The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service (VALS), alongside Victoria Legal Aid and the Law Institute of Victoria, is proud to announce the launch of a landmark initiative to improve the experiences of First Nations peoples seeking legal advice and representation in Victoria.
This initiative is a major step towards long-term, meaningful change in the legal sector for First Nations communities. It highlights the essential knowledge, attitudes and skills that legal practitioners need in order to work in a culturally responsive and empowering way. The First Nations Cultural Capability Framework is tailored specifically for the legal profession and provides the foundation for a necessary uplift in cultural capability.
Read and download the First Nations Cultural Capability Framework for the Victorian Legal Profession
Background
It is well established that First Nations peoples in Victoria frequently experience inadequate interactions with legal practitioners, organisations, and the justice system, and that this lack of culturally appropriate and responsive advocacy and support often translates to poor outcomes. The stark overrepresentation of First Nations peoples being incarcerated continues to grow, as does the number of First Nations children in out of home care.
Recognition of the need for the Framework emerged out of the Coronial Inquest into the tragic and preventable death of Aboriginal woman, Veronica Marie Nelson. Ms. Nelson, a Gunditjmara, Dja Dja Wurrung, Wiradjuri and Yorta Yorta woman, was found dead on the concrete floor of her cell in Melbourne’s Dame Phyllis Frost Centre on 2 January 2020, three days after being taken into custody. She had been refused bail for shoplifting. She was 37 years old. Coroner Simon McGregor found that Ms. Nelson’s legal representation was inadequate, falling short of the standard expected. She was unrepresented in her bail application. Along with bail reform and more Aboriginal people working in the justice system, Coroner McGregor urged cultural awareness education and training become mandatory for Victorian lawyers through continuing professional development and practical legal training. A First Nations Cultural Capability Framework for the legal sector in Victoria is needed for several reasons:
- First Nations peoples in Australia are a sovereign people with unique rights, as recognised in the United Nations Declaration of the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. They occupy a unique position accordingly, that is not equivalent to that of other culturally and linguistically diverse groups within Australia.
- Victorian and Australian law have been fundamental to the historical colonial oppression and dispossession of First Nations peoples. Notwithstanding the good intentions of many, the legal and justice systems uniquely target First Nations peoples, creating and perpetuating inequities and harm.
- Culturally accessible, safe, and responsive legal services play a key role in reducing disadvantage and strengthening the justice equity outcomes experienced by First Nations peoples.
This Framework is a component of a broader project called the First Nations Cultural Capability Uplift Project.
Acknowledgements
We, the partners of the First Nations Cultural Capability Uplift project, acknowledge the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people as the First Peoples and Traditional Owners and custodians of the land, skies and waterways upon which our lives depend. We acknowledge and pay our respects to ancestors of this country, Elders, knowledge holders and leaders – past, present, and emerging. We recognise that First Nations peoples frequently experience inadequate interactions with legal practitioners, organisations, and the justice system, and that this lack of culturally appropriate and responsive advocacy and support often translates to poor outcomes. We acknowledge the ongoing leadership of Aboriginal communities and ACCOs in striving to improve justice outcomes and address these perpetual and ongoing inequalities.
© All artwork copyrights are reserved to artist, Reanna Bono (Wemba Wemba & Wiradjuri).