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House of Assembly - Fifty-First Parliament, Second Session (51-2)
2008-04-08 Daily Xml
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ROMA MITCHELL COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRE

Ms CICCARELLO (Norwood) (15:17): Today I would like to take the opportunity to speak about a truly extraordinary organisation in my electorate which exemplifies the concepts of community service and social justice. This organisation is the Roma Mitchell Community Legal Centre, and it probably does not come as a surprise to many that it is principally run by lawyers. I know that lawyers often suffer from a bad reputation, and that there are many jokes about lawyers, but I can state that not all lawyers are just interested in the mighty dollar. There are many who are prepared to use their knowledge and expertise to help those who might be disadvantaged or socially isolated to have the means to participate and to have the access to legal help they otherwise might not receive.

This is clearly the case with those who volunteer their time and considerable expertise to the Roma Mitchell Community Legal Centre. The centre commenced as the Norwood Community Legal Centre in 1979 after a group of local solicitors giving pro bono legal advice and assistance in their offices formalised this pro bono legal aid in a single association, under the guidance of the then new local Labor member for Norwood, Greg Crafter. And 28 years later, despite no longer being funded as a community legal centre body and remaining entirely dependent on volunteer support, it still remains strong in providing the following services: legal advice, counselling, referrals, legal and human rights information, community legal education, and reconciliation services.

It does this by offering three main objectives: the Evening Legal Advisory Service; the Daytime Roma Mitchell Human Rights Volunteer Service; and Placements from the Mission Australia Work for the Dole program and the Continuing Legal Education Series.

The Evening Legal Advisory Service began almost from the centre's inception and continues to this day to be the core function of the community centre. This service operates every Monday and Thursday between 6 to 7pm at the centre, where clients are offered interviews for 15 minutes. All legal assistance is provided by 15 to 20 private lawyers who donate their time and expertise free of charge. And if you work that out it means that, over the last 28 years, the centre has been able to assist over 11,000 people.

The administration of this evening service and the myriad of responsibilities which go with fielding inquiries and visits throughout the day is undertaken by the Human Rights Volunteers Service, which, in addition to this, also promotes its own agenda of advancing human rights and reconciliation in the community.

This service consists of law students from Adelaide and Flinders universities, Mission Australia placement workers, and other members of the community. These volunteers obviously work very hard, and I am reliably informed that the centre receives more than 1,000 inquiries per year and appointments are fully booked up to two weeks in advance. The fact that the centre is unfunded yet still manages to provide these services is fantastic, and I commend the many men and women who give their time so selflessly.

My association with the legal centre dates back to its inception and I am privileged to be a member of its management committee. I have enormous faith in the centre's ability and willingness to assist others and have referred many constituents to it over the years, as have people from other areas. I am pleased that the Rann government also acknowledges the fine work that the centre continues to do in my electorate. This year I have presented the centre with grants from the Premier's Community Initiatives and Volunteers Support Fund to assist them in their work, and I look forward to presenting them with many more in the future.

I am enormously proud to have the Roma Mitchell Community Legal Centre in my electorate and I take this opportunity to acknowledge and commend the tireless work undertaken by the chairperson (Philip Lineton) and the treasurer and convenor of volunteers (Patrick Byrt). Patrick is a frequent visitor to my office and I continue to be impressed by his passion and enthusiasm for human rights and social justice. The Norwood Payneham and St Peters council obviously agrees with me because, this year, Patrick was awarded the Australia Day Citizen of the Year. To Philip and Patrick and all the dedicated and enthusiastic volunteers who make up the Roma Mitchell Community Legal Centre, I offer my congratulations on a job well done. They are very well known and respected within the community and, again, I congratulate them on the work they do in helping disadvantaged people in our community.

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