NACLC

The National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC) is the peak national body for community legal centres in Australia; its members are the state and territory peak bodies of community legal centres. NACLC’s members are:

Together, these organisations represent around 200 community legal centres nationally. 

NACLC is established for the public charitable purposes of assisting disadvantaged and marginalised people in the Australian community obtain access to legal services by, including but not limited to:

  • supporting and assisting community legal centres to provide these services;
  • providing a national forum for community legal centres;
  • developing and coordinating national community legal centres policy; and
  • advancing the interests of community legal centres within Australia.

The Association's governing body, the Management Committee, meets throughout the year.  It comprises state and territory representatives and elected office holders.

NACLC Services to CLCs & their clients

NACLC actively supports CLCs and through them their client communities, by providing the following services:

  • advocacy nationally, and sometimes internationally, in the interests of the sector and its clients
  • lobbying for funding for CLCs, primarily with the Australian Government but also with State Governments and other funding bodies, including writing submissions for the Federal Budget process
  • representation and negotiation on behalf of the sector with the Managers, Commonwealth and State, of the Community Legal Services Program (CLSP), the main funding program for CLCs, in relation to  the funding and administration of the Program as it affects CLCs, including negotiation in relation to Service Agreements, Program Guidelines and compliance and reporting requirements for CLCs
  • performing a communication and liaison role, recognised and funded by the Commonwealth, between the sector and the CLSP
  • representation of the sector in forums and collaborations with other key national bodies, for example, the Australian Legal Assistance Forum and ACOSS
  • development, national implementation and ongoing coordination of a national quality assurance program for CLCs, the National Accreditation Scheme, devised in an organisational development framework, and with resources and support to assist CLCs and their state/territory associations to meet Scheme requirements including an online NACLC standards portal, the SPP, which:
    • allows a centre to conduct its self assessment online
    • automatically creates an improvement work plan and a report against the standards with, if the worker elects to attach the centre policies, procedures and other documents in support as they perform the self assessment, an evidence pack, and
    • automatically populates  an assessment and creates a workplan and report against any other SPP mapped CLC standards relevant to that centre, reducing the administrative workload on centres with multiple reporting obligations.
  • a free NACLC Management Support Online (‘MSO’) service tailored to CLCs and complementary to the SPP, that contains a range of additional resources and guides that centres can download and adapt to meet their individual requirements to improve beyond minimum compliance and use for continuous improvement
  • undertaking innovative projects that support sector advocacy of the cost effectiveness of CLCs and CLC service delivery and support submissions  for increased funding for CLCs, for example, the Cost Benefit Analysis of CLCs and, in  collaboration with CLC NSW and other state associations of CLCs, an updated comparison by Mercer of CLC salary levels against comparable government salary levels
  • free information services to centres, including NACLC NEWS and email broadcasts, the Annual Australian & New Zealand Directory of CLCs and a Bulletin Board Service (BBS)
  • highly discounted insurances negotiated and administered nationally, including the national CLC Professional Indemnity Insurance policy, Association’s Liability and a free Public Liability Insurance for CLCs, and a discounted insurance office pack available from NACLC’s broker
  • obtaining annually a funding grant from government that pays approximately 50% of the PII policy premium, significantly further decreasing the cost to individual centres, and maintaining a fund that can provide some financial assistance to a CLC paying an excess
  • organisation and financial and practical support for the National PII Network, which is charged with the day-to-day administration of the National PII and Risk Management Scheme, and coordinating and drafting major revision of the Risk Management Guide for CLCs, produced and distributed in hard copy and made available online free to all CLCs by NACLC
  • the annual CLC National Conference, a unique opportunity for CLC workers to access relevant professional development, share information, showcase their work, and network
  • obtaining funding and sponsorship from government and other funding bodies, and pro bono schemes in private law firms, that enable NACLC to provide subsidies to many Aboriginal and other CLC workers from regional, rural and remote areas to attend the National Conference and National Networks meeting day
  • free training and support for using CLSIS, the database for CLCs in the CLC major funding program, the BBS and WebEx, an online training and collaboration technology
  • packages of free online legal resources and discounts on some hard copy legal resources from two major legal publishers
  • financial and other practical support, such as organising and paying for the cost of national phone meetings and a face to face meeting, for (currently) 17 National Networks of CLC workers specialising in particular areas of law or CLC services
  • free publications that show the work and value of CLCs and distribution of these and other ‘marketing’ material to CLCs to assist them with their own funding lobbying
  • obtaining funding grants for projects that will support centres in their work, by way of services or resources, for example development of Guides for CLC Management Committee members and on Financial Management, advice on telephony options for CLCs, investigation of an IT support service for CLCs
  • proactive identification and development of opportunities for projects that will produce tools and resources to assist and improve CLCs’ service delivery or operations, for example, resources on the MSO and SPP, and the Legal Needs Assessment toolkits tailored for each state and territory and for for centres using the CLSIS data and those that do not, a major resource for individual CLCs’ strategic planning
  • media statements and comment promoting the sector and its values, and representing the interests of CLCs and their clients
  • research and writing of NACLC law and policy reform submissions, particularly in the areas of access to justice and human rights advocacy, that are focussed on protecting the rights of the disadvantaged and those with special needs, and conducting related reform campaigns and lobbying
  • coordination of and collaboration with individual CLCs, National Networks and other NGOs and agencies in writing and advocating law and policy reform submissions and campaigns, for example Shadow Reports to the UN
  • representation by NACLC staff or representatives in person at a range of United Nations forums utilising NACLC’s UN accredited NGO status, and support for other NGOs and individuals to appear before UN committees to make submissions on human rights issues
  • fostering of collaboration and sharing of resources between centres, including by development of practical tools such as a national database of good practice examples of community legal education and law reform
  •  advice and assistance to individual centres and state and territory bodies in a range of areas including government priorities, funding opportunities and lobbying strategies, organisational development and sector issues and considerations.