Stop cuts to this vital service for women affected by family violence

VICTORY! After months of campaigning by Fair Agenda members, in partnership with Community legal workers, domestic violence groups, survivor advocates and others - the Turnbull Government announced on the 24th April a full reversal to the three years of scheduled cuts to Community Legal Centres! 

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Community Legal Centres are a critical, potentially life-saving, service for many women trying to escape an abusive partner. 

In order to escape, many women will first need to know how they can access shared funds or property, if they'll be able to keep their children safe, and if they'll be able to untangle themselves from any financial abuse and debt that might have been used to try and trap them.

Right now, family violence and family law are the two biggest areas of work for Community Legal Centres in Australia. And inadequate funding is already limiting their work so much that Centres are forced to turn away 160,000 people a year - many of them women trying to escape violence. 

Now the Government is about to make things even worse. The Turnbull Government has just confirmed that from 1 July 2017 it plans to cut a whopping 30% of Community Legal Centres' funding. These cuts will cripple Community Legal Centres, and leave thousands more women each year without this essential lifeline they need to escape family violence.

Will you sign and share the petition against the cuts, and help stop this cruel cut to this vital community service? 

*If you or someone you know is experiencing family violence, you can call 1800 RESPECT on 1800 737 732 for 24/7 support. If you are in immediate danger, call 000.

Find out more (click to view)

Australia is in the midst of a family violence crisis. The statistics are stark. 81,900 women say they have wanted to escape their current violent partner, but never have. Further 1 in 12 women have indicated they have been forced to return to their abusive partner because they had nowhere else to go. At the same time, the funding for services women need to live free from danger are being cut by governments; leaving thousands of women in danger. 

Community Legal Centres:

  • name the top two areas of work as family law and family-violence related matters
  • are currently forced to turn away 160,000 people annually because of under-funding (including but not limited to those affected by family violence)
  • are facing cuts of $12.1 million (30% of funding) due to take effect from 1 July 2017
  • Actually need an *extra* $14.4 million to meet existing demand 

Can you join the campaign to reverse these cuts, and fully fund, Community Legal Centres?

-References-

"This budget is devastating and dangerous for women experiencing family violence", Mamamia, 4 May 2016. 
"Thousands of women in danger" without billions more in funding to tackle domestic violence, advocates say, BuzzFeed News, 19 May 2016.

Help us get to 7,500 signatures

5,493 SIGNATURES

Dear Malcolm Turnbull and the Federal Government,

We are calling on you to reverse your devastating funding cuts to Community Legal Centres, and commit to fully funding them instead, so that no more women in Australia are left unable to escape from family violence.

Signed,

Fair Agenda will email petition signers from time to time with important updates

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Latest activity

Sue , 5068  /  signed 2016-10-31 20:24:24 +1100
Kirstine , 6162  /  signed 2016-10-31 16:42:36 +1100
"Community Legal Services help people in their own communities stay on top of legal issues before they snowball into intractable social problems negatively affecting the rest of that community. Unlike Legal Aid and Aboriginal Legal Services these services are accessible to people who are unable to get grants of aid, and often are so seriously disadvantaged that these other services are not suitable to help. Without community legal centres their invisible work will soon become apparent through escalating complex social problems being experienced by the most vulnerable and disadvantaged members of our communities. Noone wil be available to help them, and our jails and courts and mental institutions will be under more pressure. Why not keep the multi-faceted points of access to justice that these fundamental centres are, and allow communities to lead the way in what works for them, rather than remote policy makers who only think they know what works."
Phylli , 4005  /  signed 2016-10-31 15:50:25 +1100
"Phylli Verrall"
Lisa , 5031  /  signed 2016-10-31 09:45:05 +1100
Jenna , 2500  /  signed 2016-10-31 09:18:59 +1100
"I believe in access to justice and the work of CLCs in providing free legal assistance to some of the most vulnerable members of our community is crucial to this aim. Please reverse the cuts and restore the funding, because the cost of injustice (homelessness, imprisonment, suicide) is greater than the cost of funding the services that prevent this."
Katja , 2480  /  signed 2016-10-30 14:32:02 +1100
"I work in a CLC. I get paid 2/3 of what my Legal Aid colleagues get paid and I don’t want to even calculate what I could earn in the private sector. I work in a CLC because we help vulnerable individuals and also work at redressing systemic issues where vulnerable people are denied access to justice. We do Community Legal Education which can be preventative to people have legal problems. We do all this on a shoestring – what a waste to cut that shoestring by a third! Look elsewhere for savings – perhaps offshore detention?"
Sue-Ellen , 86130  /  signed 2016-10-29 05:02:07 +1100
Kate , 6012  /  signed 2016-10-28 17:23:56 +1100
Josephine , 6237  /  signed 2016-10-28 15:44:24 +1100
Michael , 6007  /  signed 2016-10-28 15:41:50 +1100
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