Message from the CEO
It’s been a year of significant growth for the ALS, with our team expanding from 275 to 375 staff members who are working tirelessly to provide a broader range of services than ever before.
In accordance with our strategic plan, we are working more holistically by incorporating social workers, mental health workers and youth workers into our teams to ensure that community have the support they need.
In programs such as our new Aboriginal Child and Family Advocacy and Support, family advocates are providing holistic, wraparound support and assistance to empower parents and carers in the earliest stages of contact with child protection authorities, ideally avoiding the need for more intensive legal support down the line by keeping children safe and strong in their homes.
For those families who do need legal support to keep their children or bring them back home, our care and protection legal service in the ACT has well and truly gotten off the ground after its launch last year. This important ACT service works alongside our pre-existing care and protection service in NSW.
We were very proud to launch the ALS Civil Law Practice in late 2023 with the introduction of our Employment Law Service, the first specialist sexual harassment and discrimination legal service in NSW that’s for Aboriginal workers and run by an Aboriginal community-controlled organisation.
The bulk of ALS services continue to be in criminal law. Our criminal law practice in NSW and the ACT delivered more than 102,000 services this financial year, a 5% increase from the previous year despite being forced into freezing crime services at 13 NSW Local Courts from May 2023.
This increase is a demonstration of the high level of legal need in our communities and how hard the ALS is working to meet this need with limited resources. Advocating for increased and sustainable government funding formed a key focus for the ALS and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (NATSILS) this year, with both organisations preparing substantial submissions to the Independent Review into the National Legal Assistance Partnership.
We ran our biennial client survey this year and received overwhelmingly positive feedback, with 97% of respondents agreeing or strongly agreeing that they would recommend the ALS to others.
All credit for this excellent result goes to our dedicated employees who consistently give their very best to shape a better future for our clients and communities.
I acknowledge and thank all ALS employees whose achievements, on the frontline and behind the scenes, make an incalculable difference in the lives of our clients. It was great to see ALS excellence recognised in the legal profession when Crystal Triggs, Legal and Program Manager for the Bugmy Bar Book, was awarded 2023 Regional Practitioner of the Year by the Law Society of NSW.
I also extend my thanks to our funders, donors and pro bono partners whose investment and solidarity provides the fuel to our fire. Our mission would not be possible without the principled support of many thousands of people who believe in justice and equity for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people and communities.
Karly Warner
Chief Executive Officer
