AustLII Home | Databases | WorldLII | Search | Feedback

Indigenous Law Bulletin

Indigenous Law Bulletin
You are here:  AustLII >> Databases >> Indigenous Law Bulletin >> 1999 >> [1999] IndigLawB 97

Database Search | Name Search | Recent Articles | Noteup | LawCite | Help

Dowling, Angela; Halliday, Kate --- "Developing a Remote Area Women's Legal Service" [1999] IndigLawB 97; (1999) 4(25) Indigenous Law Bulletin 24


Developing a Remote Area Women’s Legal Service

by Angela Dowling and Kate Halliday

In this article, Halliday and Dowling recount the history and some aspects of their experiences in setting up programs designed to meet the legal needs of Indigenous women in rural and remote areas.

The Beginning

Kate Halliday:

The Top End Women’s Legal Service (‘TEWLS’) was established in Darwin in 1996 with the support of indigenous and non-indigenous women in the Top End. A series of public meetings was held toward the end of 1995 and in early 1996 which supported TEWLS as a service for all women with the long term aim of establishing an independent and separate Aboriginal women’s legal service.

Existing Aboriginal Legal Services (‘ALSs’) in the Northern Territory could not provide services to women victims of crime due to the conflict of interest that arise and prevent lawyers from acting for both victims of crime and defendants charged with criminal offences. Furthermore, ALS funding is concentrated in the area of criminal law. In contrast, the legal needs of Aboriginal women are more likely to be in the areas of protection from violence, family and civil law.

In the last financial year, 22 percent of our new clients were Aboriginal women. Aboriginal women in remote communities have to overcome enormous distances and language barriers (many Aboriginal people in the Top End speak a language other than English at home) in order to obtain legal advice and assistance.

The TEWLS solicitor and Aboriginal Community Development Worker established connections with two communities, Wadeye (Port Keats) and Kunbarllanjnja (Oenpelli), towards the end of 1996. Wadeye is a dry community while Kunbarllanjnja has a licensed club. Both communities are remote and during the wet season access by road is impossible. TEWLS travels to Wadeye by light aircraft all year round due to the distance and road conditions between Wadeye and Darwin. It’s possible to drive to Kunbarllanjnja only during the dry season. It was important to establish a relationship between TEWLS and women in the communities to obtain their trust and confidence. Many were and remain reluctant to seek assistance or advice where they or their children have been hurt due to shame, fear and language and cultural barriers.

We sat down with the women in Wadeye and Kunbarllanjnja, introduced ourselves, our service and listened to the concerns of the women. The messages we received in those first meetings and in later consultations was that violence against women and children, alcohol abuse and financial problems due to that abuse were significant problems for women in these communities.

The service model used by TEWLS integrates casework, community legal education (‘CLE’) and community development. Each community has had different needs in terms of casework. Women may seek our assistance to obtain or vary restraining orders or where they are involved as a witness in a criminal prosecution. We provide advice and representation in domestic violence matters and a wide range of legal issues such as seeking compensation for injuries caused by crimes and compensation for injuries or loss due to motor vehicle accidents. We are also available to advise and assist in other areas of the law such as supporting the establishment of a women’s crisis centre. The TEWLS solicitor and the for that particular community visit at the same time as the Northern Territory Magistrates’ Circuit Court so that we can offer women court assistance if required.

Early Days: Getting Started

Kate Halliday:

TWELS opened with just two workers: a solicitor and an Aboriginal Community Development Worker. However, the Constitution of TEWLS expressly provides for a strong Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander representation on the management committee of TEWLS by stating that at least half of the committee should be Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women.

Angela Dowling:

The main aim of my position was to assist TEWLS in dealing with Indigenous women both in urban and remote areas. Initially, I was to raise awareness within the communities about TEWLS and conduct community legal education to women in remote communities. This has changed significantly over the years. With the increase of clients in remote communities, I am devoting a lot of my time to casework.

Looking back now, I would have to say that one of the most challenging aspects of the job was to raise awareness of TEWLS’ existence amongst Aboriginal women in remote areas. Women had never had a service visit their community that focused solely on women. It took a while for the women to realise that we are here to assist them and we are here to stay.

