Community Justice Services SA is pleased to have received funding from the State Attorney-General’s Department to continue the Bushfire Community Legal Program’s work, and the expand the service to cover South Australian natural disasters, currently until June 2024.
The Disaster Legal Support Program (DLSP) is the evolution of the Bushfire Community Legal Program.
Community Justice Services SA is pleased to have received funding from the State Attorney-General’s Department to continue the Bushfire Community Legal Program’s work, and to expand the service to allow us to support South Australians experiencing natural disasters (currently until June 2024).
We hope to continue to assist South Australian communities at all stages of the Disaster Management Cycle (Prevention, Preparedness, Response, Recovery, “PPRN”) including by:
Empowering high-risk communities with up to date legal information and advice.
Travelling within SA regions to attend local events, listen and contribute at disaster planning and recovery meetings and build relationships with the State’s disaster management stakeholders.
Staying up to date with the unique needs and concerns of regional locals, learn from emergency services and other emergency management experts and make genuine and lasting connections to disaster-impacted communities across South Australia.
Mobilising solicitors and support staff as “boots on the ground” in the response and recovery stage to offer legal assistance in the event of a disaster.
The DLSP is the evolution of the award-winning Bushfire Community Legal Program, which first commenced as a project in 2020 in response to the catastrophic 2019/2020 Black Summer Bushfires. For its first 18 months, the BCLP was delivered by Community Legal Centres SA, in collaboration with the Legal Services Commission SA, and served the Kangaroo Island, Yorketown and Adelaide Hills communities. The BCLP has been funded by the Commonwealth Government.
CLCSA Chair: Catherine McMorrine, Legal Officer: Holly McCoy and Project Officer: Ippei Okazaki receive the Australian Institute for Disaster Resilience Community Project Award SA 2021 from Minister Tarzia. Photo Credit: The IslanderBCLP’s Legal Officer: Holly McCoy, with LSC’s Legal Officer: Gareth Williams, Flinders Legal Clinic Director: Jo Milne and Flinders University students on a Yorke Peninsula Outreach. Photo: Supplied
BCLP’s Legal Officer, Holly McCoy, at the Humans of Kangaroo Island Film & Literature Festival with organiser, Sabrina Davis. Photo Credit: The IslanderYacca Regrowth in burnt roadside vegetation on Kangaroo Island. Photo: Supplied
Climate and Sustainability Policy Research Group (CASPR) Evaluation of BCLP 2020/2021
Towards the end of 2021, CASPR undertook a thorough evaluation of the BCLP’s first 18 months of service delivery. The BCLP is pleased with the findings of the evaluation and is looking forward to implementing a number of the recommendations over the course of the next 18 months. In particular, we are happy with the evaluation’s findings that:
“There is much to be commended in the pilot project’s design and implementation. The project meets all of the service characteristics requirements of international best practice. It also displays all the required core service features of the international best practice benchmark”
(CASPR) Evaluation of BCLP 2020/2021
The BCLP wishes to thank CASPR for their work, commendations, and recommendations and, most importantly, we thank the service providers and community members who generously volunteered their time and feedback to CASPR for the purpose of the evaluation.
A copy of the report can be accessed here. To connect with DLSP in your community, including any community legal education we are providing, or to receive general information and tips, follow the DLSP Facebook Page.