Jimi sits down with Nerita Waight, a proud Yorta Yorta and Narrandjeri woman, the CEO of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service and a member of Victoria’s First Peoples' Assembly.In October, a landmark Bill passed through the Victorian Parliament to enable Australia’s first Treaty between First Peoples and government.  Nerita has played a key role in the treaty process and joins the show to discuss what led up to this historic moment, what will come next and what this means for the ongoing fight for justice and self-determination of Victoria’s First Peoples.You can find the text of Victoria's Treaty, as well as more information on the First Peoples' Assembly of Victoria here: https://firstpeoplesvic.org/treaty/ 

Jimi sits down with prominent disability advocate Uli Cartwright, an incredible individual who has faced numerous hurdles in the journey to sharing his story. Uli discusses his documentary 'Life is a Battlefied', currently on SBS On Demand, and the legal battles he has fought to keep the documentary online. Find the documentary here: https://www.sbs.com.au/ondemand/tv-program/life-is-a-battlefield/Uli continues his advoacy through his foundation of the same name, Life is a Battlefield, found here: https://lifeisabattlefield.org/

There are many different situations in which people can find themselves unfairlytreated at work or sacked from their employment. In today’s show we are going to belooking at a few of those situations and the different rights, support, and processesyou can go through if that happens.Our guest is Siobhan Doyle who is the Principle Managing Lawyer of the Civiland Human Rights Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service or VALS. VALSoften provide legal advice and represent clients in conciliations at the Fair WorkCommission when people are unfairly dismissed.

Every day in Victoria, people are subject to compulsory treatment orders. Those subject to these orders lose many of their rights and freedoms and are treated even where they do not agree. These processes have stripped people of their autonomy and caused lasting trauma for many. Today's guest is Jake, a 28-year-old Gunditjmara and Gunnaikurnai man and member of the LGBTIQ community. Jake joins Done By Law to share his reflections on being subject to several compulsory treatment orders and what changes he hopes to see in this space to better respect people's autonomy. This episode includes discussion of some difficult topics. If you need support, please call lifeline on 131 114 or 13YARN for mob on 139276. 

Beth is joined by Youthlaw Lawyer & Legal Pod Program Coordinator, Scarlett Trewavis, to discuss Youthlaw’s innovative Legal Pod Program, the only legal program in the state working with out of home care leavers to resolve legal issues that come up during their transition out of state care at 18 years old. We also chat about Youthlaw’s new Heads Up Project, which aims to resource the workers and agencies supporting care leavers to better identify, understand, and respond to their unmet legal needs.Youthlaw, Victoria’s specialist community legal centre for young people and a member of the Smart Justice for Young People coalition, prioritises services to young people in out of home care, and is trying to come up with creative ways to prevent their entry into the justice system.Smart Justice for Young People is a coalition of over 40 leading social services, health, legal, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander, and youth advocacy organisations, working together to create change for children and young people who come into contact with the criminal legal system.  The coalition’s 2023 Action Plan ‘Working Together’ identifies that Victorian young people in out of home residential care “are members of our Victorian community with enormous strengths, in spite of the harm and structural barriers they face, that if enabled, and supported to heal, can realise their goals and aspirations”.However, it also finds that these young people are unfairly over-criminalised and over-represented in the criminal justice system.A person is over-criminalised if they are subject to inappropriate, unnecessary or unjustified police or legal system contact (including stop, question, search, arrest, prosecution and detention).This is one driver of over-representation, where a person or group is more likely to be in contact with the criminal justice system than their group’s proportion in the population would predict.A 2019 Sentencing Advisory Council (SAC) analysis found that 94 percent of children known to child protection engaged in their first sentenced or diverted offence after a child protection report about them had been lodged.The Victorian Government has also acknowledged this problem through the creation and implementation of the 2020 Framework to reduce criminalisation of young people in residential care.Over-representation and over-criminalisation cause significant harm to young people, and can result in disengagement from school, family and community.

Betia Shakiba is an Iranian refugee, human rights advocate and a solicitor at the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre. Betia has long advocated for an improvement in the treatment of asylum seekers, calling for reduced barriers to seeking asylum in Australia. For Iranians like Betia Shakiba, the recent conflict between Iran and Israel is more than just a news headline and strikes at the heart of her lived experience, and the concerns she has for her family still in Iran. Betia joins us tonight to discuss the developing situation in Iran and what that means for the Iranian community both overseas and in Australia. Information for Iranians in Australia: Refugee Council of Australia : https://www.refugeecouncil.org.au/support-for-people-fleeing-iran-gaza/ Refugee Advice and Casework Service - Info sheet: https://www.racs.org.au/legal-information - See ‘emerging legal issues’

Here on Done By Law we are typically talking to people who work in the law. But in this episode, we’re gaining insight from a man who has been subject to it.Earlier this year, Ronin was released from prison. His experiences both inside and out have been a cause for reflection and he is getting busy using the written word to share his insights and advice for those going through it themselves. He is putting the finishing touches on his book ‘Pri-Zen’, a reflection on his journey through the system and how he found peace in a place where people are punished. He has also recently written for the magazine (and our former guests) ‘About Time’ in an article called ‘Back on the Path of Freedom - Tips and reflections from someone who just came out’. He joins us on the show to share some of these reflections. 

