Sam, Gemma and Greg tackle the pressing questions - Can I return to Victoria after my from holiday? Are rent reductions still availabe? When do I need my face mask? And what about protesting? The team provides a quick update on changes to the law to date.

Su, Gemma and Daniel are joined by PhD candidate at the Australian National University and former Canberra Community Law solicitor, Radhika Chaudhri, to discuss new ways of ensuring Australian courts consider Economic Violence in a family violence context. We discuss new ways of using some old school legal ideas to get lawyers and judges thinking differently about this problem. We chat about mortgages, consumer contracts and other situations where women find themselves in crisis because of financial abuse.For the law nerds out there, the discussion is about the application of the equitable doctrine of undue influence to financial abuse cases in the Family Court and Supreme Courts. Radhika Chaudhri's research on this topic can be found published in the Australian Journal of Family Law in her article titled "Tackling financial abuse with the doctrine of undue influence". 

Many working in Community Legal Centres are still subject to workplace agreements which expired in 2009. Without change soon, already-low wages in the sector may stagnate, employees will continue to experience insecure work, and many passionate CLC lawyers may be hampered in pursuing systemic advocacy. Dylan Goldsworthy, Youth Lawyer from the Northern Community Legal Centre, joined us to discuss calls to revisit the CLC sector's workplace agreement.

Warning: this episode discusses the court process following reports of sexual violence or homicide as well as recent, well publicised sexually violent crimes which some listeners may find distressing.Nationally, many states have made changes to their laws to make sure victim/survivors of sexual assault can tell their stories, in their own words without court processes. However, proposed changes to the laws in Victoria have garnered criticism from victim/survivor advocates and groups, who consider these changes are regressive and put the power back in the hands of the accused. On the other hand, the Victims of Crime Commission thinks the government has got the balance right between a victim/survivor's right to privacy and their ability to self-identify. So what exactly is going on? Why have these laws become so divisive? We speak to Melbourne barrister Greg Bucchorn, who explains this complex legal landscape.

Su Robertson and Daniel Bavcevic interview Tiffany Overall (Advocacy and Human Rights Officer, Youthlaw) and Lloyd Murphy (Lawyer, Inner Melbourne Community Legal) about the community impact of COVID-19 fines and the worrying trend of internal reviews not being fairly considered by Victoria Police."It is troubling because the bottom line is, as community lawyers, we're not going to be giving advice to our clients to go through that process if we don't think there's any merit to their review." - Tiffany Overall (Youthlaw)In this episode we listen to reports of community legal service clients having internal reviews for COVID-19 infringements rejected. We hear about young people, people experiencing homelessness, suffering from mental illnesses or other vulnerable people who have had internal reviews rejected without detailed explanation of the reasons by Police.There are limited options after an unsuccessful internal review, it may lead to an Enforcement Review by the Government authority Fines Victoria. However, beyond that there is the possibility that the infringement is then sent to the Magistrates' Court of Victoria for determination. Su and Daniel ask whether there is a better alternative to the expensive infringements being issued, especially for young people and people experiencing or at risk of homelessness and whether this might cause an inundation of infringement related cases in the Magistrates' Court.  

Su and Greg spoke with Tanja Kovac, CEO of Gender Equity Victoria, about the recent passing of Ruth Baden Ginsburg and Susan Ryan who were both iconic feminist trailblazers, their legacies in championing for sex anti-discrimination laws - in the courtroom and in parliament - and the new Victorian Gender Equality Act.

