The National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC) is an association of around 200 community legal centres which aims to assist and promote them, and provides a forum for the development of community legal centres’ policy. For more information, visit their website: http://www.naclc.org.au/
What is Law Reform?
The ACT Women’s Legal Centre undertakes crucial law reform work at a Territory, Federal and International level. This work is inspired by our experience working ‘on the ground’ with disadvantaged women. Our law reform work involves lobbying government and policy-makers to improve the legal system, to ensure it is accessible to everyone in our community. The Centre’s law reform activities include writing submissions, holding face-to-face meetings with politicians and public servants and appearing before parliamentary committees.
Some of our law reform work is undertaken in direct response to requests from government. For example, a particular department may send us a consultation paper and ask for our feedback. Other activities are driven by our knowledge of what’s happening for our clients in areas such as Family Law, Domestic Violence, Employment Law and Discrimination Law. The Centre is a strong advocate for change in these areas when we see client after client struggle to pursue their legal rights as a result of the way the law is written, or how it operates in practice. Our law reform activities aim to provide our clients with a voice, so they can have a greater say in the laws and policies that affect their lives.
Overall, advocating for law reform allows the centre to utilise the experiences of our clients to fight for systemic change aimed at reducing legal disadvantage for all women. This work goes hand-in-hand with the Centre’s Community Legal Education work, aimed at increasing each individual’s understanding of their legal rights and obligations.
Women's Legal Services Australia (WLSA)
The Centre is also an active member of Women’s Legal Services Australia (WLSA), a group of Community Legal Centres that specialise in women’s legal issues. WLSA is a network of the National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC). WLSA’s mission is to promote powerful and effective advocacy for women who are disadvantaged in their access to justice. Accordingly, the Centre undertakes many law reform activities in collaboration with other WLSA members.
WLSA members provide advice, information, casework and legal education to women on family law, family violence, sexual assault and discrimination matters. WLSA has a particular interest in ensuring that women experiencing domestic violence are adequately protected in the family law process. WLSA also works to ensure that disadvantaged women, such as those from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Indigenous women, women with disabilities and rural women are not further disadvantaged by the family law process.
For more information about WLSA check out the website http://www.wlsa.org.au/