in the area of police complaints, generating a
Continued on page 3
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009 Staff Reports
Sifting carefully through these materials
provided a revealing snapshot the centre’s past
activities and its many achievements. It was
interesting to reflect on the breadth of issues
addressed by the centre over 2½ decades, and
the number of them that remain relevant today.
police complaints, FOI requests, media and
political lobbying.
Policing the
police
The Project is working on lobbying for
independent investigations of police complaints
and is undertaking research on the extent of
racial profiling in Melbourne and its solutions.
Ta m a r H p k i n s , P o l i c e
Accountability Project
Wo r k e r
We also run your rights and police training
sessions at schools and for community
agencies.
Staff Reports
Thanks to the Victoria Law Foundation,
Community Legal Centre Fellowship award, I
was able to travel to Canada, the USA, England
and Northern Ireland in the last three months of
2008 to interview police complaint authorities,
lawyers and advocates about state based, legal
and grassroots police accountability measures.
Due to the varied legal, social, political, colonial
and historical contexts of each country, police
accountability strategies had key differences.
For example, in Canada, the legal system is not
well set up to provide legal assistance to the
victims of police misconduct, but Canada does
fund major inquiries into police misconduct
on a regular basis. In contrast, in the US
and UK, there are many legal organizations
that run exclusively to assist victims of police
misconduct to take legal action. This is
probably as a result of the civil rights movement
in the US and the European Convention on
Human Rights that operates in the UK through
the Human Rights Act. Many strategies in
these countries hold resonances that could
well be adapted and applied to the Melbourne
context.
Key strategies that are worth pursing in
Melbourne include:
1. Lobbying for an independent, effective
and victim centred police complaint system.
(Northern Ireland being the best model)
2. Increasing the access of victims of police
misconduct to civil justice- including through
the development of a legal centre with skills,
funding and capacity to run civil cases against
the police. (The US and England had plenty of
good examples of this)
3. Implementation of strategies that track and
deter racial profiling – such as the receipting
of police stops, and improving racialised and
marginalised communities’ access to top
quality lawyers. (The UK and US had some
good examples of this).
4. Using international mechanisms to apply
pressure to national and state government’s
lack of action and complicity in human rights
abuses by police agencies. (UK and Chicago).
5. Building and working with community
organizations that support the victims of police
The Project is extremely grateful to the
assistance of probono barristers, law firms,
CLC workers, its racial profiling project worker,
students, advocates and experts in this field as
well as VLA, VLF and Legal Services Board for
funding.
Ta m a r
violence, harassment and racism and lobby
for police accountability, transparent decisionmaking, alternatives to criminalisation. (The UK
and US have good examples)
6. Building networks with local, national
and international organizations and legal
communities that are committed to stopping
police violence, racism and harassment. (Such
as the National Police Accountability Project in
the US and INQUEST and the Lawyers Action
Group in the UK).
7. Development of community based
accountability strategies such as “Cop-watch”
“Court-watch” and family based campaigns. (
such as in Winnipeg and New York).
8. Raising awareness of the realities, rhetoric
and counter-productivity of police responses to
social issues. (Incite! and Critical Resistance
in the US).
9. Lobbying for funding to address the real
needs of marginalised communities, such as
proper support services for people with mental
health issues, intellectual disabilities, addiction
issues, proper and long term housing, family
supports, youth services, education, cultural
and personal development, environmental
sustainability, employment. (US and UK).
At present, the FKCLC Police Accountability
Project is working directly and with other
agencies on the first four of these strategies
and is supporting other agencies and
individuals in pursing the other strategies.
The Project currently assists 44 clients in
14 separate legal avenues including: county
court civil actions, race discrimination actions,
complaints to the Human Rights Committee
under the ICCPR, criminal defences, advices,
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009
Continued from page 3
remarkable volume of scholarship, research
case-work and action for change.
FKCLC’s core casework service is notable for
its thorough and comprehensive approach to
individual matters. It recognises that carrying
a file to resolution – guided by clients making
informed decisions – provides real access to
justice where basic advice and referrals may
fall short. The casework program undertakes
a greater number of files, and does more work
per file, than ever before.