In this episode of Done by Law, Ingrid and Marissa talk about Indigenous stories, and who owns them. They are joined by Tony Briggs, a Yorta Yorta/Wurundjeri (Woiwurrung) theatre & film practitioner, who is the creator and writer of feature film ‘The Sapphires’, which premiered at the Cannes Film Festival in 2012. ‘The Sapphires’ is Tony’s family’s story, and in this episode, he shares his experience of telling his story on screen and stage. Tony speaks passionately about the importance of Indigenous stories being told by the owners of those stories, not only as a matter of authentic story-telling, but also as a matter of human rights. As Tony says, regardless of the questions that are raised around the law, ‘Aboriginal people own Aboriginal stories’.Marissa and Ingrid are also joined by Robyn Ayres, Chief Executive Officer of the Arts Law Centre of Australia. Arts Law founded Artists in the Black under Robyn’s leadership, a service of Arts Law that is dedicated to providing legal assistance and advice to Australia’s Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists and communities. Robyn gives an interesting and engaging overview of Intellectual Property laws – ‘property of the mind’ – and the ways which mainstream intellectual property laws can be a poor form of protection for Indigenous stories and other art forms. Robyn talks about the concept of Indigenous Cultural and Intellectual Property, communal ownership, and the ways Indigenous people may seek to characterise ownership of art and stories outside of mainstream IP laws.

In this episode Sam Elkin interviews Gregor Husper from the Police Accountability Project about the disturbing incident of brutality during an arrest in Victoria this week.  

Consumer leadership and engagement will be crucial to successfully build a better and fairer mental health system in Victoria. Victoria Legal Aid recently completed a project, 'Your Story, Your Say', which allowed 34 people with lived experience to share their experience with the Mental Health Royal Commission. We spoke with the project's coordinator, Simon Katterl, about the important expert evidence the project was able to deliver. You can read more about the final report and recommendations here: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/about-us/news/your-story-your-say-experiences-of-mental-health-system

This evening we discussed where to find reliable legal information responding to COVID-19. This is especially important at the moment, when face to face community legal education delivery is not available or only available in a limited way, things are changing so fast and people are often unsure where to look and are relying on untrustworthy sources. We will also look at some resources specifically for young people.We were lucky to be joined by:Amala Ramarathinam, Senior Lawyer with YouthlawMark Tregonning, Community Legal Education Coordinator with Victoria Legal AidKirsten Young, Community Engagement Officer with Peninsula Community Legal CentreSummary of resources discussed:Legal information relating to COVID-19 across a number of areas of law Youthlaw's website for young people: http://youthlaw.asn.au/home/legal-issues-during-covid-19/Victoria Legal Aid's website: https://www.legalaid.vic.gov.au/find-legal-answers/covid-19-coronavirusJustice Connect's page dedicated to COVID-19 related legal information in the areas of tenancy, employment, financial troubles, accessing the courts and understanding the emergency powers: https://justiceconnect.org.au/help/covid19/Tenancy or housing problems during COVID-19Tenants Victoria’s website features up to date information about the impact of COVID-19 on tenants’ rights and responsibilities: https://www.tenantsvic.org.au/advice/coronavirus-covid-19/​​​​Employment problems during COVID-19JobWatch has some very helpful Q&A resources on their website answering questions about a number of common employment issues that have arisen as a result of COVID-19: http://jobwatch.org.au/. JobWatch also runs a free and confidential Telephone Information Service for workers in Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania from Monday to Friday from 9:00 am until 5:00 pm and until 8:30 pm every Wednesday evening. You can call 1800 331 617, Melbourne Time Applies.For international students struggling due to COVID-19Inner Melbourne Community Legal has developed a website containing legal information tailored to your needs in a number of languages: https://ishelp.org.au.For trouble paying bills or mounting debts due to COVID-19Consumer Action has a number of self-help resources on their website: www.consumeraction.org.au. or you can call the National Debt Helpline on 1800 007 007 Monday to Friday 9:30am to 4:30pm.If you have been fined during the pandemicPeninsula Community Legal Centre's Fines Work & Development Permit (WDP) app: https://melbournelaw.neotalogic.com/a/WDPFitzroy Legal Service operates a COVID-19 policing legal advice line: 0434 136 501 Monday to Friday 9am to 5pm. COVID-19 fines information will also shortly be available on Fitzroy Legal Service’s website: www.fitzroy-legal.org.au. Moonee Valley Legal Service’s Fine Fixer tool: www.finefixer.org.au.   If you have been stopped by police during the COVID-19 pandemic and want to know your rights or feel that police have done the wrong thing, you can access resources and make a report: https://covidpolicing.org.au/* All of these resources are for Victoria only unless specified otherwise. Current as at 25 August 2020.