Aboriginal women speaking out about violence : is anyone listening? Reflections of Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women's Legal Centre

Description

Warringa Baiya is a facility that specialised in providing legal information, advice, casework, education and advocacy for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women and children who are, or have been, victims of violence in NSW. This article serves as a reflection on how the facility came into being via the actions of lobbyist groups, meetings between Indigenous people and actions of the Government. Despite doubling the number of employees on hand the centre is still understaffed, and the authors believe there are still doubts about the genuine needs of Indigenous women and children to have a dedicated and culturally appropriate legal service. The three core areas of service provision and general centre operations are discussed, as are their other initiatives. These activities are tied back to points regarding the lack of funding and community perceptions. Some statistical data is given from a separate report to give weight to the argument for the need of culturally specific programs. Warringa Baiya has contributed to several law reform issues in State and Federal levels and these efforts are briefly outlined, using the context of cultural relevance.

Copyright Information

This document has been sourced from the Indigenous Law Bulletin, previously known as the Aboriginal Law Bulletin, database published on Austlii (http://www.austlii.edu.au/au/journals/IndigLawB/). AustLII advises that it is not the copyright owner of the source documents published on AustLII and is not able to give permission for reproduction of those source documents (refer copyright policy disclaimer dated October 2010). Queries about copyright should be referred to the publisher - the Indigenous Law Centre and the University of New South Wales.