One of the communities was well known to me as I had visited it on a regular basis both for professional and personal reasons. The next obstacle for me was explaining to members of this community, especially to men, that my role had changed within that community, that I could only make myself available to assist women. I still, to this day have men approach me asking for my assistance in relation to problems they are having. I overcome this by assuring them that I will speak to the relevant organisation that could assist them with their problems. I personally do not want to be seen by this community as being unapproachable to men. This is very important to me as some of the women I have spoken to over the years have been referred to me by men within the community.

Kate Halliday:

After visiting one community for a couple of months we were advised by some of the women in the community who had initially supported our service that many women having problems were concerned about approaching us directly for assistance. We discussed this with women in that community and the response of an Aboriginal health worker to this dilemma was ‘TEWLS need to have their own workers in the community’.

The same health worker then put us in touch with some local women who she thought would be interested in working with TEWLS. We then had some initial meetings with them to talk about TEWLS and how they could work with us.

At about the same time, TEWLS commenced a project to improve our resources and skills in the area of community legal education. We employed a project worker to compile a CLE manual to support our CLE in Aboriginal communities and to provide some training to TEWLS workers. As part of this project we planned a week-long workshop in Kunbarllanjnja for the women who had indicated they would like to work with TEWLS.

Employing Community Legal Workers was a natural development for TEWLS to work effectively in the communities. The Community Legal Workers ensure that TEWLS assists women in their community in the most appropriate manner and identify women who require assistance. In many cases, Community Legal Workers are the major providers of information to our clients in the community. Without them, we would not be able to work for women in those communities. The problem which we then had to address was how to pay the workers.

Angela Dowling:

The roles of the Aboriginal Community Development Workers and the Community Legal Workers are very similar. We all conduct community legal education: I educate communities about the legal system and the Community Legal Workers educate our Office about their communities. They are the masters of their communities and they have complete control over the situations which arise in their communities. TEWLS workers will not proceed with an action unless it is discussed with the client and a Community Legal Worker.

The women have boosted morale in their communities because they are always available to women in need, meaning that women do not have to wait until next court trip to seek assistance or advice. They merely speak to their Community Legal Worker who will then telephone our office to speak with us about the issue.

Expansion

Kate Halliday:

By 1998, TEWLS had developed some resources (and experience) in CLE for Aboriginal women in remote communities and we continued to develop this part of our work by conducting workshops in other communities, eventually holding a workshop in Darwin with participants from a number of remote communities.

In late 1998, TEWLS negotiated with ATSIC and the North Australian Aboriginal Legal Service to formally establish the Aboriginal Women’s Outreach Project (‘AWOP’). With this funding, we were able to: increase our visiting service from two to five remote communities so that we now provide services for Wadeye, Kunbarllanjnja, Umbakumba (North East Groote Eylandt), Angurugu (West Coast of Groote Eylandt) and Jabiru (West Arnhem Land); do case work arising in these communities; employ community legal workers in Wadeye, Kunbarllanjnja, Umbakumba and Angurugu, and employ another solicitor and Aboriginal Community Development Worker in Darwin.

The AWOP funding has also enabled TWELS to conduct workshops in Darwin which all the Community Legal Workers (who are now paid) can attend. The training we provide to the Community Legal Workers helps them to provide more, and accurate, information about legal options and services to other women in their communities. The Community Legal Workers have responded positively to the three training workshops conducted so far, which have also provided an opportunity for the Community Legal Workers from the different communities to share information and ideas.

Today, TEWLS employs five women: two solicitors, two Aboriginal Community Development Workers and one administration worker. The Aboriginal Women’s Outreach Project has been established for over six months and 10 Community Legal Workers are employed to implement that programme. The project is still in its formative stages, as both TEWLS and the communities work out the best way to work with women in those communities. There has been a perceptible increase in women from the communities involved in the project contacting our service for assistance. One of the strengths of the project is that TEWLS is able to provide a wide range of flexible services for women. We are not only a domestic violence service but provide education, support for community based projects such as crisis centres together with a wide range of legal services depending on the particular needs of women.

Angela Dowling is the first Aboriginal Community Development Worker to be employed by the Top End Women’s Legal Service.

Kate Halliday is the principal solicitor and coordinator of the Top End Women’s Legal Service.


AustLII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback
URL: http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/1999/97.html