This week on Done by law, we are talking about sex work. Currently in Victoria there is a review of the sex industry laws underway. Decriminalisation is on the table. There is a really interesting history to the way sex work has been dealt with by our justice system. Tess and Su chat with Barbara Minchinton, an expert on this history. Barbara's new book, Women of Little Lon, is focussed on the sex workers of Little Lonsdale St, Melbourne during the early 20th century. Part of that history is the...
Aug 31, 2021
Dylan and Jeremie discuss the impacts of the recent changes to NT bail laws and their impact on young people with Mililma from Uprising of the People (UP). Facebook UprisingofthepeopleInstagram @uprisingofthepeopleYou can read more about this here: SBS News Article
Aug 17, 2021
Sex Work and Access to Banking Services with special guests Denis Nelthorpe AM and Dean
Aug 03, 2021
Imagine if nature itself could fight back, legally, for its own protection against those who seek to destroy it? Recent 'next generation' laws around the world which hold that the natural environment has legal personhood and/or legal rights aim to enable just this. We talk with water law and policy specialist Dr Erin O'Donnell and respected Wurundjeri elder Aunty Diane Kerr OAM about the Yarra River Protection (Wilip-gin Birrarung murron) Act 2017, a similar Victorian law aiming to protect the B...
Jul 27, 2021
Jul 06, 2021
Su, Meg and Tess speak to Suzie Wnukowska-Mtonga and Sarah Schwartz about Movement Lawyering and Australia's first Rebellious Law Conference. For more information about the conference, visit https://reblaw.com.au/.
Jun 29, 2021
On an average night in 2020 there were 798 young people in detention in Australia almost half of these young people are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander children.Tess, Rose, Bonnie and Meg take a look at Raise the Age, a public campaign to increase the age of criminal responsibility, and the rights of children with Guests: Meena Singh from the Human Rights Law Centre and Anoushka Jeronimo from the Youth Law Program at West Justice.
Jun 08, 2021
Jun 01, 2021
Hosts Indy and Dylan interview Larissa Baldwin, First Nation's Justice Campaign Director at GetUp. Larissa explains how Australia's cultural protection laws fail to protect Aboriginal sacred cultural sites and allow private companies to destroy and exploit country. Larissa discusses GetUp's campaign with traditional owners to stand together with First Nation's people and call for greater cultural protection. Find out more here: https://www.getup.org.au/campaigns/first-nations-justice-campaigns/h...
May 18, 2021
May 11, 2021
"Women and Mentoring (WAM) offers a unique, early intervention program that supports women charged with a criminal offence by matching them individually with a supportive female mentor. The volunteer mentors are trained and resourced to provide appropriate support to the program participants, to share their skills and to contribute to the wider community." - Women and Mentoring Website We delve more into this unique and inspiring volunteer lead program based in Melbourne. We get an inside look i...
May 04, 2021
Apr 20, 2021
Apr 13, 2021
Su Robertson and Daniel Bavcevic dicuss the submissions made to the Australian Productivity Commission regarding the 'Right to Repair' and how to improve consumer accessiblity to enforcing this right and the social and environmental benefits this will have for the community.Our guest is Brigette Rose, Senior Policy Officer at Consumer Action Law Centre. Brigette is the author of a recent submission to the Productivity Commission’s Inquiry into the Right to Repair.View the Consumer Action Law Cen...
Mar 02, 2021
Feb 09, 2021
The Australian Government, headed up by the ACCC, has conducted an indepth inquiry into the digital platforms, and has come up with a proposed media bargaining code, which was revealed earlier this year. The Code has a number of aspects to it, but has drawn most attention for the way it proposes to force the platforms to pay Australian media companies and local content in their search and on their feeds. Suffice to say the digital platforms aren't happy.Google and Facebook have come out fighting...
Feb 02, 2021
Sam, Gemma and Greg tackle the pressing questions - Can I return to Victoria after my from holiday? Are rent reductions still availabe? When do I need my face mask? And what about protesting? The team provides a quick update on changes to the law to date.
Jan 19, 2021
Su, Gemma and Daniel are joined by PhD candidate at the Australian National University and former Canberra Community Law solicitor, Radhika Chaudhri, to discuss new ways of ensuring Australian courts consider Economic Violence in a family violence context. We discuss new ways of using some old school legal ideas to get lawyers and judges thinking differently about this problem. We chat about mortgages, consumer contracts and other situations where women find themselves in crisis because of finan...
