Premier Urged To Fund Vital LGBTQIA+ Legal Service

The Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC) is calling on the NSW Premier to properly fund a dedicated LGBTIQA+ community legal service, following the release of a new report warning that LGBTQIA+ people across the state are being left behind.

ICLC CEO Katie Green said the Centre has been providing specialist legal support to LGBTIQA+ people for more than four decades, despite never having received dedicated government funding to provide the highly valued service.

“We are nominally recognised as NSW’s LGBTIQA+ legal service, and while our clients highly value our efforts, we are not funded to provide this service beyond the boundaries of our inner-city catchment area,” she said.

“Our staff and volunteers stretch every dollar to meet overwhelming demand from across the state. But without dedicated funding, we are forced to turn people away, and our LGBTQIA+ community in regional and rural parts of NSW are being left without access to safe and culturally appropriate legal help.”

Released in August, the ICLC’s report  A Blueprint for Equality: Resourcing LGBTQIA+ Community Legal Centres highlights not only the urgent need for immediate funding, but the return investment such backing would have on the wider NSW community.

“Our clients experience discrimination, vilification and violence at higher rates than the general population,” said Green. “They face housing insecurity, and although we have recently amended laws in relation to birth certificates, our trans clients still experience barriers to legally affirming their gender.

“Many of our clients avoid seeking legal help because mainstream services are not culturally safe or equipped with sufficient community knowledge to meet their needs.”

Charley Allanah, a transgender sex worker, was supported by ICLC to report a serial sexual offender, leading to one of the first prosecutions under NSW’s updated consent laws, and said the work the organisation does is “invaluable” to the trans community.

“Getting your identification documents to align with the way you wish to present yourself to the world is so critical to your dignity and your participation in everyday life. Without it, trans people are locked out of so many basic things others take for granted,” she said.

“The ICLC has been absolutely invaluable in helping trans people navigate what can be a very complex and expensive process in changing government documentation.

The ICLC is also a deeply trusted and well-known part of our community. They understand us and stand with us, and that’s not something many trans people have found in the broader legal profession or in law enforcement.”

Members of parliament back call

The call comes as the NSW Government develops its first LGBTQIA+ Inclusion Strategy, which aims to position NSW as a national leader in achieving the best and most equitable outcomes for LGBTIQ+ communities.

“I cannot see how it will be possible to realise this aspiration of the inclusion strategy without a fully funded, community-based legal service that will respond to community members in crisis,” said Green.

“It is now time for NSW to step up and join Victoria and Queensland in providing an equitable legal service for our population. Recognition without resources means that the rights of our community exist on paper only.”

NSW Member for Sydney, Alex Greenwich, said that support for funding for the dedicated legal service was absolutely critical for the welfare of the LGBTIQA+ community.

“Throughout this Parliament, we have passed important laws to protect the LGBTIQA+ communities; however, access to justice through these laws can still be a challenge for the most vulnerable in the community.

“A properly funded LGBTIQA+ legal service will ensure our laws are used and justice prevails.”

Greenwich is joined by the Member for Summer Hill, Jo Haylen said the Blueprint for Equality would ensure the vital work provided by the ICLC could continue to be provided to the LGBTIQA+ community across NSW.

“The Blueprint for Equality lays out a clear path to ensure every LGBTQIA+ person across NSW, not just in the Inner West, can access the legal help they need, no matter where they live,” she said.

Green says the NSW Government now has the valuable opportunity to ensure all LGBTQIA+ people across the state have access to the specialist legal support services they need and deserve.

“Improved rights only have meaning when people can access the justice and support they need to improve their lives and to protect their wellbeing. An expanded LGBTQIA+ Legal Service that is truly statewide will support that vision.”