Underpinning these activities is a management/
administration team which has evolved to
address the more complex landscape in which
CLCs operate. We are rightly proud of the office
group for managing and facilitating so much
activity in a seamless and supported manner
- and, it must be said, with so little money.
We are also proud to acknowledge the great
initiatives of our colleagues at other centres
in the Western Forum of CLCs. They have
demonstrated innovative methods by which our
own centre can grow and assist unmet need.
Our recent partnering with law firm Hall and
Wilcox is a great development which opens
opportunities in that regard.
Finally, we are enormously grateful to our
volunteers and the committee of management
- your commitment is very much appreciated.
The Community
is the key
Abdiqadir O. Muhamed
C D / C L E Wo r k e r
I joined Flemington & Kensington Community
Legal Centre 11 September 2008, working two
days per week. During the first few months I
dedicated my time to meet different community
groups and organisations. Every opportunity
was utilised to promote the Legal Centre and its
services within the local community.
Denise
Denise Gardner
Migration Agent
Ah! The annual opportunity to whinge! I’ve
just taken two weeks annual leave and today
(Wednesday) I have interviewed six clients.
Monday had only four clients booked but not
one turned up ..work that out. The Immigration
department (DIAC) has finally settled on a
system of allocating refugee visas using an
atlas …33% from Africa, 33% from the middle
east (Iran& Iraq) & 33% from Asia (Burma). No
doubt it will change again next year to account
for climate refugees or people from some
new hellhole that no one anticipated. However
DIAC continue to pretend that everything is
sweetness & light and that everyone who needs
migration advice will be able to access it…even
12 year old refugees with no money to pay. Just
don’t tell anyone that I have assisted people
from Werribee, Tarneit and Pakenham … it will
just cause angst.
Thanks go to those who share the office, to
the workers at Foundation House and the
Unaccompanied Minor Program (good humor,
and tenacious advocacy should never be
underestimated) and Ash and James. The last
two are migration agents who have started as
volunteers. Thanks guys!
Community groups (including Vietnamese
and African-born) identified many issues of
concern. Among these issues were:
• Consumer Law (including telemarketing,
door to door sales people, mobile phone
contracts and buying a motor vehicle)
• Infringements (including public
transport fines)
• Motor Vehicle Accidents
• Police Powers
Community Legal Education throughout the
year was achieved by forming collaborations
and partnerships with organisations such as
Urban Communities, Doutta Galla Community
Health Service, and Vietnamese Welfare
Resource Centre.
A poster highlighting the Legal Centre’s
services was developed during the year.
Abdiqadir
Other staff of the Legal Centre were also
engaged to present sessions, talks and
workshops on topics as diverse as Consumer
Law and Immigration. The Legal Centre is
regularly invited by local organisations, as well
as educational facilities from both within and
outside our zone.
On the flipside, I identified the need for cultural
awareness training for community workers
in our area. I developed a presentation about
the Somali people and gave this presentation
initially to local community workers and
then to a large and appreciative crowd at the
Federation of CLCs.
Flemington & Kensington Community Legal
Centre will continue to develop strong
partnerships and collaborate with local
organisations, and also continue to identify
areas of law where our expertise can assist our
local communities to be stronger, and more
positive towards the future.
Access and Equity
In community legal centres our belief is that every client should have the opportunity to access
justice. In doing so we try to provide high quality and understandable law to all of our clients. This
commitment takes various forms – addressing the very different needs of our diverse client base.
Outreach – over the years staff and volunteers have operated outreach services to both
Kensington & Flemington high rise estates, to Health & Community Centres, Tenants Associations,
the Vietnamese Welfare office We also service home, aged care and hospital visits. Outreach has
offered clients a safe and familiar alternate to coming to our office. This year we have participated
in the Doutta Galla Health Service Health Time sessions on the Flemington Estate, as well as our
regular Thursday outreach to Flemington Community Centre.
