Due to extreme weather in North Queensland, calls to our Townsville office were diverted to Cairns. However, the office is back online today and taking client calls directly.
Tuesday 4/02/2025.
Due to extreme weather in North Queensland, calls to our Townsville office were diverted to Cairns. However, the office is back online today and taking client calls directly.
Tuesday 4/02/2025.
2025 is ATSILS 53rd year of legal service delivery and we are more committed than ever to advancing the rights of our clients and their communities across Queensland.
Mob can call our free helpline – 1800 012 255 for assistance.
*Available 24/7 for urgent criminal law matters.
Alternatively, you can contact an office directly in a region closest to you.
Happy 2025 to all our communities, colleagues, partners, and stakeholders! 🎉Looking forward to working together to ensure better access to justice for all.
Our team in Hervey Bay joined the vibrant community Colour Run organized by @DeadlyChoices this week. Hundreds of Indigenous and non-Indigenous kids participated in the 2km Fun Run, along with some young-at-heart adults.
Our team was thrilled to be a part of this exciting event, and attended alongside local community organizations that included PCYC, The Neighbourhood Centre, Deadly Choices, and The Wesley Financial Counselling Service. We had a great time engaging with the local community and spreading awareness about our services.
More than 600 kids attended the event and were sprayed with coloured powder creating a kaleidoscope of colour. There was great community spirit present, and you could see it wasn’t just about winning, but about enjoying the experience to the fullest. The positive energy and infectious enthusiasm made it a day to remember.
🎉 Congratulations to Jess Renouf, the recipient of the QUT 2024 Student Excellence Award in the Justice category! 🏆 Our Director of Sector Engagement, Mr. Graham White, attended the ceremony to present the award to Jess on behalf of ATSILS.
ATSILS is a proud sponsor of the QUT (Queensland University of Technology) Student Excellence Award in the Justice category. Each year, QUT celebrates the achievements of Indigenous Australian student graduates at a special pre-graduation dinner. This event not only marks their academic success but also provides a platform to recognize and reward individual students who have excelled in their chosen fields of study.
ATSILS_MediaRelease_AdultTimeAdultCrime_29Nov2024]
Date: November 29, 2024
‘Adult Crime Adult Time’ policy whilst undoubtedly well intentioned on the part of the government, will not make our communities safer.
The Crisafulli Government has introduced ‘Adult Crime, Adult Time’ as part of the broader ‘Making Queensland Safer’ Bill yesterday in Queensland Parliament. The heavily politized ‘Adult Crime Adult Time’ catchcry disregards the substantial evidence base on what is effective in addressing offending behaviour.
These laws will result in the incarceration of more Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander children, and indeed vulnerable children from all backgrounds, who are already disproportionately represented in the criminal justice system. As we process the details of the bill, it is clear a longer timeframe is needed for adequate community and sector consultation.
As a society,, we must remember that we are dealing with children and are obligated to uphold and protect their human rights.
It is a sad statistic that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander youth in Queensland are 26 times more likely to be incarcerated than non-Indigenous youth. This alarming trend continues to worsen each year. The root causes of offending include childhood trauma, socioeconomic disadvantage, disengagement from education, mental health issues, and substance abuse.
“Research consistently demonstrates that incarcerating children, particularly without effective rehabilitation programs, fails to reduce youth offending. Instead, it often exacerbates trauma and facilitates association with other more serious offenders, further entrenching and often escalating criminal behaviour in youth offenders. This approach will not enhance the safety of our communities,” said Mr. Shane Duffy, CEO of ATSILS.
“ATSILS calls for more culturally informed justice reinvestment practices to address youth offending and increase community safety.”
The Crisafulli Government must engage more effectively with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, and we urge them to put more focus and funding towards prevention and early intervention programs. These initiatives should be designed and delivered On Country by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities, ensuring they are culturally appropriate, and community-led. Such programs offer the best chance of success in supporting our youth to break the cycle of offending and fostering safer communities.
We call on all stakeholders to join us in advocating for evidence-based prevention, intervention and diversionary solutions that prioritise the well-being and future of all Queensland children.
On 20 November 2024, ATSILS Brisbane’s CLE team attended the Queensland Police Academy Market Day. This event invites various agencies, organisations, and QPS units to the Queensland Police Service Academy to showcase their services and how they might be relevant to recruits’ future policing duties. ATSILS had a stall at this event alongside the deadly team at Murri Watch Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander Corporation.
Close to 900 current police recruits attended this event and had the opportunity to engage with our stall and ask questions about what ATSILS does. Many police recruits stopped by and advised that they were already aware of ATSILS, as part of their training included information about the obligation on police officers to facilitate a call to ATSILS in the event of an arrest of an individual who identifies as an Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander so that the individual can have access to legal advice at that critical stage.
There were many productive conversations with police recruits about the importance of cultural training and understanding to give pause and consideration of the impact of intergenerational trauma, other challenges that an individual at risk of being in contact with the criminal justice system might have and their story. There were also many discussions about the importance of diversion away from the criminal justice system to allow a pathway to addressing key needs and providing key supports to those at risk. Some recruits were not aware of the policy work that ATSILS does with respect to Closing the Gap, prevention and early intervention and the delivery of community legal education and it was great to be able to share that information as well.
The UQ Pro Bono Centre and Community Legal Centres Queensland recently held a Masterclass event on the changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991 for legal practitioners in the community legal assistance sector.
At this event, there were short presentations from ATSILS, the @Institute of Urban Indigenous Health, Legal Aid Queensland, the Queensland Human Rights Commission, The University of Queensland and Queensland Advocacy for Inclusion.
ATSILS’ Kate Greenwood and Pree Sharma presented to the group on key changes to vilification laws in Queensland. It is hoped that this event will help equip civil lawyers to understand key changes to the legislative framework so that they can best assist their clients with discrimination and vilification matters once the changes come into effect next year.