Done By Law

Jimi and Boni sit down with Eric Hayward, a Wudjari/Kaneang Noongar Elder, Historian at the University of Western Australia, and Truth Teller about Western Australia's Black colonial history.Eric discusses his reflections on Invasion Day, and whether recent processes in Victoria of Truth Telling and Treaty are translatable to the Western end of the continent.To find out more about Eric's research and advocacy work, head to: http://noongarboodjarjustice.com/

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

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

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 ref

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 regulatio

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

Jimi is joined by Sanmati Verma, Principal Lawyer of Human Rights Law Centre, to discuss recent developments in migration law in Australia and the harsh legislative regimes imposed upon refugees, asylum seekers and stateless peoples in this country. Sanmati and her team at the Human Rights Law Centre have been at the forefront of this space and are eager to share with our listeners the radical policies being implemented in our own backyard. Sanmati Verma joined the Human Rights Law Centre in 2022 to lead the Centre’s work upholding the rights of people who migrate and seek asylum. She is an LIV accredited specialist in immigration law and has worked exclusively in the area for over a decade. Sanmati also works as an advisor to the United Workers Union, serves on the board of the Migrant Workers Centre and is the deputy chair of the national Visa Cancellation Working Group. 

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 stud

Jimi and Aurora are joined by barrister Adam Chernock 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.