Working Groups and Meetings

Role of Working Groups

VLAF Main Forum supports the Working Groups on an ad hoc basis to:

This is a proposal that was developed to identify the process of establishment of VLAF Working Groups through community and stakeholder consultation.

To become a member of one of the following groups please email the VLAF project manager

For copies of the recent minutes of any of the Working Groups please contact the Project Officer
simonr@vla.vic.gov.au 03 9269 0545

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VLAF CALD Working Group

Chair of the Working Group

Angela Costi (Victoria Legal Aid)

Terms of Reference

The overall aim of the working group is to improve legal services to culturally and linguistically diverse communities by engaging with the legal and non-legal services.

This will be achieved through:

  • lobbying for additional resources for provision for appropriate interpreting and translation language services
  • prioritising and improving access to migration services (legal access)
  • identifying and facilitating a process of cross- agency interaction, through information sharing and identification of partnership opportunities
  • encouraging best practice in reaching CALD communities.

Meeting dates for 2012

Working with Interpreters in the legal setting (Word - 360kb)
If you want to get hardcopies of the poster please email the VLAF project manager

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Legal Referral Working Group

Chair of the Working Group

Gregor Husper (PILCH)

Terms of Reference

To provide high quality information and referrals for people with legal problems in Victoria by:

  • sharing information on the services provided by the legal assistance providers
  • disseminating existing knowledge, resources and experiences
  • identifying common concerns related to client access
  • identifying collaborative and coordinated approach to develop effective referral pathway.

Meeting dates for 2012

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Policy Workers Networking Group

Chair of the Working Group

Joy Acquaro Law Institute of Victoria

Aims and Objectives

  • To provide a forum for exchange of information between policy and law reform workers across the legal assistance sector and to generate ideas .
  • To build capacity among legal assistance sector policy and law reform workers in the areas of:
  • Conducting effective law reform, policy work and campaigns;
  • Economic (costs/benefits) analysis;
  • Stakeholder relations; and
  • Collaborations
  • To develop long term, joint lobbying initiatives at a national and state level, where appropriate.
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Victorian Law Reform Commission - Law Reform In Action (PPT - 3351kb)

Policy Work undertaken the last 12 months (Word - 55kb)

Meeting Dates 2012

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Disability Legal Access Working Group

Chair of the Working Group

(Robyn Mills (VLA)

Aims and Objectives

  • To work on reform agenda issues along with social and welfare support services to ensure there are proper support services at the courts for people with disabilities.
  • To inform and engage with the government to discuss issues related to legal access for people with disabilities
  • To improve and increase professional development for staff who work in social and welfare sector. The aim of the training will be to increase their capacity to recognise if their client has a legal problem and identify what services their clients can access.
  • To increase the legal sector’s capacity to take on public interest test cases. This can be achieved by improving information dissemination, partnerships, mentoring programs.

Outcomes from the Legal Assistance Dialogue held on the 10 December 2009 (includes the membership of this group) (Word - 53kb)

Meeting Dates 2012