What a fantastic year of magic and milestones. SMLS is very excited to hit the big 50 with a spring in our step and a great future ahead.

A big part of the last year has been reflecting on where we have come from, reaching out to personalities of the past and gazing across the broad and diverse community we have fostered and shared over so long.

We begin by recognising the long and iconic partnership with Monash University Law Faculty and thank Dean Byran Horrigan and his team for being part of our celebrations. This partnership has been front and centre of the formative years of clinical education in Australia. We also acknowledge our neighbours at our Springvale site, South-East Community Links and the many shared wonderful memories of forging an advocacy movement in the south-east.

Over the past year, we have made sure we did shy not away from showing our unwavering public support for the ‘Yes’ position for a constitutionally enshrined Voice to Parliament to recognise First Nations people this year. SMLS will not stop in our calls either. We will continue to back change that impacts First Nation people including Raise the Age of criminal responsibility in Victoria to at least 14, show our support for the Treaty process in Victoria and support for the Uluru Statement from the Heart and any process that will improve lives and communities. 

SMLS has also continued to play our part in tackling discrimination and violence experienced by lesbian, gay, bisexual, transgender and intersex people in the local community. The SMLS Board has endorsed a new statement to reflect this ongoing support of LGBTQIA+ people and communities and our commitment to defending and advancing their human rights.

We have continued to project the sound of our ideas through vital submissions to reviews and public inquiries:

• Invitation to consult on a Workers Entitlements and Safety Service (western suburbs)

• Draft provisions – VLRC report on Improving the Justice System Response to Sexual Offences – Recommendations 52, 53, 54(a) and 57

• FW SAJER Act

• Draft CPA reforms – JLA (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Bill

• Consultation on Victims’ Charter guidance

• Consultation with CLCs – Victims of Crime Commissioner’s Systemic Inquiry: Victim Participation in the Justice System

• Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor – Review of the Family Violence Information Sharing Scheme and Risk Assessment and Management Framework

• Family Violence Reform Implementation Monitor – Crisis response to recovery model for victim-survivors and service responses for perpetrators and people using violence within the family

• Joint Letter RE: Jobs and Skills Summit

• Implementation forum for the new Financial Assistance Scheme for victims of crime

• Select Committee on Work and Care Inquiry

• FWC Roundtable – FWC performance

• Victim Charter Guidelines Consultation- CLC consultation on Draft Guidelines

• Inquiry into online gambling and impact on problem gambling

• National Principles to Address Coercive Control

• SJFW Policy Platform “Reducing the criminalisation of women in Victoria”

• Employment White Paper Consultation

• Australia’s illicit drug problem: Challenges and opportunities for law enforcement

• The extent and nature of poverty in Australia

• Family Law Amendment Bill 2023

• Current and proposed sexual consent laws in Australia

• Scoping the development of specialised and trauma-informed legal services for victims and survivors of sexual assault

• Employee Like Forms of Work and Anti-Discrimination Protections

• Non-payment of subcontractors for completed works.

• Gag Laws VCAT Act

• Joint Submission on the Review of the Migration Amendment (Clarifying International Obligations for Removal) Act 2021

• Inquiry into the rental and housing affordability crisis in Victoria

• Inquiry into Australia’s Human Rights Framework

• Continuing professional development for Legal Practitioners on Coercive Control

• Confidential discussion paper on the Nazi salute ban

• Family Law Amendment Bill 2023 – second round

We have been evolving the career experience at SMLS including building teams of specialists. It is exciting to see the growth of practitioners across multiple disciplines as well as the opportunities for advancement across all areas of the organisation that this is generating.

So begins the next 50!

As a CLC that prides itself on being an organisation of choice both internally and externally, we are undertaking a number of projects for the remainder of this strategic plan, that investigate how well we are doing in responding to the needs of our communities.

As a CLC that prides itself on being future focused, we were thrilled to secure funding from Victoria Legal Service Board to test the impact of climate on the legal issues our clients and their communities navigate. We will work with key partners to imbed what is ‘climate justice lawyering’ in our organisation, we will work with partners to build a community understanding of what climate justice is, and we will develop a specialist legal practice to test the causal link between climate and a legal issue. Assuming our hypothesis is correct, there is active deliberation of this already progressing across sectors, we will then turn to what changes can be made either at a policy level or, at a practical level that would mitigate the impact.

As a CLC that prides itself on being a leader in integrated services, we are excited to be moving towards the final phase of the implementation of our multi-disciplinary complex case management system. This program is supported by a significant intake of social work students across 3 universities and Goodshepherd’s financial counselling outreach.

As part of watch this space! As a CLC that prides itself on our ability to provide person-centre services, we are currently in the development stage of rolling out a new specialist service that we believe represents the breadth of maturity and sensitivity that SMLS applies with excellence to all our work.

A big thanks to all our partners, stakeholders, our staff, students and volunteers and to our funders over the years. Most importantly, a big thanks to the community we serve and the trust you put in our services. You are full of courageous people who are navigating what can sometimes be a fraught and complex justice system.

Here is to the next 50!