The Australian Labor Party announce critical funding measures to address the disadvantage experienced by First Nations people in the justice system.
The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (QLD) Ltd (ATSILS) has welcomed the funding commitments announced today by The Australian Labor Party (ALP) in relation to addressing family violence and the disadvantage experienced by First Nations peoples in the justice system.
This week ATSILS staff enjoyed participating in a series of cultural competence training workshops in Brisbane, Townsville and Cairns. The training was facilitated by consultant Tom Kirk and he delivered a dynamic program covering topics such as cultural diversity, kinship systems, the impacts of colonisation, governance and communicating across cultures.
The highly interactive sessions provided a great learning experience for participants. It enabled new staff to quickly establish a foundation for developing their cultural competence further, whilst more experienced staff had the opportunity to test and refine their knowledge and existing cross cultural communication skills. All in all staff got a lot out of the days and appreciated Tom’s engaging teaching style.
ATSILS is committed to strengthening the cultural competence of its workforce to ensure we are able to foster more effective community relationships and deliver highly accessible legal services responsive to the needs of clients and communities across the state.
Recently our CEO and Communications team journeyed with our Thursday Island staff on their Outer Islands Magistrate Court Circuit throughout the Torres Strait.
In one of the State’s most remote regions ATSILS is the primary legal assistance provider and we are committed to ensuring the diverse communities across the Torres Strait and Northern Peninsula Area have access to professional legal assistance and representation.
It was great to see the local team in action and spend time with communities on the Islands of Warraber, Boigu, Mabuiag, Saibai and Badu and get insight into the justice issues they face so we can continue to tune our services to respond to local need.
Our team operate from our regional office on Thursday Island and they are an exemplar of ATSILS innovative brand of service delivery, they are highly engaged with community and display a tireless commitment to people they represent under challenging conditions. They have established a respectful and collegiate working relationship with the Magistrate, Justice Groups, Police Prosecution, Community Police and other officers of the court and work as an effective team to enhance access to justice for some of Queensland’s most remote populations.
ATSILS CEO Shane Duffy was invited to Canberra recently to attend A Special Gathering of prominent Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander leaders asked to provide advice to Government on a refreshed ‘Closing The Gap’ agenda. The gathering coincided with the first Council of Australian Governments (COAG) meeting of 2018.
Shane was one of 64 State and Commonwealth delegates selected to come together to provide advice on future policy priorities, and how all governments can be held to account for driving change. A delegation from the Special Gathering then attended the COAG meeting to provide advice of the gathering directly to First Ministers.
The Special Gathering agreed the next phase of the Closing the Gap agenda must be guided by the principles of empowerment and self-determination as articulated in the 2008 Close the Gap Statement of Intent. The group demanded from government a community led, strength based strategy that enables us to move beyond surviving to thriving.
Priorities
The Gathering agreed that existing targets should be retained and critically reviewed, and that the following areas are of highest importance for setting additional future targets as part of this refresh:
– Families, children and youth
– Housing
– Justice, including youth justice
– Health
– Economic development
– Culture and language
– Education
– Healing
– Eliminating racism and systemic discrimination
We call on governments to negotiate specific targets in these areas with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and our representative bodies.
Here is a link to the full statement from the group:
https://closingthegaprefresh.pmc.gov.au/news/special-gathering-statement
Congratulations to Rayna (pictured right) for taking out the 2017 Ricky Webcke Memorial Award at the ATSILS Annual Staff Awards.
This Award is presented each year to our Organisation’s most outstanding Court Support or Field Officer. It bears the name of a truly remarkable man, the late and great Ricky Webke (known to some as George Appleton-Smith) – who was coincidentally, the inaugural recipient of this award when such were introduced on an annual basis in 2006.
Like Ricky, Rayna is a dedicated Court Support Officer, has performed her role with distinction and is passionate about doing her bit to enhance the lives of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community members who come in contact with the justice system.
Court Support Officers perform a vital role, they are the frontline of our culturally competent service delivery with strong connections to community. They are experienced in assisting clients navigate the justice system and enhance communication between our clients and legal practitioners.
Director of Sector Engagement and Communications, Graham White presenting 2 plaques to Tim Hishon our Regional Manager on the Sunshine Coast. One recognises Tim’s dedicated long service to ATSILS over the past 15 years’ and the other was awarded to Tim to pay tribute to his excellence in team management and service delivery as the winner of the ATSILS ‘2017 Regional Manager of the Year’.
The Maroochydore Team nominated Tim for his respect towards clients and team members alike. Tim encourages all team members to actively participate and contribute to workplace culture. Tim is a flexible, responsive Manager who is genuine, humble and dedicated to the ATSILS core values of Care, Share and Respect.
ATSILS Careers
We have 2 x Court Support Officer roles available for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander candidates in our Townsville and Southport offices.
Court Support Officers play a vital role in our service delivery and in the community. CSOs provide a crucial link between our clients and the legal practitioner and enhance access to justice in their communities.
Applications Close: 3rd December 2017
Apply Here: https://atsils.org.au/job-vacancies/
Watch this video to get an insight into the role of a CSO:
Connection to culture and delivering legal services on country that make a real difference to the lives of his people is what attracted Regional Manager C’Zarke Maza to Thursday Island.
In this video C’Zarke gives insight into range of services we provide across the Torres Strait. In locations such as Thursday Island our team provide outreach legal services, traveling great distances following remote court circuits to ensure access to justice for our most remote communities.
Thursday Island – Regional Office
Services Provided: Criminal, Civil and Family Law
Address: 25 Douglas Street, Thursday Island 4875 (PO Box 81)
Phone: (07) 4069 1091
Fax: (07) 4069 1678
Always remember ATSILS is here for clients 24/7 on our Free call legal assistance hotline:
1800 012 255.
ATSILS is dedicated to strengthening key partnerships in regional Queensland and last Friday our Board of Directors hosted a community meeting with key service providers in Mackay.
It was a great turn out and the Board were delighted to meet with the good people representing these organisations and agencies delivering vital services across the justice and community sectors.
The meeting was not only a good opportunity to get a better understanding of the current challenges and justices issues facing the local community. It also provided a great environment to come together and reaffirm our commitment to working more effectively together across sectors to address the complex challenges faced by the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander community caught up in the child protection, youth justice and criminal justice systems.
Our network of regional offices across Queensland ensure clients in rural and remote communities have greater access to vital legal assistance and representation. In the great North West Queensland region our team is led by Regional Manager Tim Carberry. In this video Tim highlights the range of legal services we deliver beyond criminal, including family and civil and gives insight into what it’s like working in some of our more remote locations across Queensland.
MOUNT ISA
Services Provided: Criminal, Family and Civil Law
Address: 4 Simpson Street, Mount Isa 4825 (PO Box 2269)
Phone: (07) 4744 0900
Fax: (07) 4743 7231
Always remember ATSILS is here for clients 24/7 on our free call legal assistance hotline:
1800 012 255.