La Trobe University Law lecturer, Liz Curran, says: “If governments try to restrain and provide conditions as to what these organisations can and cannot say and how they can say it, then governments will create their own disconnect from community organisations which are so essential if governments are to remain relevant.”
Ms Curran’s comments come in a research report, released today, titled MAKING THE LEGAL SYSTEM MORE RESPONSIVE TO COMMUNITY: A Report on the Impact of Victorian Community Legal Centre Law Reform Initiatives.
“Politicians claim to be connected to their communities,’ she says. “Often, in reality this is not the case. They rely heavily on community organisations which are truly connected to the concerns of the public, through their service delivery, to tell them what is going on.”
Ms Curran says the report is a “timely reminder to governments of all persuasions” of the importance of participatory democracy, and the need for government and industry to listen to the community’s voice if they wish to remain relevant.
The research was commissioned by the West Heidelberg Community Legal Service which received private funding for the project.
“We are all subject to the laws of the land and how these laws are administered. If the laws are problematic or unwieldy, then we all have a stake in ensuring that these problems can be rectified. The research demonstrates that community legal centres (CLCs) have had a sustained and vital role in doing this.”
Ms Curran says that on the 2nd October 2006, the Federal Attorney General, Phillip Ruddock, was reported in The Australian as stating: “I am surprised by the audacity of those centres that allocate resources to these partisan political campaigns while complaining they are in dire need of more Commonwealth funding”.
Contrary to this statement, Ms Curran says that the findings of her research reveal that CLC’s law reform work has been directly informed by and guided by CLC’s client experiences rather than any “partisan political campaign”.
“Clearly, staffed by lawyers, CLCs are ideally placed to comment on the law and its impact on the ground, as they see many clients who come to them to get help with their problems. This places CLCs in an ideal position to inform government about laws that are problematic, unfair, costly, inefficient or unjust.
“CLCs, over the past two decades in the law reform projects analysed for this research, have advocated for the community based on client experiences. They have done this consistently irrespective of who is in power.”
The research report examines six law reform projects undertaken by Victorian CLCs from 1984- 2006. They include: energy regulation, dodgy debt collection practises, police accountability, and prison accountability, violence against women and children and fine enforcement.
Some selected findings of the research include:
- Client experience informed all the law reform and strategies adopted by CLCs in the law reform work analysed.
- CLC law reform activities have enabled the monitoring of the conduct of industry and government at Federal, State and Local Council level.
- CLC law reform activities have highlighted difficulties, strengths and inconsistencies in the law and its administration, keeping industry, government at Federal, State and local council accountable to the community.
- CLCs have had their recommendations adopted on a consistent basis by Parliamentary, Statutory and other inquiries at national and state level and by industry which has changed practices.
- CLCs have often been the sole agency identifying and advocating on a specific problem encountered by clients over many years. This has opened up CLCs to criticism. Despite this, CLCs have continued to advocate for clients.
- Law reform activities were levelled at local, State and Federal governments and oppositions irrespective of the persuasion of the government in power at the time.
Media Enquiries
Requests for copies of this report should be directed to Victoria Smith, Coordinator, West Heidelberg Community Legal Service (03) 9450 2002.
Queries on the content of the research should be directed to Liz Curran, Lecturer in Law, La Trobe Law (03) 9479 1133.