Interpreting – a glance at our interpreting bookings quickly shows the diversity of our client base.
Tigrenya, Kirundi, Chin, Auslan, Persian, Vietnamese and Dinka. We have also call on AUSLAN
interpreters when needed.
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009 Staff Reports
Registered
Migration Agent
no 76638
Community Legal Education (CLE) is aimed
at increasing the knowledge and awareness
in the community about legal rights and
responsibilities. Practical advice is provided, as
well as information about where to seek help.
Admin team
forges ahead!
Thuan Nguyen
Administrative worker
Staff Reports
Wow! Time is going to fast…. I can not believe
I have been back at work for twelve months
now. I am very excited to be back and even
more excited when I saw all the “olden days
computers” were replaced & best news that
they were funded by Victoria Legal Aid.
Since I returned, I undertook some CLSIS
online training eg Data Query System (DQS
Reports), Fundamentals (part 1 & 2) and
Administration & Customisation conducted
by Justin of NACLC. This is quite different
as I have never done Webex online training
or chatted with a group of people before. (I
already knew about it, but wanted to refresh
my brain after maternity leave & just in
case anything changes). I also attended
free INFOCOM training (with Heather) and
conducted by Fiona of VLA. As well I went to a
seminar on Raising Money for your community.
This was at Freehills & was arranged by PILCH.
Apart from CLC recurrent funding from
Victoria Legal Aid - State & Commonwealth,
we also received a one-off grant of
$65,178.00 from the Commonwealth. The
centre has used about 10% of this fund for
a police accountability project. However we
will continue to spend mainly on salary by
employed a staff to work 4 days on police
accountability.
The Flemington & Kensington CLC received an
award of “Community Legal Centre Fellowship”
from Victoria Law Foundation particularly
for our staff member - Tamar Hopkins. This
Fellowship project started mid September
2008 & finished early April 2009.The legal
centre also received a small grant from the
Legal Services Board for a Racial Profiling
Research Project. This project will start in July
2009.
This year the Legal Centre also received a
$2,500.00 donation from The Myer Foundation
for “staff capacity”. This donation has been
used to allow staff to attend a conference in
Perth. We also received $1,500.00 from a law
firm – Blake Dawson to buy a data projector.
This is good for the Centre to use for training
purposes & Community Legal Education
sessions. Individual donations from Lindy
Richardson, Sheila Byard & Betty O’Keefe were
also received (and thanks to Frances for the
fridge!)
Thuan and Heather
After the MECU Intelligent Banking took over
the Macaulay Co-operative we were no longer
provided with “in house payroll services”. They
have referred us to an organization called Pay
Office Systems Pty Ltd who is specialize in
“payroll services”. I struggled a little big when
we first transferred to the new payroll system,
because their reporting system is different from
Macaulay Co-operative.
There are some changes to the centre, I
feel like this is not a good year to come back
from maternity leave. One thing that has not
changed is our enthusiastic & ever reliable
admin volunteer – Heather Boyle. She has
promised to increase her time with us to 3
days from late July 2009. I cannot explain how
much I appreciate all the work she has done for
me & the centre.
In September 2008, I felt shocked when
Genevieve resigned. Genevieve has been
working at the Centre for years & years … since
before I started on the Jobskills Program more
than 10 years ago. She was always available
to help and support me when I needed. She
never says “No” to me or anyone. I think there
is no such word “No” in her dictionary. Finally,
it was a relief to hear Genevieve had joined the
Committee of Management, that means she
will still be around & not really leaving us.
Apart from Heather, we also have Jack who is
coming every Friday to do admin and front desk
work while I am relaxing , doing my shopping,
drinking coffees etc. Thanks to Jack. Not just
Jack & Heather, this year we have had an admin
volunteer (Afrah Ibrahim) Her work experience
started mid September & finished her in late
November. Thanks to all our admin volunteers.
Oops! I mustn’t forget the Legal volunteers as
well.
