Thursday, 15 August 2024

 Jaclyn SYMES (Northern Victoria – Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:26): Last week I had the pleasure of opening WEstjustice’s brand new offices in the heart of Sunshine. Alongside the Minister for Youth and the members for Laverton, Point Cook and Footscray, I had the opportunity to tour and launch the new office, accompanied by WEstjustice’s new strategy for 2024–‍27 – a testament to their commitment and dedication to continuing to help vulnerable communities in the west. We heard from Susie King, board director, and Melissa Hardman, CEO, about the vital services that WEstjustice provides and the growing need in those communities.

As I have said in this place many times, community legal centres are awesome. They provide critical legal assistance to the most in need, and as was outlined to us at the launch, they provide so much more – early intervention work, supporting vulnerable community members in other aspects of their lives and really making a difference and ensuring people do not become entrenched in the justice system. They also do a mountain of work in the advocacy and policy space, and their work and excellent endeavours are about evidence-informed submissions. They are frequently considered by Parliament and the government.

I had a chance to tour the office, and it is so great that legal practitioners, who should be interested and encouraged to join community legal centres, have the opportunity to work at a place like WEstjustice. This is a facility that has an updated and fit-for-purpose environment, which is really what those workers deserve, matching their dedication and commitment. I do encourage anybody in the west to drop in. It is on Clarke Street, located close to the train station. It is a testament to accessibility to justice as practitioners, clients and broader support staff can easily be found in the digs, as well as other supporting organisations in that hub. It was a wonderful event. I do also note Mr Ettershank was there. You cannot miss Mr Ettershank when you are at an event, but I am sure he joins me in congratulating WEstjustice on the work that they do.