October 14, 2011
Media release

New legal education resource assists new arrivals in Australia

Teaching new arrivals in Australia about Australian laws and how to access legal help is the focus of a new educational resource being launched at the Queensland Multicultural Festival on Sunday.

Legal Aid Queensland has partnered with legal aid commissions across Australia to create What’s the Law? Australian law for new arrivals, a free legal education resource for new arrivals.   

“Refugees and newly arrived migrants in Australia face a number of barriers to acessing legal services such as language, cross-cultural differences and perceptions of police and legal systems that can hinder their ability to recognise a legal issue and seek help, “ Legal Aid Queensland CEO Anthony Reilly said.

“To help address these barriers our ‘What’s the law?’ educational resource provides new arrivals with a basic understanding of Australian law, and empowers people from refugee backgrounds to recognise a legal issue and access help if they need it.”

The package includes a DVD of 10 short stories highlighting some of the issues that new arrivals may experience in their first 18 months of settlement.

The short stories use simple English and focus on legal topics including the legal system, driving, child protection, car accidents, tenancy, family law, contracts and police.

The resource will be utilised as part of the Adult Migrant Education Program (AMEP) where students are taught English in a classroom setting and also in other community legal education settings.

The package also includes student worksheets and a teacher guide with advice on how to deal with legal questions and how to refer new arrivals to services that can help them.

The ‘What’s the law?’ short stories, student worksheets and teacher guide can all be downloaded from the Legal Aid Queensland website www.legalaid.qld.gov.au. The short stories can also be viewed on Legal Aid’s YouTube channel http://www.youtube.com/user/LegalAidQueensland

“Many legal problems are preventable; with this legal education package, new arrivals will gain the ability to identify legal problems and know where to seek help before the situation escalates,” Mr Reilly said.

The What’s the law? Australian law for new arrivals legal education package is an initiative of National Legal Aid, supported by Legal Aid Queensland’s Community Legal Education (CLE) program. Legal Aid Queensland’s CLE program seeks to educate people about their legal rights and responsibilities on a range of legal issues such as consumer protection, debt, criminal law, family law, child protection, domestic violence and youth justice.

Legal Aid Queensland’s new Community Legal Education strategy supports the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services, a partnership between Australia’s state and federal legal commissions to improve access to justice for disadvantaged Australians.

Media contact:

Marnie Stitz Ph: (07) 3238 3004 or Katherine Gorter on (07) 3238 3392