Protective Services Officers, or PSOs have existed in Australia since the late 1980s. Their role was significantly expanded in 2012.As many of our listeners will be aware, PSO are armed, uniformed officers who pop up at train stations, protests, and at public buildings like parliament and courts. They are part of Victoria Police, but what are their powers? And what are your rights when interacting with them? To help us understand these issues we’re joined tonight by Rory Hudson, a Managing Lawyer at Inner Melbourne Community Legal in their criminal law team. Rory has been a criminal lawyer for almost a decade and has worked in private practice, as well as for legal aid.Further resources:Both VLA and YouthLaw have useful Resources regarding PSOs:https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/protective-services-officershttps://youthlaw.asn.au/learn-about-the-law/protective-services-officers-psos/Inner Melbourne Community Legal have a dedicated Police Accountability Project, you can contact them for more information (03) 9328 1885If you need legal support jump on to the Federation of Community Legal Centre’s website where you can find your local CLC: https://www.fclc.org.au/find_a_community_legal_centreMelbourne Activist Legal have lots of resources for people engaging in protests which you can access at their website: https://mals.au/2023/11/05/your-rights-in-designated-areas/Victoria Legal Aid’s website has lots of resources including a Street Law Wallet Cardwhich you can download from their website: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/street-law-wallet-cardYou can also check out the police powers handbook: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/police-powers-your-rights-victoria Support the campaign for an independent police ombudsman here: https://www.policeombudsmannow.com.au/

A warning that this show includes discussion of sexual violence.Beth King, Education & Training Lawyer at Youthlaw, is joined by Laura Crozier, Affirmative Consent Project Officer with the Youth Affairs Council Victoria ('YACVic'), to discuss projects by Youthlaw and YACVic educating young people about the new affirmative consent laws in Victoria, which took effect on 30 July 2023. They chatted all things affirmative consent, in anticipation of their free joint webinar ‘Affirmative consent for youth workers’, which took place on Wednesday 21 May 2-3pm as part of Victorian Law Week 2025.Youthlaw (the Young People's Legal Rights Centre) is a free state-wide legal service for young people up to age 25 in Victoria. Youth Affairs Council Victoria (YACVic) is the peak body and leading policy advocate for young people and the youth sector in Victoria.Key changes to consent laws were introduced by the Victorian government in the Justice Legislation Amendment (Sexual Offences and Other Matters) Act 2022 (Vic). The reforms aimed to place a greater focus on the actions of people using sexual violence to seek consent, rather than just on what victim survivors did or did not say or do.The changes include:An updated definition of consent.The introduction of the affirmative sexual consent model.Changes to circumstances where there is no consent.Clarifying that 'stealthing' (non-consensual condom removal, tampering or non-use) is a crime.Changes to image-based abuse.Improvements to the justice system to protect victim survivors, including better education and direction for members of a jury to understand sexual violence.The new laws in Victoria emphasise an affirmative approach to consent. Affirmative consent means a person must take steps to say or do something to check that the other person(s) involved are consenting to a sexual activity freely and voluntarily. This means that sexual consent can never be assumed. It involves ongoing and mutual communication and decision making between all people involved.

This episode discusses gender-affirming care for transgender young people. We might mention suicide and self-harm. Listeners are advised.At the end of January this year, Federal Health Minister Mark Butler announced a review into healthcare for trans and gender-diverse children.   The review will be conducted by the National Health and Medical Research Council. The rights of transgender people, and in particular the rights of trangender youth and their access to life-saving, gender-affirming care has become a political football worldwide. To help us unpack what this review might mean, and to help us understand this issue more broadly, we’re joined by Matthew Mitchell, a lecturer in the School of Humanities and Social Sciences at Deakin University, and an expert in LGBTQ people and the law.Matthew’s research focuses on LGBTQ people’s interactions with legal systems, media representations of gendered and sexual harm, and technology-facilitated violence. Matthew is currently writing a book on the legal regulation of gender-affirming hormones for young people in Australia.If this episode has raised issues for you or if you’re concerned about someone you know, you can call Lifeline on 13 11 14. You can also call QLife on 1800 184 527. Support is also available at:  Switchboard, Queerspace, Transcend Australia, Transgender Victoria and Minus18.  

Jimi is joined by two researchers at Liberty Victoria's Rights Advocacy Project, Britney Aguirre & Denham Sadler. They join the show to discuss their recently published report 'Unreasonable Grounds: Reforming Victoria Police’s stop and search powers'.You can find the full report here: https://www.rightsadvocacyproject.org/stop-and-searchIf you wish to contribute to Rights Advocacy Project, learn more and apply here: https://www.rightsadvocacyproject.org/apply-for-rap