People with Purpose: Brodie’s mission to make life fairer for people out west

Tell us about Great Southern Community Legal Services (GSCLS) and what you’re doing there.

GSCLS is one of 26 community legal services in Western Australia; 160-odd nationally. We work to improve access to justice for vulnerable people across our broad region through education, improving bad laws, and one-to-one advocacy and legal help. Last year we helped around 4000 people across a region of around 100,000 sq km.

How did you end up there, and why?

After graduating, my wife and I chose to move to Albany, the largest town in our region, and one of the most beautiful parts of the country. I started volunteering at GSCLS (then Albany Community Legal Centre) following work placements in community legal centres (CLCs) in Perth while I was studying.

Through 2016–17 I led GSCLS’s political advocacy, responding to funding cuts – around 40% of our funding was to be cut. My background in student politics held me in good stead here. Following this, with funding restored, the board asked me to join as business manager.

You’ve been involved in student politics. Is that a reflection of the fire in your belly about making the world a better place?

Undoubtedly. I cut my teeth in leadership in that sector, and it taught me some important lessons around the value of collaboration that I carry to this day. There are very few people, no matter how diverse their politics or worldviews, who don’t genuinely want to make the world a better place, and there’s almost always a way to bring people together.

What kind of difference do you think GSCLS makes?

We keep roofs over people’s heads when they come to us facing eviction. We keep families safe when they are faced with family violence. We help people with disabilities navigate and access services like Centrelink and NDIS, when they struggle to do so themselves. We keep older people safe from harm when they are targeted by scams or the insidious scourge of elder abuse. We empower people and communities to understand the legal system and how it works to improve the safety, security and wellbeing of diverse communities throughout our region.

At a higher level, we provide education and a range of supports for people that are vulnerable or disadvantaged because of a range of circumstances (finance, family and domestic violence, disability, housing insecurity) to ensure that our communities across the Great Southern region are resilient, confident and empowered to access their rights.

Tell us some of the rewards of doing this work.

We talk to many clients about the change in their lives when we finish up helping them. Their stories are vital and provide the energy needed to keep going. I won’t quote all of them – there are plenty in our annual reports.

One that comes to mind is our assistance of a single parent with young kids, following the death of their partner. We helped the parent to understand the process and access superannuation, and supported them to pay off their house. This helped keep the kids well-housed, in school, and safe, allowing the family to work through their grief without the additional risk of homelessness.

Disability advocacy is a significant part of your work. Why?

CLCs exist to address inequity of access to justice, and people with disabilities unfortunately experience increased inequity in this area.

We’ve done this for over 20 years in partnership with People With Disabilities WA, a peak disability-led organisation.

This model is proving successful, with three other regional CLCs adopting a similar approach in the last three years. We’re working hard to have face-to-face disability advocacy available across regional WA, but we need more government support.

I see you’ve recently changed the name of the organisation from the Albany Community Legal Centre. Why?

Albany is the biggest town in our region, with around 40,000 residents – however, our region is home to 100,000 people. Our service has been conducting services throughout the region, outside of Albany, since 1999. Our name change helps us catch up with the reality of services on the ground – and better reflect the 60% of our residents who don’t live here in Albany.

You’re also the chair of Community Legal WA. What are the biggest issues facing community legal centres?

The biggest and ongoing challenge in our sector is insecure and wildly insufficient federal and state funding.

In Western Australia, the main issue facing CLCs right now is resourcing – both money and people, and this is echoed around the country.

CLCs ­– like many not-for-profits – do a huge amount of work for very low cost. We leverage resources including committed staff, fantastic volunteers, and university and TAFE students, as well as dedicated board members, to deliver incredible value to our communities.

Yet our centre, and all CLCs in Western Australia, have had most of our funding delivered in short-term funding agreements (typically one year) since 2011. Alongside this, despite estimated savings for the court system of around $5 for every $1 invested, our services are turning away two in every three people that seek our help. Nationally, that’s around 1000 people a day.

This is all due to insufficient funding from governments for the work we do. Nationally our services deliver legal and related help to over 180,000 people a year, but turn away more than we help. This puts strain on Australia’s court system, because court users without legal help cost significantly more in court resources, and they don’t receive just outcomes (court users without representation, on average, fare worse through the process).