Our 2022-23 annual report documents another year of fighting for justice and equity - in police stations and courts, offices and parliaments, in the street, online and in the media.
Follow the links below to view or download the annual report in full, or scroll down for an introductory summary of our impact this financial year.
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Introduction
Message from the Chairperson
It gives me great pleasure to open my first annual report as Chairperson of the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT) Limited.
While I was recently elected as Chairperson in August 2023, I served as a Director throughout the reporting period. On behalf of the Board and ALS community, I extend thanks to my predecessor Mark Davies for his commitment and many contributions towards our mission.
In true ALS fashion, it was another busy year. The Board continued to focus on growing and strengthening the organisation, including governance and services to our communities.
When we look back at the work of the ALS in the last financial year, we can be immensely proud. The organisation supported more than 21,000 clients and their families, providing over 129,000 services.
We could not have delivered these services without core funding provided by both the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department, including through the National Legal Assistance Partnership, the NSW Government and the ACT Government. These services include several new and expanded services, enabling the ALS to offer holistic and wrap-around support for our communities in more locations.
As a key partner in Closing the Gap and in our role as justice lead for the NSW Coalition of Aboriginal Peak Organisations, the ALS is co-steering important initiatives in NSW. We know that systems are failing Aboriginal people, and we know they will only be fixed when our people have a genuine seat at the table. We are proud to be building the NSW Aboriginal Justice Partnership, a collaboration between our communities and the NSW Government so that we can work together on Closing the Gap.
Exciting initiatives funded by the NSW Government under Closing the Gap include a new pilot program supporting Aboriginal children to get bail earlier and more often; an Aboriginal community ‘throughcare’ strategy, looking at how our mob can be supported with effective and culturally safe programs to stay out of prison; and a Therapeutic Pathways for Children initiative – a plan to bring together different services to direct children away from prisons and towards healthier, more fulfilling lives. We also welcomed additional funding to keep sending ALS lawyers into children’s prisons, ensuring we can check on their welfare and legal needs face-to-face.
While we are very pleased that the Commonwealth, NSW and ACT Governments have provided funding for new discrete initiatives enabling us to provide new and expanded services, it is important to note that many of these funding contracts only last a couple of years. We know the injustices we are fighting cannot be resolved in this short time.
We need Government investment to deliver the sector strengthening work required and also to meet the demand for services and expectations of communities across NSW and the ACT, particularly for more core services in criminal, family, care and protection, and civil law. The ALS will continue to prioritise advocacy for the services our communities need and equitable funding to deliver high-quality, culturally appropriate support.
On behalf of the Board, I extend our sincere thanks to everyone who continued to make our work possible in 2022–23, including our communities, funders, partners, pro bono supporters and donors. In particular, I acknowledge the commendable work of ALS staff throughout another challenging year. Thank you for fighting hard for our communities.
Jason Allan
Chair
Message from the CEO
This year saw the ALS continue to grow the ways in which we support our communities, moving towards a more holistic service model and continuing to put cultural safety at the forefront.
Remaining true to our vision of social justice and equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, families and communities, we introduced new services for people experiencing domestic and family violence in the ACT, NSW South Coast, and Hunter region; and for people at risk of having their children removed from home.
As one of Australia’s first Aboriginal community-controlled organisations and with over 50 years of experience in fighting for justice, no one is better placed than the ALS to deliver these services for our people in NSW and the ACT.
To enable greater focus on community partnerships and sector strengthening, this year the ALS created a new practice area— Justice Projects, Policy and Practice—which sits alongside our pre-existing Criminal Law Practice and Care and Protection/Family Law Practice. The introduction of this team has seen us launch a justice reinvestment program with engagement officers supporting the Mt Druitt, Bourke and Moree communities to develop tailored local justice plans.
There remains an acute need for adequate, equitable and long-term funding to meet the holistic justice needs of communities not only here in NSW and the ACT, but across Australia.
In 2023, ongoing workload pressures faced by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) around the country reached a crisis point. Here in NSW, we were forced into a devastating decision to freeze criminal law services at 13 NSW Local Courts to protect the physical and mental health of our teams and their ability to do their best work for our clients.
We are dedicated to maintaining the high-quality legal services that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people expect and deserve.
We fought for our communities’ right to these services, calling for a $250 million emergency support package to get us to the end of the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) in June 2025 and to mitigate the workload crisis faced by ATSILS across Australia.
We thank Federal Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus for responding to our requests, providing a small additional one-off funding package. However, it’s no secret that we need more to address a long-term underinvestment in legal assistance for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities.
We are currently participating in an independent review of the NLAP and advocating for a significant increase in long-term funding to meet the needs of our communities.
Amid these challenges, our supporters continue to stand by us in solidarity. This year set a new record for community donations to the ALS.
We are galvanised by the strong and principled support we receive from everyday people who pitch into the fight for justice.
Enormous thanks to our dedicated ALS staff and volunteers who so frequently go beyond expectations to deliver the best service for our clients. It is the work of our many justice warriors—our admin teams, field officers, solicitors, tenant advocates to name but a few— that fires the ALS movement.
The impressive acumen of our teams was evidenced this year by the appointment of not one, but two senior ALS staff to the judiciary. While it was bittersweet to farewell Her Honour Judge Sarah Hopkins and Her Honour Magistrate Keisha Hopgood, we are so proud and grateful that we have benefited from their skills and knowledge.
Their success, and the success of so many of our justice leaders at the ALS, proves that joining the ALS movement and fighting for justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people is rewarding in many different ways.
We thank all of our past and current justice warriors for their service. We look forward to welcoming the next generation of justice leaders next year.
Karly Warner
Chief Executive Officer
2022-23 at a glance
By the numbers*:
- 21,162 clients supported
- 140 courts attended
- 129,387 recorded services
*This data captures legal work across our Criminal Law Practice and Care & Protection/Family Law Practice in NSW and the ACT and recorded in line with the data standards manual. It does not capture social justice programs including tenants’ advocacy and advice services, or services delivered by the Ngurrambai Bail Support and Front-Up teams in the ACT.
This year we:
- Continued operating the ALS Fines Clinic thanks to donor support, helping to resolve over 2,200 fines
- Supported 37 families to seek answers into their loved ones' deaths
- Began supporting families at risk of having their children removed in the ACT
- Provided regular, in-person visits to all youth prisons in NSW
- Provided a lifeline for 29,563 calls to our Custody Notification Service - a 19% increase from last year
- Received record community support, with donations totalling over $3.9 million
- Increased our support for people facing domestic and family violence by launching new specialist services
- Ramped up community partnerships, engagement and sector strengthening with the introduction of a dedicated team
- Congratulated two senior ALS staff, Sarah Hopkins and Keisha Hopgood, on being appointed to the judiciary
- Led a national campaign for emergency funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services
- Commenced the auspice of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services
- Opened new offices delivering specialist services in Newcastle and Nowra
