Legal SUPPORT

Our legal service works with Aboriginal women* who are experiencing or who have experienced family violence.

Djirra’s legal service can provide you with one-off legal advice or ongoing representation. Accessing our legal service is free of charge.

One-off legal advice: allows you to discuss your options before doing anything further.

Ongoing legal representation: is when we open a file and work with you over a longer period, including representation in court, if necessary.

We can assist you with legal issues about:

Intervention Orders
Family Law (parenting matters)
Child Protection
Financial Assistance Scheme

Alongside legal assistance, our non-legal support is provided by Paralegal Support Workers and includes:

Emotional support throughout the legal matter;
Court support;
Attending external meetings;
Support with dealing with police;
Support with compliance of Court Orders; and
Warm referrals (i.e. housing, family violence services, mental health services).

We can also assist you to connect with other Djirra services and programs that may support your wellbeing, including counselling, individual case management, cultural and wellbeing workshops and Koori Women’s Place.

You are welcome to freecall Djirra’s Legal Team on 1800 105 303 (1800 DJIRRA) to talk about your legal matter. We are available Monday to Friday from 9am-5pm. If we can’t assist you, we will refer you to another legal service who can.

*Aboriginal women and their children, sistergirls, brotherboys, trans and gender diverse people, non-binary, intersex and queer folk who identify as women, or who feel comfortable accessing a women’s service. While Djirra does not provide services to Aboriginal men, we will always provide warm referrals to culturally safe services.

When you first contact Djirra, you will speak to one of our paralegal support workers.

They will ask you for personal information and check our systems to ensure our lawyers can assist you.

Djirra will:

Make it easy for you to contact us
Help you access the right service
Obtain your consent
Help you with a referral elsewhere if needed
Listen without judgement
Explain things clearly
Help you make informed decisions
Respect your choices
Do what we say we will do
Be honest, ethical and professional at all times
Respect your privacy
Protect your personal information
Tell you about your rights and responsibilities
Tell you how to make a complaint

Sometimes Djirra’s Legal Service will not be able to assist you with legal advice or open an ongoing matter because of something called ‘conflict of interest’.

Our legal team is required by law to avoid actual and perceived conflicts of interest between people seeking our assistance and former clients, Djirra staff, volunteers or Board members.

This rule applies to all lawyers and legal services in Australia and Djirra’s Legal Service must comply with it.

If an actual or perceived conflict of interest arises, Djirra may not be able to provide you with legal assistance.

Djirra recognises the importance of, and is committed to protecting and upholding, the privacy and rights of every individual we deal with, in relation to their personal information.

Djirra may collect personal and sensitive information (such as health or legal information) when it is necessary to assess eligibility, provide legal and non legal services, offer tailored support, carry out advocacy, research, education, outreach, and to manage our operations. While people can interact anonymously in limited situations (such as browsing the website or making general enquiries), anonymity is usually not possible for legal services due to ethical obligations.

Read our Privacy Policy on how Djirra collects, uses, discloses and otherwise handles personal information.

You have the right to a high standard of legal advice and support, to be treated with courtesy, respect and dignity at all times.

You have the right to be culturally safe, listened to, and to ask questions about anything you don’t understand.

You also have the right to a legal service that is always honest, ethical and professional.

You have the right to make a complaint or give feedback about the service and to have this complaint dealt with appropriately.

Download a brochure (.pdf): My Rights at Djirra’s Aboriginal Family Violence Legal Service.

You also have specific rights when it comes to sharing your information.

You have the right to:

Give or withhold client consent - this determines which information can be shared, with whom and for what purpose
Privacy and confidentiality in accordance with relevant laws.

If you are unhappy with any part of our service, please contact Djirra first so that we can do our best to resolve your complaint as quickly as possible. You can choose to speak to a staff member, provide feedback though our website, email complaints@djirra.org.au, or complete a written complaint form.

Djirra will always try to resolve your complaint fairly and as quickly as possible. We will acknowledge receipt of your complaint within two days and let you know next steps, including the expected timeframes.

We’ll keep you informed about our progress and will advise you of the outcome in writing. If you are not satisfied with our response, you can have the complaint reviewed by Djirra’s CEO.

You will receive written advice of the outcome of this review. If you are still not satisfied with the outcome, Djirra can refer you to an external complaint handling organisation which can investigate the matter further.

You can make a complaint about Djirra’s Legal Service to the Victorian Legal Service Board & Commissioner via 1300 796 344.

You can make a complaint about Use of Client Information to the Victorian Information Commissioner via 1300 006 842.

View our complaints policy here (.pdf)

If you have been a victim of crime, and Djirra has acted for you in any matter, Victoria has a Victims’ Charter that sets out how victims should be treated by everyone handling a case.

This includes police, the courts, the Office of Public Prosecutions and victim support agencies including Djirra.

The charter includes a complaints process. Visit the Victims of Crime Commission website for more information.

You can make a complaint to the Victims of Crime Commissioner via Freecall 1800 010 017 or email enquiries@vocc.vic.gov.au.

Djirra provides legal services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women at Dame Phyllis Frost Centre and HM Prison Tarrengower through our Prison Support Program. This program includes lawyers and paralegal support workers who support women in prison and post-release. We provide legal advice in the areas of Child Protection, Family Violence, Family Law and Victims of Crime Assistance. We can also link women to other culturally appropriate services and programs as needed.

Djirra’s legal work in these settings focuses on the areas of Child Protection, Family Violence Intervention Orders, Family Law and Victims of Crime Assistance.

To access Djirra’s legal services or to make a referral call 1800 DJIRRA (1800 354 772) or email: info.afvls@djirra.org.au.

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