Done By Law

Boni & Jimi are joined by the Honourable Anthony North KC and Eve Gallagher of the Victorian Law Reform Commission and Belinda Lo of Eastern Community Legal Centre to discuss the Commission's Inquiry into Legal Privilege and Integrated Legal Assistance Services. Tune in to find out how the Commission and the legal sector are navigating this complex area of policy, ethics and legal duties in order...

Madeleine Howle joins Jimi and Boni on the show to chat about the recent changes that have been made to whistleblower protections under the National Disability Insurance Scheme. Madaeleine is a lawyer at the Human Rights Law Centre and works in their Whistleblower Project team. Madeleine talks us through what has changed under the new laws, and what further changes are needed to better protect peo...

An interview with Zana Bytheway of Jobwatch about their telephone advice and casework service assisting Victorians with employment law issues 

Boni is joined by Clare, Serena and Ella who are all lawyers from the Wirraway Practice at the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service to talk about police and prison accountability work, and what they are seeing on the ground as Victoria’s bail laws get tougher. Wirraway is a Wurundjeri word meaning ‘challenge’. The Wirraway Practice provides free legal help to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander cl...

Sam Sowerwine and Miles Browne join Boni on the show to talk about NDIS reform. Sam is the Associate Director and Miles the Managing Lawyer of the Economic and Social Rights Program at Victoria Legal Aid. Sam and Miles helpfully run us through the recent changes to the scheme, the reason behind these changes and the concerns raised by advocates about the impact this reform will have on people with...

Sarah Sacher joins Jimi and Boni to talk about a recent report published by the Human Technology Institute on the use of tech-enabled sureveillance tools, including AI, in the workplace.  Sarah is a Senior Responsible Techonology Policy Specialist at the Human Technology Institute and works on influencing technology policy and law reform through a human rights lens.  Sarah discusses the current st...

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 researc...

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 discu...

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...

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 Victori...

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 Don...

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 a...

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 liv...

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 i...

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...

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 a...

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, a...

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 m...

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 pol...

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,...

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 & edu...

Jimi and Aurora are joined by barrister Adam Chernok 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...

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 for...

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...