Family Violence Legal Service Aboriginal Corporation

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:44): My question is to the Minister for Aboriginal Affairs. Will the minister inform the council about the work of the Family Violence Legal Service Aboriginal Corporation?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:44): I would be more than happy to, and I thank the honourable member for his question. Aboriginal community-controlled organisations play a critical role in the delivery of services across this state. The Family Violence Legal Service is one such organisation. Every day, they provide free legal support services, including advice, referrals, ongoing casework and court representation, with the aim to eliminate family and sexual violence through quality legal services, education and community partnerships.

I was able to spend some time with the team at the Family Violence Legal Service's office in regional South Australia to get to know more about the service they provide to communities. As I mentioned in the answer to the last question, in February I visited organisations, communities and leaders in Eyre Peninsula and the Far West Coast and spent time at the service's office in Port Lincoln to hear from staff about initiatives in the way they are engaging clients and victim survivors in their services.

I know that many organisations in the family and domestic violence sector face hard work to create safe spaces for victim survivors to seek support without fear of perpetrators. This is particularly acute in regional and remote areas of the state, in smaller communities where victim survivors are often more fearful of being outed by friends or neighbours. The Family Violence Legal Service have some remarkable and innovative programs to overcome these barriers. They are making a real difference in regional South Australia with programs like Sista 2 Sista and Love Colours, provided by their dedicated staff.

A few weeks later, I had the opportunity to visit the Port Augusta team in their office in that part of the Upper Spencer Gulf. The Port Augusta office provides services across much of the region, in close collaboration with other service providers. The service was established in 2011 to provide assistance to victim survivors of family or sexual violence. Free support services are in the areas of intervention orders, family law, child protection, victims of crime compensation and other legal problems arising from family violence. I would like to thank all the dedicated people at these services and many of the other Aboriginal community-controlled organisations that provide so much benefit to Aboriginal people in the state.