Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Minister for Indigenous Affairs) Share this | Link to this | Hansard source

Recently I had the opportunity to attend the seventh anniversary of The Advocacy and Support Centre—TASC—branch in Ipswich. Its origins were in Toowoomba. I was at its opening about seven years ago as a new federal MP. Also present were the Ipswich Mayor, Paul Pisasale, the state MP for Ipswich, Jennifer Howard, and the state MP for Ipswich West, Jim Madden. During the occasion I met with Philippa Whitman, the Chief Executive Officer, and staff and members of the community who benefit from these services.

TASC is doing a great job in Ipswich, and it aims to achieve social justice for all. It provides free legal, advocacy and social services. Its services especially focus on helping the vulnerable and marginalised members of the Ipswich and West Moreton community. TASC provides important services through its Ipswich Community Legal Services. It provides free consultation, advice and casework in most matters of civil and family law, and it plays more than its fair share in equalising the power imbalance between litigants in court proceedings in Ipswich and across the region.

The service allows clients to have access to lawyers who can explain their legal rights and obligations, and it lets clients make the right step in relation to their legal problems. They put a strong emphasis on mediation and reconciliation. For example, the Ipswich Community Legal Service provides free advice on neighbourhood disputes—fencing and tree disputes, noise and nuisance disputes, debt disputes, parenting issues, consumer disputes and many more.

I am very impressed with the work they do. We refer people to TASC from my office on a regular basis. Their work with seniors in the Ipswich region has been tremendous in improving the safety, security and wellbeing of seniors. Some of the areas of the service they undertake include advice on aged care facility entry contracts, counselling and referral, advocacy and legal information advice. I urge all people in the Ipswich and West Moreton region—Ipswich and Somerset—to avail themselves of TASC for the work they do.

I commend them for the wonderful initiatives that they have undertaken, particularly the work they do with the Disability Law Project. This project involves a criminal law and advocacy service for people who suffer from intellectual disability or mental illness. We have some wonderful organisations locally who work in this space—ALARA, CATS, Focal Extended and others. TASC works closely with those organisations.

I am also impressed with the work they do with the Ipswich Community Justice Group. This program supports Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people within the criminal justice system when facing court, and it promotes anti-recidivism measures. The program allocates funding to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander services to assist also in finding ways to deal with justice related issues. I commend them for their work, and I urge governments at all levels to support TASC. (Time expired)