Congratulations to our departing Director of Criminal Law, Mr Lewis Shillito, who leaves us after being appointed as a Magistrate in the latest announcement by Queensland Attorney-General Yvette D’Ath.
It is a bitter-sweet moment as we say farewell to a consummate professional. Still, we are grateful for the time he dedicated to ATSILS and his immense contribution to the organisation in leading our Criminal Law Team.
Without a doubt, it is a big loss – but such is far more than compensated for by the fact that we are all so proud of his onward journey and that ATSILS has played a small part in his stepping stones towards the bench.
ATSILS is also proud that we have now had back-to-back appointments to the bench of our Directors of Criminal Law – with Lewis following in the footsteps of his predecessor Mr Andrew Hackett.
Lewis is a legal practitioner of the highest calibre, and on behalf of the ATSILS Board and CEO, we’d like to acknowledge the fantastic job he has done as our Director of Criminal Law over the past seven years. This is such a well-deserved appointment – and the whole team at ATSILS couldn’t be happier for Lewis.
Congratulations Lewis you are an inspiration to the team, all the best for the exciting journey ahead!
Media Statement:
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/101200
Masterclass event on the changes to the Anti-Discrimination Act 1991
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.
International Men’s Day – Cairns
ATSILS Community Legal Education Outreach – Mt Isa and Cloncurry
Paige (Solicitor – Coronial, Community Legal Education & Public Sector Monitoring) from our Townsville office recently partnered with NQWLS to deliver DFV Community Legal Education and stakeholder engagement sessions in Mt Isa.
The team met with AIDRWA and discussed DFV and Child Protection matters, to increase staff understanding of these legal topics to better support their clients and discussed local ‘hot’ issues the service is seeing. They spent valuable time with the community justice group (NWQICSS), 54 Reasons, Gidgee Healing (Family wellbeing team) and the social worker team at the Mt Isa Hospital (NWHHS) to discuss future CLE opportunities, ATSILS & NQWLS services, referral pathways and NQWLS’ monthly legal clinic in Mt Isa.
The team also journeyed to Cloncurry where Paige partnered with Sharn Fogarty from Mitakoodi Aboriginal Corporation (Cloncurry), Joshua Gibson (criminal solicitor at our Mt Isa office), Natasha Chong (Throughcare, Mt Isa based) to deliver in-person CLE in Cloncurry. All in all the feedback received from the community and stakeholders was very positive.
CLE delivered to Vinnies Homeless Hostel and Support Service in Cairns.
Court Link Rockhampton
Aunty Niki Hatfield performed the Welcome To Country and enlightened the audience about why such is important to First Nations peoples. The Court Link Team gave great insight into the initiative which is to give participants acute support while on bail and navigating the judicial system.
We are excited to see the initiative begin in Rockhampton, noting our office has already referred one participant on the second day of its operation.
Thanks to the Court Link team for providing great insight, a lovely lunch, and congratulations on a successful launch.
Elders for Change – Townsville
The team provided insights into our Close the Gap Policy approach and discussed the complex justice issues facing the local community. The passion and vision shared by the Elders concerning their intervention and prevention approach were inspiring. The grass-roots justice reinvestment approach they deliver to the community is critical to addressing the drivers of offending and unacceptable incarceration rates.
ATSILS has long advocated for community-led justice reinvestment initiatives and it is great to see the Federal Government invest in this approach in Townsville. Elders for Change are helping to prevent deaths in custody by providing cultural support and, with the Elders’ guidance, offenders and prison staff are building better relationships which makes our prisons safer. They’re also building strong relationships with service providers in the justice sector to enhance service delivery to their community and divert people from contact with the justice system. These important connections with grass-roots-led programs certainly assist organisations like ours to fine-tune our service delivery in line with the needs of the local community.
We thank ‘Elders for Change’ for taking the time to share their wisdom and look forward to strengthening our relationship in the future.
Cooee Redlands Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander DFV Forum
The team found the forum very informative, with the issue of Domestic and Family Violence prosecution /defence and the recent amendments to the legislation regarding coercive control being presented by various stakeholders throughout the day.
CLE: Helping Deadly Young Mob avoid the pitfalls of Buy Now Pay Later!
Congratulations Mr Lewis Shillito on being appointed to the bench.
It is a bitter-sweet moment as we say farewell to a consummate professional. Still, we are grateful for the time he dedicated to ATSILS and his immense contribution to the organisation in leading our Criminal Law Team.
Without a doubt, it is a big loss – but such is far more than compensated for by the fact that we are all so proud of his onward journey and that ATSILS has played a small part in his stepping stones towards the bench.
ATSILS is also proud that we have now had back-to-back appointments to the bench of our Directors of Criminal Law – with Lewis following in the footsteps of his predecessor Mr Andrew Hackett.
Lewis is a legal practitioner of the highest calibre, and on behalf of the ATSILS Board and CEO, we’d like to acknowledge the fantastic job he has done as our Director of Criminal Law over the past seven years. This is such a well-deserved appointment – and the whole team at ATSILS couldn’t be happier for Lewis.
Congratulations Lewis you are an inspiration to the team, all the best for the exciting journey ahead!
Media Statement:
https://statements.qld.gov.au/statements/101200
Mossman High School Careers Day – Inspiring the Next Generation!
All in all, it was a great day out and we hope we played a small part in encouraging the next generation of bright young minds to consider a rewarding career in the legal assistance sector. Thank you to Mossman High School for the opportunity to engage with this fine region of future leaders and community organisations.