Peak Body Welcomes New Morrison Government Ministry

MEDIA RELEASE

29 May 2019

The National Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC), the peak body for community legal centres across Australia is committed to working with new and returning Ministers in the newly elected Federal Government to ensure people across Australia can get the legal help they need.

“Community legal centres play a vital role in providing expert community-based and holistic legal help to people experiencing discrimination and disadvantage across Australia. Our centres help hundreds of thousands of people every year” said Nassim Arrage, Chief Executive Officer of NACLC.

“We help people in a range of different areas of law that affect them in their everyday lives which means the issues we deal with span across many different Government portfolios. There are a broad range of policy challenges facing the new Ministry and so we look forward to working with all Ministers to ensure that the people and communities we work with have access to essential services and to ensure that we have a strong and thriving community legal sector”.

“In particular, we congratulate Christian Porter on his re-appointment as Attorney-General. We look forward to continuing to build on our positive relationship with him and working together to address barriers to access to justice and ensure that people can get the legal help they need”.

“There are a range of challenges across the Attorney-General’s portfolio and we encourage him to work alongside us as the national peak, community legal centres and the entire legal assistance sector in implementing ongoing funding and administrative arrangements for community legal centres; supporting the work and independence of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services; and more broadly addressing barriers to access to justice”.

“We also warmly welcome the appointment of Minister Ken Wyatt as Minister for Indigenous Australians. The appointment of the first Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander person to this role is an important milestone. We hope it signals the beginning of new engagement between the Government and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, communities and organisations which recognises self-determination and the importance of community ownership and control over policies which affect Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people”.

“The legal assistance sector, peak bodies and civil society more broadly have significant expertise. As a sector we offer the 46th Parliament and the Government our expertise and commit to working together to ensure the development and passage of effective and fair legislative and policy reform to the benefit of all people and communities” concluded Mr Arrage.

Key Contacts

For more information or to arrange an interview, please contact:

Nassim Arrage, CEO                                                                              

0408 092 256 or Nassim.arrage@naclc.org.au                  

Amanda Alford, Director Policy and Advocacy

0421 028 645 or amanda.alford@naclc.org.au

 

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