Jennifer Jones from Westjustice and Dr Adriana Orifici from Monash Business School
A new study led by Monash Business School has produced findings and recommendations set to improve and grow the delivery of free legal help to communities in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
The report, Equality Law Capability Project: Insights on the Legal Needs of People from Four Communities in the Western Suburbs of Melbourne, led by Dr Adriana Orifici, reveals the barriers people from the Vietnamese, Indian, Afghan and South Sudanese communities in the western suburbs of Melbourne can face in getting free legal help about discrimination or sexual harassment at work, and how community legal centres and other legal service providers can respond.
The study was commissioned by Westjustice under a Victoria Law Foundation Knowledge Grant. Westjustice wanted to better understand the needs of the people from the four communities, and what prevented them from seeking free legal advice regarding matters of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment during the first year of its Equality Law Service (ELS).
The study focused on how the ELS could improve its service delivery to ensure that it was accessible to people who self-identified as belonging to the four communities. The ELS provides free legal help about workplace discrimination and sexual harassment to people in the western suburbs of Melbourne.
The findings of the study informed nine recommendations for Westjustice to improve and grow its ELS.The research involved surveying people who self-identified as belonging to each of the four communities, and conducting focus group interviews with participants to gain deeper insights.
Dr Orifici said the study found participants often preferred to use personal relationships and informal pathways to get help about problems involving workplace discrimination or sexual harassment.
