The issues around accessing services in the NT, particularly in remote communities are well known. However, the roll out of the NDIS in the Northern Territory fails to take these issues into account and generally refuses the inclusion of transport in NDIS plans. In...
The General Legal Service has this year seen a great influx of matters involving the exploitation of employees who are on sponsored work visas. One ongoing theme involves workers being brought in from overseas with the promise of increased pay and better working...
The Darwin Community Legal Service Elder Abuse Prevention Project Final Report is now available. Click this link for the full report: Elder Abuse Prevention Project Final Report The Final Report on our Elder Abuse project was released in February subsequent to the...
The Seniors and Disability Rights Service will be hosting a free workshop aimed at increasing your knowledge regarding the NDIS. DATE: Thursday 28 February 2019 TIME: 6.00pm – 8.00pm WHERE: Level 1 Winlow Houe, 75 Woods St Darwin During the workshop we will:...
Starting on the 25th of February 2019, DCLS will be operating NDIS advice clinics after hours across the Darwin Region. The clinics operate on a first-come-first-serve basis. You will have the opportunity to speak one on one with our specialty advocate regarding any...
Darwin Community Legal Service is a multi-disciplinary service that provides a range of legal and advocacy services to the community to underpin access to justice. The SDRS Advocate is part of a small team that represents the rights and interests of disabled and older...
DCLS was honoured to be nominated for the NT Human Rights Justice and Social Change Awards last night. Worthy winners of these two categories were the YWCA Women of Worth program for their work in transitioning women from prison and reducing recidivism, and the...
Darwin Community Legal Service will be closed over the Christmas and new year period from COB Friday 21 December and will reopen on Wednesday 2 January 2019. Wishing you all a safe and happy festive season.
5 December 2018 Rental stress, poor living conditions, lack of responsiveness to repairs, discrimination in accessing housing and lack of security are all commonplace for those who rent their home. As renting becomes the new normal it is clear that laws and policy...
Our final free legal session for 2018 will be on Thursday 13th December in our Darwin office. The sessions will resume in 2019 on Thursday 31st January. There will be some changes to the free legal advice service in the new year as we trial a new timetable. Details...
This month we met with ASIC Connect and other members of the finance sector to discuss solutions to protect older Australians from financial abuse. We also raised the need to improve access to financial and banking services for people with disabilities. We were...
New laws starting this week provide protection to Northern Territory renters from being unfairly ‘blacklisted’ and excluded from the private rental market. The new laws will ensure that renters are notified of listings and provide them with the opportunity to correct...
On Friday the 15th June DCLS hosted an event to mark World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. Participants were involved in an information and discussion session to outline the issue and presence of Elder Abuse in the Northern Territory. Following the theme of ‘RESPECT...
The Seniors and Disability Rights Service will be rolling out a series of NDIS workshops which are funded by NDIS Innovation Grant. Please see the below image for further details.
Today the Northern Territory Parliament marked its commitment to modernising tenancy law in the Territory by passing long overdue reforms to the Residential Tenancies Act to increase protections for tenants across the Territory. The amendments will remove the...
Elder Abuse is the exploitation of the vulnerability of older people. This can be by scams targeting the elderly and also by close family members such as adult children. Financial abuse is a large component of elder abuse. DCLS is pleased that the Federal Budget...
The Chief Minister made a formal apology in Parliament today to those convicted of consensual “homosexual offences”. Although the offences were removed in 1984, criminal records still exist for those convicted of these offences. Darwin Community Legal Service...
The Introduction of laws improving protections for tenants against the misuse of Residential Tenancy Databases, or ‘blacklists’, made further progress this week. Northern Territory tenants are a step closer to at least having basic protections in relation to the...
DCLS is proud to announce our free professional development workshop ‘Identifying legal issues for your clients’ is all new for 2018 Supported by the Public Purposes Trust, the event will be held at Darwin Hilton 9.30-4.30 Monday 14 May A free lunch at the Hilton and...
Darwin Community Legal Service aged care and disability advocate Trudy Lee has helped one of our clients get the year off to a great start. Ben (not his real name) is a homeless, double amputee who approached DCLS for help getting his wheelchair repaired. Trudy...
As our population ages, elder abuse and greater supports and services for the aged increasingly require a societal response. Darwin Community Legal Service and the Council of the Ageing NT are united in calling for governments at all levels to step up in dealing with...
The Elder Abuse Prevention Project has been funded by the Office of Senior Territorians for 12 months to raise awareness of elder abuse in the community and to identify strategies to protect older people from abuse and mistreatment. As part of this work, DCLS is...
The introduction of laws improving protections for tenants against the misuse of tenancy blacklists has begun today with the tabling of the Residential Tenancy Amendment Bill 2018 in the Northern Territory Parliament. The reforms will regulate the practice of...
The Seniors and Disability Rights Service operating within Darwin Community Legal Services has received 12 months of funding from the Office of Senior Territorians to minimise elder abuse in our communities. We are doing this by raising community awareness around the...
Darwin Community Legal Service recently represented a tenant seeking compensation for items stolen during a home invasion robbery. The case was heard at The Northern Territory Civil and Administrative Tribunal (NTCAT) which found that the landlord had failed in their...
Tonight’s free legal advice session in our Darwin city office will be the last for the year. Make sure you get in early! There are some things we cant work on, for more information please click here. The next sessions will be- Palmerston library, Monday January...
The opening night and awards ceremony for the 2017 Rights on Show was held last night at the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory. There were some incredible entries this year, and it was a real challenge deciding the winners. Highly commended: Michael Rule – for...
DCLS held its Annual General Meeting this week at which Julie Davis was re-elected Chair. DCLS would like to take this opportunity to thank our board members for their dedication, hard work and commitment to helping us achieve our vision and meet our purpose. Our...
Darwin Community Legal Service is pleased to announce the appointment of Linda Weatherhead as our new Executive Director. Linda brings a wealth of skill and knowledge to DCLS gained through her years of experience working with community legal services, commercial...
The second of the 2017 Human Rights Awards talks was delivered this week by Pat Sims, coordinator of Football Without Borders. Football Without Borders is a free to join, volunteer-run, non-profit community program that aims to build strong relationships between...