Minute by the Lord Mayor
To Council:
On 19 February 2024, Council unanimously
resolved to support my Lord Mayoral Minute, Progressing Action on Safety for Our LGBTIQA+ Communities,
which requested the Chief Executive Officer to investigate funding for local
community legal centres that support members of the LGBTIQA+ communities
seeking redress for acts of violence, discrimination, vilification, harassment
or abuse against them. The outcome of that investigation will be reported to
Council next month.
This was one of several actions Council
supported following the LGBTIQA+ Safety Summit I hosted in partnership with
ACON on 9 February 2024, which were set out in my Lord Mayoral Minute.
The Managing Principal Solicitor of the Inner
City Legal Centre wrote to me supporting the Minute's recommendations relating
to legal centres.
The letter explained that the Inner City
Legal Centre provides the only LGBTQIA+ specific legal service in NSW.
This includes the only Trans and Gender Diverse Legal Service, the only Sex
Worker specific Legal Service and the only LGBTQIA+ specific
domestic violence legal service and safe room in all of NSW. Eight staff,
including six lawyers augmented by the support of over 100 committed volunteers
provide these and other vital services.
The Centre receives annual funding of less
than $1 million through the State and Commonwealth National Legal Assistance
Partnership, much of which is allocated towards support for priority groups.
These priority groups do not include the LGBTQIA+ communities and sex workers,
which means the Inner City Legal Centre does not receive targeted funds to help
these groups.
Sector in crisis
Community legal centres across Australia face
serious funding constraints. On 24 March 2024, Community Legal Centres
Australia released its Sector in Crisis Report based on a survey of 117
community legal centres.
According to the Guardian, they reported
having to turn away more than 1,000 people every day in 2023 due to budget
constraints and short staffing. This was twice the number they were able to
help. A snapshot of the report is available here.
The Sector in Crisis report forms part of
Community Legal Centres Australia’s submission to the federal budget seeking at
least $125 million in additional funding for all community legal centres for
the 2024-25 financial year as well as ongoing funding into the future. The
outcome of this submission will be known when the Treasurer hands down the
Commonwealth budget in Parliament on 14 May 2024.
In November 2023, following my Lord Mayoral
Minute, Support for Waterloo South Relocations,
Council unanimously resolved for the Chief Executive Officer to consult with
local community organisations in the area, including Redfern Legal Centre and
the Aboriginal Legal Service, about what support residents will require during
relocations and advise them about the City’s available grant programs. An
outcome from that request will also be presented to Council in June 2024.
I have written to the Treasurer and
Attorney-General of both the Federal and NSW Governments requesting additional
funding for community legal centres in their 2024-2025 budgets.
In the letter to me, the Inner City Legal
Centre acknowledges that funding core legal assistance services is not the role
of local councils. However, the City remains committed to helping address this
resourcing crisis and ensure our most vulnerable communities are not denied the
legal support they need including women, children and gender diverse people
escaping violence.
COUNCILLOR CLOVER MOORE AO
Lord Mayor
Moved by
the Chair (the Lord Mayor), seconded by Councillor Worling –
It is resolved that:
(A) Council
note:
(i)
following a Lord Mayoral Minute in November
2023, Council unanimously resolved for the Chief Executive Officer to consult
with local community organisations in the area including Redfern Legal Centre
about what support residents will require during relocations and advise them
about the City's available grant programs. The outcomes of that request will be
reported to Council in June 2024;
(ii)
following the LGBTIQA+ Safety Summit in
February 2024, and in response to a Lord Mayoral Minute, Council unanimously
resolved for the Chief Executive Officer to investigate funding for local
community legal centres. The outcomes of that request will also be reported to
Council in June 2024;
(iii) on 19 March
2024, the Lord Mayor wrote to the NSW Treasurer and NSW Attorney General
calling for increased funding to be included in the NSW State budget for
Anti-Discrimination NSW and community legal centres; and
(iv)
on 24 March 2024, Community Legal Centres Australia
released its Sector in Crisis Report stating that in 2022-23, inadequate
funding and overwhelming demand for services and workforce challenges left
community legal centres struggling to respond to community needs and they
desperately require ongoing investment from the Federal and State Governments;
and
(B) Council
endorse the City of Sydney's advocacy to the Federal and State Governments
requesting urgent additional and ongoing funding and support for community
legal centres.
Carried
unanimously.
S051491