Dec 01, 2020
Many working in Community Legal Centres are still subject to workplace agreements which expired in 2009. Without change soon, already-low wages in the sector may stagnate, employees will continue to experience insecure work, and many passionate CLC lawyers may be hampered in pursuing systemic advocacy. Dylan Goldsworthy, Youth Lawyer from the Northern Community Legal Centre, joined us to discuss calls to revisit the CLC sector's workplace agreement.
Nov 17, 2020
Warning: this episode discusses the court process following reports of sexual violence or homicide as well as recent, well publicised sexually violent crimes which some listeners may find distressing.Nationally, many states have made changes to their laws to make sure victim/survivors of sexual assault can tell their stories, in their own words without court processes. However, proposed changes to the laws in Victoria have garnered criticism from victim/survivor advocates and groups, who conside...
Nov 03, 2020
Oct 13, 2020
Su Robertson and Daniel Bavcevic interview Tiffany Overall (Advocacy and Human Rights Officer, Youthlaw) and Lloyd Murphy (Lawyer, Inner Melbourne Community Legal) about the community impact of COVID-19 fines and the worrying trend of internal reviews not being fairly considered by Victoria Police."It is troubling because the bottom line is, as community lawyers, we're not going to be giving advice to our clients to go through that process if we don't think there's any merit to their review." - ...
Oct 06, 2020
Su and Greg spoke with Tanja Kovac, CEO of Gender Equity Victoria, about the recent passing of Ruth Baden Ginsburg and Susan Ryan who were both iconic feminist trailblazers, their legacies in championing for sex anti-discrimination laws - in the courtroom and in parliament - and the new Victorian Gender Equality Act.
Sep 29, 2020
In this episode of Done by Law, Ingrid and Marissa talk about Indigenous stories, and who owns them. They are joined by Tony Briggs, a Yorta Yorta/Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) theatre & film practitioner, who is the creator and writer of feature film ‘The Sapphires’, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. ‘The Sapphires’ is Tony’s family’s story, and in this episode, he shares his experience of telling his story on screen and stage. Tony speaks passionately about the importance of I...
Sep 22, 2020
In this episode Sam Elkin interviews Gregor Husper from the Police Accountability Project about the disturbing incident of brutality during an arrest in Victoria this week.
Sep 15, 2020
Consumer leadership and engagement will be crucial to successfully build a better and fairer mental health system in Victoria. Victoria Legal Aid recently completed a project, 'Your Story, Your Say', which allowed 34 people with lived experience to share their experience with the Mental Health Royal Commission. We spoke with the project's coordinator, Simon Katterl, about the important expert evidence the project was able to deliver. You can read more about the final report and recommendations h...
Sep 01, 2020
This evening we discussed where to find reliable legal information responding to COVID-19. This is especially important at the moment, when face to face community legal education delivery is not available or only available in a limited way, things are changing so fast and people are often unsure where to look and are relying on untrustworthy sources. We will also look at some resources specifically for young people.We were lucky to be joined by:Amala Ramarathinam, Senior Lawyer with YouthlawMark...
Aug 25, 2020
In this episode we interview Sam Drummond about the new human rights organisation Lawyers for Peace.
Aug 18, 2020
Victoria is now in a declared "State of Disaster" with category 4 lockdown and some States have closed their borders to Victorians, as well as to their own residents who have been living elsewhere. In this episode we speak to Constitutional Law expert, Professor Kim Rubenstein from the University of Canberra about how the Australian Constitution is being used by Clive Palmer to challenge the WA border closures, and discuss what the High Court will consider when determining whether the closures a...
Aug 04, 2020
Class Action Against NSW Police for Strip SearchesLaw firm Slater and Gordon and Redfern Community Legal Centre are leading a class action against NSW Police for strip searches conducted in the State. Our very own host, Gemma Leigh-Dodds is a Senior Associate at Slater and Gordon that is working on the action.Find out more about the class action here: https://www.slatergordon.com.au/class-actions/current-class-actions/nsw-strip-search-class-action For information about the Victoria Public Housin...
Jul 07, 2020
