St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report 2006-2007 - Community Law

More documents

Recommendations

Info

Suzy FoxSKLS AdministratorSuzy Fox & sisterMaz Fox, PPCG workerVanda Hamilton successfully applied for theposition, initially job sharing with a locum lawyerKon Tringas until such time as she completed theCLE maternity position. Vanda was then able tocommence full-time mid January 2007. Duringstaff absences Kerrin Panlook (Principal Solicitor)also provided support for the program.Since leaving, Ann and her partner Rob havebecome parents to Isabelle and Peter and hispartner Rita have become parents to Jules. Wewish them and their new families well.The DOL provides legal advice, referral, informationand casework services to drug and alcoholusers at various outreaches at local communityorganizations and those who directly contactthe Service. This program enables the Service toreach marginalized clients with complex needswho would otherwise not access the Service.Suzy Fox…20 Years of Amazing ServiceIf we counted the hours that Suzy has actuallyput in at 161 Chapel Street, we would becommemorating something like her fortiethyear at the Service. As it is, Suzy has been anabsolutely integral component of the Servicesince she first arrived on the 19th September1987. Even then, she was sure to have hadthe fire in her belly and an indomitable sense ofjustice; particularly for women and the vulnerablein the community. In those early days, when all theimportant decisions were made via a consensusdecision-making process by all the workers atthe weekly Collective meetings; when the fightfor injustice was regularly taken to the street; andwhen the megaphone and smoking at your deskwas virtually compulsory, Suzy must have felt shehad arrived home!As anyone who has had more than a passingknowledge of SKLS would know, Suzy’s positionas administrator at the Service involves muchmore than attending to the requirements of thefunders and the Board Directors, paying the billsand ensuring the staff get paid. She is activelyinvolved in paralegal work, often making that extraphone call to ensure something gets done! Suzyalso assists with the volunteer program and withher usual attention to detail will track down anyrecalcitrants who omit to bring their files forwardor complete their stats sheets properly!Suzy has also played an integral role in the CLCsector over the years. She has been on the coordinatingcommittee of the Federation. She’sbeen active on the administrators’ workinggroup in its various incarnations and made somestrong friendships with these wonderful women.Most recently, Suzy has been on the Access toInterpreters’ Working Group, which involves afair bit of boring administration and prodding/encouraging workers to comply with the variousexternal funding requirements in order that CLCsreceive this most important access to appropriatelyskilled interpreters. Suzy’s involvement withthese various groups reveals some of her mostendearing and enduring qualities: she is a worker,who is prepared to put the work in for a worthwhilepurpose; she selflessly provides and values thesupport given and received by her colleagues,particularly the other administrators in the sector;and she is not backward in telling people what’srequired and how she sees it in meetings andwhen doing committee work.Suzy does not suffer fools. She has no doubttaught many new workers and volunteers how toswear with conviction. She is not quiet in the office(and when she is, we become worried). Her mindis ever enquiring, and never short of a question toask. Do not tell her you have been traveling andexpect to conclude the conversation in a hurry.Suzy works too hard. She has suffered far toomany sleepless nights worrying about this place.Suzy is loyal. She always has time to assist otherswith their work. She is fundamentally committedto assisting the clients – even when she gets sickof answering the phone. Although Suzy does worktoo hard, she knows life is not all about the SKLSand she provides sustained, practical and lovingsupport to her friends, family and colleagues.What can we say except,thank you Suzy! Annual Report 2006 – 2007
FundingCommonwealthand State RecurrentFundingThe Service’s primary source of funding is fromthe State and Commonwealth Attorney General’sDepartments through the CommonwealthCommunity Legal Services Program (CCLSP)program. The Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) CLCFunding Program is responsible for administeringthe funds and ensuring that the Service meets allaccountability requirements set out in the CCLSPService Agreement. VLA is also responsiblefor monitoring the outcomes of the Service’sobjectives and projected performance indicatorsoutlined in the Strategic Plan, which forms part ofthe Service Agreement.The Board of Management and staff would liketo express their thanks and appreciation to theState and Commonwealth Attorney General’sDepartments and Victoria Legal Aid for theallocation of the following grants received in2006 – 2007:Recurrent CCLSPCommonwealth $88,886.00State $116,352.56State – DOL Program $74,822.80Total $280,061.3 6State CapitalEquipment AllocationOur Service also received a capital equipmentgrant from the State Attorney General to upgradeour IT hardware and software to the value of$8,618.The tri-annual funding for the DOL program wasdue for renewal this year so as a precaution theService engaged Les Rosenblatt to undertakeresearch and prepare a submission to supportthe continuation of the program. Accompanyingthe submission were letters of support fromlocal community agencies and local politicianshighlighting of benefits of the program for theclients and the need for the program to beretained in the area.Thankfully Victoria Legal Aid confirmed theprogram funding would continue and now beincorporated into the Service’s recurrent Statefunding. Without the ongoing support of VictoriaLegal Aid and Attorney General’s Department theService would have found it impossible to continueto provide this highly successful and valuableDrug Outreach Program (DOL) to one of the mostmarginalized groups within our community.Commonwealth CapitalEquipment AllocationThe Commonwealth has also allocated funds toCommunity Legal Centres in this financial year butto date the roll out of this allocation is yet to becompleted. However, we are hoping to acquire anew photocopier and printing from this allocation.Multi Business AgreementOver the last year negotiations have beenundertaken on the development of a MultiBusiness Agreement for CLC staff funded underthe CLC Funding Program which was an initiativeof Victoria Legal Aid. At the writing of this reportthe MBA is still to be implemented. However,negotiations were undertaken to secure an exgratia payment to CLCs to cover the pay increasefor the 2006 – 2007 in recognition of the MBAprogress and its expected implementation shortlyafter this period.Both the Department of Justice and Victoria LegalAid have given their commitment to funding theguaranteed annual pay increases of 3% over thenext three year term of the MBA including othernon-salary components such as paid maternityand paternity leave.Our service is greatly appreciative of this initiativewhich will go some way to improving the payand conditions of our staff. We are greatlyappreciative of the work undertaken throughoutthe negotiation stages by representatives ofVictoria Legal Aid, the State Attorney General,the Department of Justice, Community LegalCentres and the Victorian branch of the AustralianServices Union.Claire CarterMonday night volunteerRosalie GutmanWed night volunteerAnnual Report 2006 – 2007
Page 3 and 4: Thirty Four Years of the ServiceThe
Page 5 and 6: Organisational StructureSocialAccou
Page 7: Board of Directors & StaffBoard of
Page 11 and 12: AdministrationLittle has changed wi
Page 13 and 14: Volunteer ProgramCurrent Night Serv
Page 15 and 16: Directors are outlined earlier, but
Page 17 and 18: and where there is a significant di
Page 19 and 20: In May an advocate/ guardian with t
Page 21 and 22: Drug Outreach LawyerThe drug outrea
Page 23 and 24: StatisticsAdvice & Casework Statist
Page 25 and 26: DOL Clients by Age65yrs&over50-64yr
Page 27 and 28: Director’s Declaration27
Page 29 and 30: Statement of Cash Flows for theyear
Page 31 and 32: Notes to and forming part of the Fi

St Kilda Legal Service Annual Report 2006-2007 - Community Law

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?