Legal Services in Rural Communities: Issues for Clients and Lawyers

See Rawsthorne's Margot article in this issue.

In 1994–1995, Jennifer completed a consultancy on gender bias in the civil litigation system in the region for the NSW Ministry for the Status and Advancement for Women (1994–1995).

Keogh L. and Nielsen J. , A Model Assessment Practice for CLE in RRR Areas, Southern Cross University, Lismore, 2001.

The program is a partnership between Griffith University Law School and Caxton Legal Centre. The program, funded by the Federal Attorney-General's Department, is delivered using the facilities of Learning Network Queensland.

See Nic Economou's article in this issue. Collits P. , ‘Small Town Decline and Survival: Trends, Success Factors and Policy Issues’, paper presented to the ‘Future of Australia's Country Towns’ Conference at La Trobe University, Bendigo, June 2000; Jeffreys H. and Munn P. , ‘Tumby Bay — Through Crisis to Coping: An Integrated Community Development Approach for Managing Change’ (1996) 6 (1) Rural Society 3.

Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, ‘The Justice Statement’, Canberra, 1995, p.11.

Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, ref. 6, above, p.79.

Commonwealth Attorney-General's Department, ref. 6, above, p.79.

Giddings J. , ‘Worth the Wait for Justice Reform?’ (1996) April Legal Action, 8.

The national representative body for the State and Territory-based legal aid commissions.

National Legal Aid, ‘Meeting Tomorrow's Needs on Yesterday's Budget: The Undercapacity of Legal Aid in Australia’, 1994.

View expressed by Mary Anne Noone to the Senate Legal and Constitutional References Committee, Inquiry into the Australian Legal Aid System: Second Report, June 1997, p.20.

Dewar J. Giddings J. and Parker S. , ‘The Impact of Legal Aid Changes on Family Law Practice’, (1999) 13 Australian Journal of Family Law 33; Giddings J. Dewar J. and Parker S. , ‘Being Expected To Do More With Less: Criminal Law Legal Aid in Queensland’, (1999) 23 Criminal Law Journal 69.

Williams D. , 9 May 2000, ‘Legal Aid Funding Boost’, accessed at <http://law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/2000newsag/legalaid_00.htm>. For an example of the politicised nature of the legal aid issue in Australia, see Williams D. , 11 May 2000, ‘Labor and Democrats Mislead on Legal Aid’, accessed at <http://law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/1998newsag/508_98.htm>.

Williams D. , 17 December 1998, ‘Making Community Legal Services More Accessible to South Australians’, accessed at <http://law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/1998newsag/508_98.htm>.

Kimberley and South West regions of Western Australia, the Iron Triangle region of South Australia, the Centre-West region of Queensland, the New South Wales South Coast and the cross-border region of New South Wales and Victoria centred in Albury-Wodonga.

Williams D. , 11 May 1999, ‘National Family Law Telecommunication Advice and Information Service’, accessed at <http://law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/1999newsag/telephone_99.htm>.

Far West of New South Wales, Gippsland in Victoria, the Goldfields region of Western Australia and the South East and Riverland regions of South Australia. See Williams D. , 7 February 2000, ‘Community Legal Services Boosted in Regional and Rural Australia’, accessed at <http://law.gov.au/aghome/agnews/2000newsag/68900.htm>.

See the Committee's website at <http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform/Legal_Services_Inquiry/default.htm>.

Hunter R. , Family Law Case Profiles, Justice Research Centre, 1999, p.xiv.

See the Report of the Community Well-being and Lifestyle Working Group of the Regional Australia Summit, October 1999, especially Key Priority 2, accessed at <http://www.dotrs.gov.au/regional/summit/outcomes/reports/theme4_report.htm>.

See for example NSW Ministry for the Status and Advancement of Women, Dubay Jahli: Aboriginal Women and the Law Report, NSW MSAW, Sydney, 1994; Women's Legal Resources Centre, Women Out West, WLRC, Sydney, 1992.

