79 Legal Aid New South Wales - Australian Huma.DOCVIP

RESPONSE TO AFRICAN AUSTRALIANS: A REPORT ON HUMAN RIGHTS AND SOCIAL INCLUSION ISSUES SUBMISSION ON BEHALF OF LEGAL AID NEW SOUTH WALES to THE AUSTRALIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION LEGAL AID NSW The Legal Aid Commission of New South Wales (Legal Aid NSW) is established under the Legal Aid Commission Act 1979 (NSW) as an independent statutory body. We are the largest legal aid agency in Australia and provide a wide range of legal services to socially and economically disadvantaged people through a network of 22 offices across NSW. We work with a wide range of government and community legal agencies and private lawyers to provide legal services. Legal Aid NSW plays an important role in improving access to justice for disadvantaged people. People from culturally diverse backgrounds, financially disadvantaged people, people with a disability, refugees, women, homeless people, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, and those who are institutionalised are widely represented in our client base. We are focused on prioritising our services for those at greatest risk of social exclusion; early access to legal assistance through information, community legal education and reforms to the legal system; and improving our responses to the diverse needs of clients. NSW Legal Assistance Forum The NSW Legal Assistance Forum (NLAF) is a forum of public legal assistance providers in NSW. It is currently chaired by the Chief Executive Officer of Legal Aid NSW. Its aim is to continuously improve service delivery to socially and economically disadvantaged people through improved alignment of planning, program design and service delivery by providers of legal assistance services. NLAF’s Working Group on Culturally and Linguistically Diverse (CALD) Communities was established in 2008 to improve legal services to these communities by focusing on effective engagement between the legal and migrant services sectors. A sub-group, chaired by the Registrar of the Blacktown Loc