SPEECH TO THE LEGAL AID NSW ANNUAL FAMILY LAW CONFERENCE

Sydney

30 October 2009

First, may I acknowledge the traditional owners of the land we meet on – and pay my respects to their elders, both past and present.

I am very pleased to launch today’s conference which will focus on a range of key family law issues including family violence, children and social exclusion. 

It is good to see such a diverse group of people attending the conference.

Legal Aid New South Wales

At the outset, I would like to extend my congratulations to Legal Aid New South Wales, which is now in its 30th year of delivering family law services to disadvantaged people in this State.

I won’t go too much into the history of legal aid because Her Honour Justice Judy Ryan will cover that shortly.  But I would like to recognise the efforts of Legal Aid New South Wales in reaching out to specific groups at risk – including Indigenous people, people from non-English speaking backgrounds and women affected by violence.

I would also like to recognise the innovative and cooperative approach that the commission takes to providing services.

A good example is the Cooperative Legal Services Delivery Program.  This program brings together key legal services and community organisations in rural areas of New South Wales, including a wide range of legal assistance services, youth services, disability advocates, Family Relationship Centres and more.

More recently, just this year the Commission has developed an early intervention program to assist people with mortgage stress.  The program includes a DVD called ‘Mortgage Rescue’, which was launched last week.  The mortgage stress program seeks to give advice to people sooner rather than later so they can figure out a way to deal with their financial obligations before legal problems escalate.

This, coupled with the homelessness outreach services such as the one that opened in Grafton in July, aim to help people deal with legal problems early – to break the cycle of homelessness or prevent people, including families, from becoming homeless.

These are just a few examples.  Collectively, the Commission’s commitment to access to justice through the provision of quality legal assistance services has been exceptional.

Access to Justice

It is appropriate to acknowledge some history and its relevance to today. 

In 1975 the Whitlam Government commissioned a report on legal aid in Australia as part of an Inquiry into Poverty.[1]

In this seminal work, Ronald Sackville wrote that the law cannot itself deliver new houses to the homeless or solve the problems of poverty.

‘Nevertheless,’ he wrote ‘the processes of the law are of very great importance in the everyday life of the community.’

The recommendations in the Sackville report shaped the introduction of legal aid commissions and other government-funded legal assistance services, including the establishment of Legal Aid New South Wales in 1979. 

Legal aid is now one of the essential services working towards social inclusion in Australia.
It is literally impossible to imagine a social justice landscape without the services that legal aid commissions provide.

The Strategic Framework for Access to Justice released last month looks again at these issues in the context of the future landscape and the inevitable challenges for our justice system. In particular, the report emphasises the importance of early legal information and advice to help people solve their problems efficiently and effectively.

In 1975 these early intervention services were almost non-existent. In 2007-08 Legal Aid New South Wales provided over 350,000 information services and over 80,000 pieces of advice and minor assistance services. Of course, the commission also provided over 60,000 grants for legal representation.[2]

In family law, these early intervention services allow people to access advice early in the process and subsequently when they need it. Grants of aid also ensure that clients experiencing more complex issues like violence and high-level conflict can also be helped in family dispute resolution or in court. 

Family Violence

As practitioners working day to day with individuals facing family breakdown, you would be acutely aware of the trauma and long term impacts of family and domestic violence. 

It is unacceptable that families in Australia continue to experience domestic violence at disturbingly high levels. 

Many of you would be aware that in April this year, the Australian Government released its Immediate Response to the Time for Action Report, prepared by the National Council to Reduce Violence against Women and their Children.[3]

The report comments that the family law system is one area where contradictory impacts can affect victims of family violence – for example, conflict between the need to protect a child from violence and the desirability of having a relationship with both parents.

I’m pleased to see that the Conference will be addressing these issues.

A tangible example of work being done to tackle this problem is the development of a multi-disciplinary training package for lawyers, judicial officers, counsellors and other professionals working in family law.  The package will improve consistency in the handling of cases involving family violence, and ensure professionals are properly equipped to work with families at risk. This is an important way for professionals in the system to gain the trust of families, as well as the expertise to identify and deal with these problems.

This is just one project which will directly impact on the practitioners in the family law area, and will build on the excellent work being done by many legal and non-legal organisations.

I also commend the Chief Justice of the Family Court for her innovations in this area.

As the Government continues its work on developing the National Plan there will be many other important areas of reform which will directly impact on the family law system.

I look forward to working with the sector to find solutions to this unacceptable problem.

Legal Assistance Partnerships Pilot

In family law cases separating families often need both legal and non-legal advice and support to help them resolve issues and reach agreement about the best arrangements for their children. 

In this regard, I am also pleased to report that we are now finalising pilot partnerships between legal aid commissions, community legal centres and Family Relationship Centres. The partnerships will encourage services to work more constructively together to support families in resolving their own disputes.

Funding of $3.6 million has been provided for community legal centres and legal aid commissions to work with Centres to help families address their legal issues.

Types of legal services provided at Centres will vary, but may include legal information sessions for parents, legal advice, help with drafting consent orders and lawyer assisted family dispute resolution. The pilot will also provide training and mentoring for lawyers and FRC staff across the state.

In the past I believe that there has been too much of a divide between the help family relationship services provide and the help lawyers provide.

Research suggests that some of the prejudices between lawyers and non-legal mediators are, sadly, yet to be done away with.[4] The clichés run that lawyers think mediators cross the line and provide legal advice, while mediators think that lawyers don’t focus enough on children.

On a more positive note, the research also found that mediators and lawyers actually have a strong respect for each other – especially those they work with regularly and know well.
Both sectors appreciate the need for sound legal advice, a child-focused approach and the need for positive interventions, regardless of professional background.

This pilot between legal assistance services and FRCs will help each of these organisations work better together. It will also assist in the integration of approaches and create smoother pathways for clients through the family law system.

Conclusion

No doubt the next 30 years will see further changes to family law and to legal assistance services.

The legal assistance sector is resilient, and I am confident that the sector will be able to effectively deal with new challenges as they arise.

And being lawyers, we are never short of a firm opinion or a new way of looking at a problem.  This originality, tenacity and commitment to the community is what we need for the future.  Just as much as we needed it thirty years ago when lawyers decided to work both for government in the service of assisting the most disadvantaged people in Australia.

Right across the sector - government, lawyers, the courts, mediators, counsellors – we all need to keep hold of why we’re doing this work.  We’re here to help families through their tough times in the most effective way we can, and always acting in the best interest of children – the next generation.

Events like this conference are a tangible part of that commitment.

It is my pleasure to now declare this Conference officially open.

Thank you.

[1] Ronald Sackville, Legal Aid in Australia, Australian Government Commission of Inquiry into Poverty, 1975

[2] Legal Aid NSW, Annual Report 2007-08

[3] The National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women: Immediate Government Actions, April 2009

[4]  Helen Rhoades, Hilary Astor, Ann Sanson, Meredith O’Connor, ‘Enhancing inter-professional relationships in a changing family law: Final Report’ May 2008