In the past financial year, CHCLC has been involved in a variety of interesting and diverse community legal education projects across the Grampians region.
In recognition of the high rates of family violence, including cases seen at the Magistrates Court, we identified a need to assist workers in the family violence space; to enable a better understanding of the laws concerning intervention orders, breaches, contests and the interplay between state IVOs and federal family law jurisdictions. In conjunction with the local Victoria Police Family Violence Unit, we developed a two hour training session to explain the system and its complexities. We are grateful to WRISC for their feedback and participation in the program which has allowed us to hone in on the most useful and relevant areas of law that crisis workers contend with. Whilst there has been an increase in public awareness of family violence in our community and media, we are also aware that people in the community may not completely understand what defines family violence, particularly concerning financial and emotional abuse. We have subsequently developed and trialled some CLE sessions designed to provide clear definitions of family violence and how they can identify and seek assistance for themselves or their loved ones.
In the past 12 months, we have forged some very strong partnerships with educational facilities across Ballarat. Specific areas of interest for schools have been sexting, cyber bullying and, in older year levels, age of consent for sex and sexual activity. Throughout the year we have spoken to over 1,000 students about their rights and responsibilities and have engaged in some very thought provoking discussions. Other areas of interest have been in understanding the legal system, fines and street laws.
We were fortunate to be involved in the Daylesford Secondary College presentation of You The Man, organised by Hepburn Health. The presentation is a one man play, with some very challenging subject matter concerning dating violence and bystander action. The following discussion panel provided an excellent opportunity to answer student questions about violence, age of consent and sexting. Our involvement in the panel for Chatroom, a play about cyber bullying by Mad Swan Productions, was another opportunity to work with a variety of organisations to engage with young people in knowing their online responsibilities. We are planning, and looking forward to participating in future panels.
Ongoing CLE continues across our core area of life planning. We have spoken to a number of groups across the region, including Probus, Ballarat Hospice Care, Senior Citizens and prisoners at HM Langi Kal Kal. The introduction of new powers of attorney laws in September 2015 have been an area of interest for many older citizens, as has been the subsequent availability of Take Control booklets.
We look forward to another productive, community driven CLE program for 2016/2017.