It was also sad to hear Maria Cabello resigned
in late December 2008. She has been keeping
the legal centre “tidy & clean” for over four
years. But luckily, Fay Spear has agreed to
fill her shoes. Fay is a long term friend and
supporter of the centre. Fay officially started in
mid January 2009 (although she has been our
gardener for many previous years)
Mark Evers has been our treasurer for the last
three financial years resigned in April – he’ll
be working overseas. We have found a great
replacement - Amanda Pagan - through “Good
Company Wish”.
Sadly, there was the very bad news to hear our
lovely Denise’s mum has passed away in mid
May 2009.
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009
Then our long term co-ordinator left. Carmen
Tommasi resigned in March 2007 and was
so irreplaceable that only in august 2008 was
a “gentleman” appointed to be our new coordinator. I was a bit surprised when one day, a
giant man with a bike and a pack-back arrived;
it was Simon Roberts. Denise insists that his
job is like herding cats but I’m not sure what
she means.
The centre also has a new Community Legal
Education Worker – Abdiqadir Muhamed.
Sharon Carr has also joined us as a locum
solicitor. Along with the new faces of staff,
there are still old faces such as Denise, Gregor,
Joni & Tamar. Thanks to “old & new” staff.
Chao, see you next year!
Volunteers,
training
and student
supervision
Joni Gear
Vo l u n t e e r C o o r d i n a t o r
Our centre has supervised two volunteer
College of Law placements this year. Henry
Kwan and Julie Evans completed their
pre-admission legal training at the centre.
We endeavour to have one College of Law
placement with our centre at any given time.
The support these particular volunteers give
to the centre is immense and it is fantastic to
build relationships with these volunteers. Our
placement students typically volunteer at the
centre around 3 days per week.
During National Volunteers Week, the Federal
Government acknowledged the work of
volunteers throughout the City of Melbourne
area. Several legal centre volunteers
participated in a ceremony held in Flagstaff
Gardens. Some of our long term volunteers,
including Dakshinee Kodituwakku, Nadine Di
Blasi, Christina Wong and Heather Boyle, were
awarded certificates of appreciation at this
ceremony.
Throughout 2008-09, Heather Boyle has
continued to volunteer at the centre as our
receptionist and has recently increased her
time to 3 days per week. The support and
enthusiasm which Heather brings to the centre
is incredible! We have also welcomed Jack
Kenchington-Evans, who gives volunteer
administrative support on Fridays.
We have been fortunate to receive continuing
volunteer support from solicitors for our night
service. We have also recently welcomed Amy
Brennan, barrister, into our fortnightly roster.
Dakshinee Kodituwakku
Volunteering at the FKCLC is a varied, stimulating
and rewarding role. It provides law student
volunteers not only with the opportunity to enhance
legal understanding of and practical experience in
a range of common legal matters, but also enables
volunteers to contribute to the local community in a
meaningful way and to learn from the Legal Centre’s
staff.
Day-time volunteers assist with casework and
legal research. Matters can range from criminal
offences to wills to motor vehicle accidents. Whilst
law students are often able to put their knowledge
of legal research and case reading to the test, much of the areas of law encountered at
the Legal Centre are not covered at law school, and thus provide a much more grounded,
practical knowledge of the law that complements the ‘loftier’, appellate-court principles
taught in the classroom.
On Monday nights, the focus shifts to seeing clients, whether for the purposes of taking
initial instructions or for following up on ongoing matters. Monday Night Service is an
unparalleled opportunity (for student volunteers, anyway!) to gain real client interview
practice and to engage with a client’s legal problems. These are obviously very valuable
experiences for budding lawyers in that they impart practical skills of the type not generally
taught at university.
Finally, the Legal Centre’s services are of undoubted benefit to its local community, and
all volunteers can be proud of their contribution to these ongoing activities. Being able to
assist a client in meeting their legal needs — quite apart from the benefits of acquiring
new skills and legal experiences — is in itself a very rewarding aspect of volunteering.
