Annual Report 11-12 - Fitzroy Legal Service

SAT Report
Meghan Fitzgerald – Social Action
Team
Social Action
Team &
Community/
Health
Partnerships
Through 2011 to 2012 the Social
Action Team has continued to build
on partnerships with health service
providers based in the City of Yarra
and state-wide agencies, and to
inform policy and law reform work
with the experiences of our client
base.
Funded by the Department of
Health, Drug Outreach Lawyers
Jane Vasey and Natasha Wholan
provided extensive community legal
education, advocacy and support
through local AOD services including
Innerspace, North Richmond
Community Health, North Yarra
Community Health, Living Room
and Youth Support and Advocacy
Service. Of the numerous contacts
made with the community, approximately
120 cases were taken on
and resolved by the respective legal
practitioners through the reporting
period.
The outreach legal service
provision model of engaging with
service-users in familiar environments
where there are existing supports,
peer networks and relationships
of trust continues to benefit
FLS in providing access to justice
for community members marginalised
in their engagement with the
legal system.
Legal Projects Officer Meghan
Fitzgerald and Community Development
Officer Ela Ogru continue
to engage in community legal
education and advocacy supporting
access to health services, accountability
in policing operations, and
rights and responsibilities in the use
of public spaces.
Staff attend regular meetings
with community and stakeholders
focused on public housing, and
work to enhance legal capacity of
community sector workers, students
and service users through relationships
with NMIT, the New Hope
Foundation, the Neighbourhood
Justice Centre, Monash University,
Melbourne University, Victoria
University, Open Family, Health
Works, North Richmond Community
Health and others.
The Legal Projects Officer continues
to sit on the Executive Committee
of the Yarra Drug Health Forum,
and on the Board of Harm Reduction
Victoria, the peak drug user
organization in Victoria.
Criminal
Record
Discrimination
The impact of a criminal record
remains one of the most significant
and punitive impacts of engagement
with the criminal justice system for
many Victorians. The normative
shift towards broad based criminal
record checking for employment
purposes has not been matched by
appropriate legislative frameworks
that guide and manage community
reliance on criminal record information.
FLS continues to support reform
that strikes the right balance
between appropriate risk management
and the community interest in
eliminating unnecessary barriers to
employment.
The launch of the short film ‘Off
the Record’ exposed new audiences
and potential partners in advocacy
to the detrimental impact of the current
criminal record check system
in Victoria, Australia. The excessive
use of criminal record checks
by prospective employers means
that otherwise qualified and committed
workers are being shunned
because of an often minor offence
from their past. The documentary
explores how the impact reaches
beyond employment and can have a
devastating effect on mental health,
family, and community well after
a sentence has been completed. By
using the stories of four people who
have struggled as a direct result of
the current criminal record system,
including Aboriginal elder Jack
Charles from the film ‘Bastardy’,
the breadth and injustice of this
largely unnoticed issue is highlighted.
Ultimately, the documentary
asks the audience to consider a
more positive and practical attitude
to allow former offenders to move
forward and grow.
Working closely with FLS staff,
the short film was directed and
produced by former University of
Melbourne students Jessica Crofts
and Gemma Leigh-Dodds, edited by
former VCA student Vessal Safaei,
and funded by the Melbourne Engagement
and Partnerships Office
at the University of Melbourne. For
more information and to view the
film online, http://offtherecordcampaign.com/about/
Occupy
Melbourne
12
Meghan Fitzgerald - Social Action
Team
With the re-launching of the
Activist Rights website, and the
Federal Court challenge on behalf
of Occupy Melbourne, the Social
Action Team has been busy building
legal capacity in activist communities
and working in support of
protester’s rights.
With the support of Counsel Ron
Merkel QC, Nick Wood, Emrys
Nekvapil, Rupert Watters, the Human
Rights Law Centre, Allens,
and volunteers working with FLS,
proceedings have been conducted
on behalf of two Occupy Melbourne
protesters, James Muldoon and Sara
Kerrison in Muldoon and Ors v
MCC and Ors.
On behalf of the litigants, it has
been argued that the enforcement
actions taken under local laws
prohibiting advertising and camping
were not compatible with the consitutitonally
protected implied right to
engage in political communication,
nor with human rights given statebased
legislative protection under
the Charter of Human Rights and
Responsibilities Act 2006 (Vic).
Both litigants have shown extraordinary
courage and determination
in pursuing rulings of the Court
to clarify the respective rights and
responsibilities of the protesters
and the State. No rulings have been
handed down in relation to the matter
as yet.
PO Box 297
124 Johnston Street
FITZROY VIC 3065
www.fitzroy-legal.org.au
Above: Meghan Fitzgerald and
Ron Merkel
T: (03) 9419 3744
F: (03) 9416 1124
E: enquiries@fitzroy-legal.org.au