By Cam Lucadou-Wells
After 42 years of free legal advice and advocacy, Casey-Cardinia Community Legal Service (CCCLS) has received its final sentence.
The office in Claredale Street, Dandenong reluctantly closes its doors on Friday 29 March after Victoria Legal Aid discontinued the service’s $800,000 annual funding.
The funds will be reallocated to Springvale-Monash Legal Service and Peninsula Community Legal Centre, which has a branch in Cranbourne.
Over the past 12 months, the service went through a course of renewal as the VLA ordered an independent review into the service.
The CCCLS’s long-serving coordinator Vera Hardiman departed and board members with more diverse skills were appointed. It was set to move into larger premises in Hallam.
Acting coordinator Carolyn Tadross believed the service had sufficiently rebutted the VLA’s “governance” concerns.
“The (independent) reviews were not so damning that it would justify stopping our funding.”
The CCCLS tended to be less “political” and “vocal” than other services that were part of the Federation of Community Legal Centres (Victoria), Ms Tadross said. It was more of a “hands-on” service.
“I think (the decision) was based on politics. It was not an issue of mismanagement of money,” she said.
“It was a case of not keeping up with the Joneses.”
Jan Little, a volunteer board member for much of the service’s 42 years, says she feels “traumatised”.
“It’s the people that have made it special.
“It’s one of those places where the staff felt like family to each other.”
It started as Doveton Legal Service – a free legal advice service from Monash University law students on Thursday nights.
It expanded to the community health service offices in Power Road Doveton, then to a nearby former dentist surgery and finally the current offices.
After the law students stopped coming, local lawyers volunteered to continue the Thursday night advice sessions.
It has also long provided free casework for eligible clients in the suburb of Dandenong, City of Casey and Cardinia Shire.
More than 9000 cases of community legal advice were provided last year.
“It’s difficult to believe there’s not going to be that same legal representation for Casey-Cardinia,” Ms Little said.
“Hopefully we’ve left a good footprint, and people won’t forget it in a hurry.”
Victoria Legal Aid administers funding for most of the state’s community legal centres, as well as monitoring the centre’s service targets.
“The decision to reallocate the funding is about improving access to legal services in the region and ensuring the best services are available to the community,” VLA chief executive Louise Glanville said.
“There will be no loss of funding to the region.
“Both centres (Springvale-Monash and Peninsula legal centres) have a long history of providing services to the local area.”
CCCLS’s clients are being connected to other legal support and services, she said.
VLA also provides legal services in its Dandenong and Frankston offices, as well as its help-line.
