December 15, 2011
Media release
For immediate release

Young people, Indigenous and regional Queenslanders to benefit from community legal education initiatives

Legal Aid Queensland is delighted to announce the inaugural recipients of the Legal Aid Queensland Collaboration Fund, to support community legal education initiatives.

“Educating the community about their legal rights and responsibilities is an important part of Legal Aid’s role. Our Collaboration Fund enables Legal Aid Queensland to resource collaborative initiatives and partnerships with other organisations to extend the reach of our community legal education work,” Legal Aid Queensland CEO Anthony Reilly said.

“Indigenous Queenslanders, tenants, carers for people with disabilities or the elderly, young people and regional Queenslanders are among the community members who will benefit from community legal education initiatives supported through the fund.”

The recipients sharing in $88,332 in funding are:

• South West Brisbane Community Legal Centre: to deliver community legal education workshops on child protection to community workers.
• Youth Advocacy Centre Inc: to facilitate ‘Laying Down The Law’ workshops in regional areas to educate youth workers about legal issues potentially impacting on their clients.
• Welfare Rights Centre QLD: for the ‘Don’t Give Up – Speak Up’ Legal Education Project to provide legal education and advice on social security and tenancy law in Cherbourg through a collaboration with the Tenants’ Union of Queensland (TUQ), the Barambah Local Justice Group, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation and local radio.
• Refugee and Immigration Legal Service: to deliver community legal education sessions about Australian law to vulnerable people from refugee backgrounds.
• Tenants’ Union of Queensland: to develop a new DVD consumer guide for tenants attending the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal for tenancy dispute resolution.
• Queensland Aged and Disability Advocacy (QADA): to deliver training modules via regional workshops to educate QADA regional advocates, community members and service providers about guardianship law and procedures.
• Regional Legal Assistance Forum (RLAF) networks in Bundaberg, south west Queensland and far north regions: to resource community legal education activities in these regions in partnership with other local legal service agencies.

The Collaboration Fund is an initiative of Legal Aid Queensland’s Community Legal Education Strategy which is available on the Legal Aid Queensland website www.legalaid.qld.gov.au. Our Community Legal Education program seeks to educate Queenslanders 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.

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