Home > For lawyers > Lawyers' news > Victoria Legal Aid reaching out to new refugee communities

Victoria Legal Aid reaching out to new refugee communities

Date : 29 Nov 2007

A new outreach service in Dandenong is part of Victoria Legal Aid’s commitment to assisting new refugees.

While the South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centre (MRC) in Thomas St Dandenong is only a few minutes walk from the Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) office in Pultney St, there has been reluctance from MRC clients to follow-up referrals and visit VLA lawyers. 

So now VLA lawyers visit the MRC each Wednesday morning for three hours. The service began in late August. 

‘In the past our office has had little need for creating outreach services,’ said VLA Dandenong managing lawyer Larry Gage, ‘because we are surrounded by community legal centres. There is Springvale-Monash Legal Service, Casey-Cardinia CLC, and the Peninsula CLC. In this instance, though, we knew had to try to do something for a group of new clients.’

The impetus for the new service stemmed from VLA duty lawyers in Dandenong realising there were a high number of traffic offences, and repeat traffic offences, amongst some of the newest refugees in the area.

‘It was becoming more and evident some of our clients were having difficulty understanding the law and justice system here in Australia,’ said the chief executive officer of the South Eastern Region Migrant Resource Centre, Jenny Semple. 

Ms Semple said that many of the MRC clients, not just the newly-arrived Sudanese, were comfortable visiting the MRC but unsure about taking their matters elsewhere.  ‘This new outreach service has benefits all round.  There are the benefits for the clients in having direct access to legal advice. Then there are benefits for both organisations in terms of cross-referrals, and in learning about each others’ services.’ 

Although still in its infancy, the service has provided advice about Centrelink entitlements, debt, family law and some property matters. 

So far the service has helped migrants from Africa, Afghanistan, Jamaica and Pakistan. 

Meanwhile, VLA lawyer Bill Grimshaw has accepted an invitation from the Gippsland Migrant Resource Centre to join the MRC’s resettlement committee. The committee is primarily concerned with the successful settlement of Sudanese people, who are moving to Gippsland in significant numbers. The invitation to join the committee was made following the MRC’s involvement earlier this year in diversity awareness training for VLA staff.

VLA’s human rights and civil law service handles up to 80 refugee matters per year. One such case saw VLA assisting a Sudanese lawyer, a refugee who had been tortured for speaking out about government policies.  The man came to Australia to study in mid-2006 but feared for his young family, still in Sudan.

VLA lawyers were able to obtain a protection visa for the man earlier this year. His family have since settled in Australia. ‘He is a man of great bravery, and education,’ said VLA lawyer Peggy Kerdo. 

The VLA human rights and civil law service has a full-time telephone advice line, twice-weekly clinics and also an outreach service which sees Melbourne-based VLA lawyers regularly visiting Shepparton, a rural city with many new refugees.

Enquiries: 03 9269 0234 / 1800 677 402