This episode Jimi and Britt chat with Rosie Heselev from About Time Media who publish a fantastic newspaper written almost entirely by incarcerated people called About Time. Rosie is the Managing Director of About Time. She previously worked as a lawyer at Fitzroy Legal Service and the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service. She’s also DBL alumni.This episode, Rosie shares some history on About Time, and reads some letters and articles from recent issues.You can read About Time at the website: https://www.abouttime.org.au/    

Jimi is joined by Eric Hayward to unpack his submission, on behalf of the West Australian Greens First Nations Committee, to the Senate Standing Committee on Australia’s Youth Justice and Incarceration System; an ongoing inquiry which is due for final report in February 2025. Eric  is an experienced and passionate social justice advocate and agent of change, with decades of experience in law & education. He is currently a Law School Guest Lecturer and confirmed PhD candidate at the University of Western Australia. Eric was the first Noongar to complete a UWA Law Degree in 1991 and was awarded the WA NAIDOC Aboriginal student of the year. After working as a WA and Federal public servant, Eric graduated from Edith Cowan University to work as a primary school teacher in difficult to staff schools throughout regional Western Australia from 2003-2018. Eric has since re-entered the legal profession as a Solicitor in a variety of roles. His highlights included delivering community legal education to school aged students in the South West, using Legal Aid’s  R U Legal? Program.Eric is a father of six children and two grandchildren, with Noongar family connections to the South Coast and Great Southern Forest in Western Australia. He is recognised as an Elder, by the South West Aboriginal Land and Sea Council.Join the campaign to #RaiseTheAge at https://raisetheage.org.au/

Jimi and Aurora are joined by barrister Adam Chernok from Melbourne Activist Legal Service. They discuss legal protections for activists and police powers in light of the recent Disrupt Land Forces anti-war protests.

Community Legal Centres or CLCs have formed a critical part of Australia’s legal assistance landscape since before the state legal aid offices even existed. Yet they regularly have had to battle for sufficient funding to continue to provide their important community embedded services.As CLCs once again enter a funding crisis, we chat with CEO Louisa Gibbs from Victorian peak body, the Federation of Community Legal Centres, about this and the national #SaveCommunityLegalCentres campaign. For more information, see: https://www.savecommunitylegalcentres.com/take-action. 

Jimi is joined by Afifeh Saeidavi, an Iranian Arab woman who came to Australia in 2012 with her family. Afifeh is one of more than 10,000 refugees who have been ignored and left in indefinite limbo for over 10 years due to Australia's failed 'fast track' system. For the last 51 days, refugees have been campaigning 24/7 for permanent visas through protests and encampments outside the offices of former immigration Minister Claire O’Neil and more recently the Department of Home Affairs in Docklands, as well as in other cities across the country. These protests call for an end to the limbo faced by thousands of asylum seekers in Australia. Afifeh gives an insight of her experience of the protests so far, as well as the suffering caused by the fast track system.   

On this episode, Aurora & Jimi are joined by Amity Mara, Manager of Policy in the Social Action and Public Interest Law team at Fitzroy Legal Service. Amity joins us to discuss drug driving offences for medical cannabis patients. Under current Victorian law, someone can be found guilty of drug driving by having trace amounts of tetrahydrocannabinol chemicals in their system while driving, despite having a legal prescription and not being impaired by the drug. Fitzroy Legal Service argues this law is discriminatory. They believe everybody deserves to be able to take their prescribed medication without fear of unfair punishment. Tune in to see the law reform Fitzroy Legal Service and others are pushing for in this space. Fitzroy Legal Service are able to asisst with legal matters relating to today's topic. See more at their website: www.fls.org.au

 We’re talking about the Dingo! Aurora & Jimi are joined by Mera Sivanesan from Environmental Justice Australia to discuss the cultural and ecological significance of dingoes, and the efforts EJA are undertaking to protect them. 

On this episode, we speak with Laura Dreyfus and Danya Jacobs of the Ecosystem team from Environmental Justice Australia. Among many legal battles, they are currently putting their efforts into assisting the Dungallaba Kulumbirigin clan of the Larrakia people in the fight to protect their country from a large development project at Binybara, also known as Lee Point north of Darwin - a place of both cultural and environmental significance. Laura Dreyfus is a lawyer at Environmental Justice Australia who works with communities in the Northern Territory to protect nature and advocate for stronger legal protections for our ecosystems. Before joining EJA, Laura worked as a civil lawyer at the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency in the Northern Territory and as a medical negligence lawyer at a plaintiff law firm in Melbourne. Laura holds a Juris Doctor (Hons) and Bachelor of Arts (Hons).Danya Jacobs also joins us in the studio. Danya is a skilled litigator, advisor and legal commentator who focuses on protecting biodiversity and halting the extinction crisis. She collaborates with environment groups to bring novel litigation that improves law through precedent and protects nature from logging, land clearing and mining. Danya manages complex litigation in the Supreme and Federal Courts, speaks and writes on biodiversity law, and advocates for legal change. In 2022, Danya was awarded the Law Council of Australia’s Mahla Pearlman Young Environmental Lawyer of the Year.  To find out more, go to: https://envirojustice.org.au/

***A warning to our listeners, this episode discusses family violence, family violence intervention orders, and gendered violence.*** This week Northern Community Legal Centre released two research reports examining the use of different online technologies in the family violence intervention order process. To discuss the reports and their findings we are joined by Northern Community Legal Centre’s, Partnerships & Community Development Manager, Tania McKenna. Regarding language we will be talking about women who have experienced family violence and referring to them as victim/survivors acknowledging there are different preferences for women.You can find out more about the Northern Community Legal Centre here: https://www.northernclc.org.au/.

Jimi & Liz are joined by Jo Parkin & Shifrah Blustein of the Infringements Working Group to give us the lay of the legal land for those finding themselves in a sticky situation when it comes to fines and infringements.  A community legal centre or financial counsellor may be able to help you with your fines, especially if you have multiple fines and you have an experience of family violence, homelessness, mental health issues or disability, or drug and alcohol misuse.Find your local community legal centre: https://www.fclc.org.au/find_a_community_legal_centreFind your local financial counsellor: 1800 007 007 Information about the fines system that may help you self-manage your fine is available here:Law HandbookJustice Connect Homeless Law

Co-hosts Jimi & Lizzie are joined by Jess de Vries, Director of Legal Services at Women's Legal Service Victoria, to discuss a number of the incredible efforts undertaken by the WLSV team across the State. Whether discussing family law, criminal law, VOCAT, child protection or social work, Jess provides some fascinating insights into what her team are doing to support some of Victoria's most vulnerable communities.