‘Man arrested over Casino incident’, Northern Star, Friday, 6 April 2001, p.2.

Domestic Violence in Regional Australia — A Literature Review, June 2000. Accessed at <http://www.dotrs.gov.au/rural/women/index.htm>.

See Nielsen J. , Gender Bias in the Civil Litigation System and its impact on Women as Civil Litigants in NSW: Northern Rivers Region, Southern Cross University, Lismore, 1995.

See Australian Law Reform Commission, Equality Before the Law: Justice for Women, Report No 69, Part II, AGPS, 1994, ch 11.

See Angela Pollard's discussion in this issue, in Briefs, ‘Activism in local communities’.

See the Report of the Community Well-being and Lifestyle Working Group of the Regional Australia Summit, October 1999, especially Key Priority 1, accessed at <http://www.dotrs.gov.au/regional/summit/outcomes/reports/theme4_report.htm>.

See Dewar and others and Giddings and others, ref 13, above.

Nielsen , ref 25, above, p.39.

ALRC, Managing Justice: A review of the federal civil justice system, Report No 89, 2000, <http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/other/alrc/publications/reports/89/>, Chapter 5, paras [5.76]–[5.80].

Nielsen , ref 25, above, p.38.

Schetzer Louis , National Children's and Youth Law Centre, Submission to the Victorian Law Reform Committee, Inquiry into Legal Services in Regional and Rural Victoria, 13 June 2000, <http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform/LegalServices_Inquiry/default.htm>, 19 June 2001.

Camilleri, Margaret, Central Highlands Community Legal Centre, Submission to the Victorian Law Reform Committee, 27 April 2000, <http://www.parliament.vic.gov.au/lawreform/Legal_Services_Inquiry/default.htm> 19 June 2001.

See the article by Lawler Merran in this issue.

See the article by Pereira Cathy in this issue.

Nielsen , ref 25, above, p.32.

Chestnutt B. , ‘A Country Practice’, (1999) 26(4) Brief, 5.

Faine J. , Lawyers in the Alice: Aboriginals and Whitefellas' Law, Federation Press, 1993.

Blacksell M. Econimides K. and Watkins C. , Justice Outside the City: Access to Legal Services in Rural Britain, Longman Scientific and Technical, 1991, p.4.

Hardy S. , ‘Online Mediation: Internet Dispute Resolution’, (1998) 9(3) Australian Dispute Resolution Journal 216.

Lauw I. , ‘Specialisation, Accreditation and the Legal Profession in Australia and Canada’, (1994) 1(2) E Law 1–27, Horan J. , ‘Increased Risk for Specialist Legal Practitioners’ (1999) 73(1) Law Institute Journal 55.

Macdonald I. , ‘Country Lawyers and Their Problems’, (1979) 53 Australian Law Journal 385.

Macdonald , ref 43, above, p.404.

Lamb D. in Legal Ethics and Legal Practice: Contemporary Issues, Parker and Sampford , (eds) 1995, p.225.

Hunter R. , ref 20, above, p.71.

van Moorst E. , Access Issues for Rural/Regional Victoria, April 2000, 3.

The Women's Justice Network is a service operated by Legal Aid Queensland providing legal services to 17 towns in South West Queensland using computer video conferencing. See <http://www.wjn.legalaid.qld.gov.au/>. The Western Queensland Justice Network (WQJN) is a Community Legal Service operated by Legal Aid Queensland connecting Rural and Indigenous Communities to legal information and advice through video conferencing technology. WQJN has video conferencing facilities in nine community organisations throughout Central West Queensland. See http://www.wqjn.legalaid.qld.gov.au/ For the past two years, federal government support has enabled Griffith University Law School and Caxton Legal Centre to work with Learning Network Queensland to deliver a Family Law Advice Service to Hervey Bay and Tara using audio-graphics conferencing. See Giddings J. and Hook B. , ‘A Little TLC for the Bush’, paper delivered at the International Open Learning Conference, Brisbane, 5 December 2000.