And, of course, the experience at the Legal Centre is made even better by the very
supportive and dedicated group of staff and fellow volunteers. I myself have been a
volunteer at the Legal Centre for over three years now, and have experience in both
day-time and Night Service volunteering. Being one of the regular volunteers, I get the
opportunity to stay informed about cases that I have worked on, as well as getting to work
and socialise with a great group of people.
It has been exciting to see some of our long
term law student volunteers complete their
studies. During the year, Fiona Hintum
commenced her supervised legal training with
Victoria Legal Aid, and Nadine Di Blasi was
admitted to practice.
The legal centre held a volunteer training
session on making effective referrals, using a
DVD produced by the Kingsford Legal Centre
in NSW. We continue to have occasional social
events, and we look forward to another year of
working with our volunteers
Anyone who would like to volunteer with the
centre should email [email protected].
au.
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009 Volunteers
Throughout this year, volunteers have
continued to greatly support the work of
the legal centre. These volunteers provide
invaluable casework and administrative
support, and contribute greatly to the work
environment at the centre. We currently have
approximately 10 night service volunteers
and 15 day time volunteers. Our night service
operates a fortnightly roster, whilst our day
time volunteers commit to full or half days each
week.
Volunteering at the FKCLC:
A Law Student’s Perspective
Top 10 Problem Types
Cause injury
Complaints against police
Fines
Immigration - Family
Immigration - Refugee
Motor vehicle accidents
Road traffic offences
Theft & related offences
Violence/Restraining orders
Wills/probate other
All other problem types
Total
8
9
25
10
53
20
23
4
7
13
94
266
Australia
Burma
China
Eritrea
Ethiopia
India
Liberia
Somalia
Sudan
Viet Nam
All others
Total
49
20
5
7
26
6
7
25
18
12
34
209
Earned
Government Benefit
Not stated
Total
42
166
1
209
Statistics
Top 10 COB by client
Income Source by client
3.01%
3.38%
9.40%
3.76%
19.92%
7.52%
8.65%
1.50%
2.63%
4.89%
35.34%
1
Grants and Other Income
Received 2008-2008
Victoria Law Foundation - Tamar Hopkins received the VLF CLC Fellowship for
2008
Legal Services Board - A small grant was awarded in 2009 for a police racial
profiling project to commence in second half of 2009 ($42,000)
Myer Foundation - An amount was granted to be used for staff training (2,000)
Thank you to all those that donated to our legal centre between June 2008 and
June 2009.
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009
CENTRE ACTIVITY SUMMARY REPORT
from 1.7.008 - 30.6.2009
CLIENTS
Total number of clients
New clients
Repeat clients
Exisiting clients
ACTIVITIES
Information (referral)
Advice (face to face)
CASES (open and closed)
Total cases open during period (open
& new)
Open at period start
New (opened in period)
Still open at peirod end (ongoing)
Total cases closed during period
Minor cases closed
Medium cases closed
Major cases closed
Closed involving court representation
Closed involving primary dispute
resolution
Closed test cases
Closed with public interest indicator
NON-CASEWORK PROJECTS
Total projects open during period (open
& new)
Open at period start
New (opened in period)
Still open at peirod end
Total projects completed during period
CLE projects completed
LRLP projects completed
533
209
116
208
552
389
610
258
352
267
343
196
104
38
53
1
0
4
21
1
20
4
17
9
2
Financial Report
FKCLC Annual Report 2008-2009 Financial Report
10 F KC L C A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9
Financial Report
F K C L C A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9 11
Financial Report
12 F KC L C A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9
Financial Report
F K C L C A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9 13
Financial Report
14 F K C L C A n n u a l R e p o r t 2 0 0 8 - 2 0 0 9
Flemington and Kensington Community Legal Centre Inc (FKCLC)
P.O. Box 487,
FLEMINGTON VIC 3031
22 Bellair Street,
KENSINGTON Vic 3031
Phone: 03 9376 4355
Fax: 03 9376 4529
Email: [email protected]
Website: www.communitylaw.org.au
Donations: www.ourcommunity.com.au/fkclc