NSW Launches First Ever Statewide LGBTQ+ Legal Service Worth $3.2 Million

The New South Wales Government will launch its first statewide, LGBTQ+ legal service as part of a funding agreement with the Commonwealth. The service, expected to be fully up and running by 2027, will be operated by the Inner City Legal Centre (ICLC), specialising in criminal, family, and civil legal counsel for LGBTQ+ individuals. 

ICLC CEO Katie Green said the organisation was looking forward to honouring its LGBTQ+ roots.

“The ICLC was established on Oxford St, Darlinghurst in the 1980’s,” said Green,  “From this, we have a long and proud connection with the LGBTQIA+ rights movement that flourished in Sydney during that period.”

The service is intended to address existing gaps in NSW’s legal services, and to reduce barriers to justice for the LGBTQ+ community. Individuals accessing the service can expect robust legal advice in areas such as family, domestic, and sexual violence, as well as workplace discrimination, vilification, and harassment.

New LGBTQ+ Legal Service To Receive Considerable Funding

Over the course of four years, the service will receive a total of $3.2 million in funding as part of the National Access to Justice Partnership, amounting to $800,000 a year. This funding will allow the service to be expanded to premises that offer support not just to Sydney’s inner-city residents, but LGBTQ+ communities in regional and remote areas of NSW as well. 

“We recognise that the LGBTQIA+ community do not only congregate in the inner city”, said Green. “They live right across NSW and deserve access to justice wherever they are. This investment will see that happen.

“With additional support from the City of Sydney, we will be moving to larger premises to accommodate the expansion of the LGBTQIA+ Service and will be proudly displaying all of the colours of our rainbow in that space to welcome in all of the wonderful diversity of our community and its members.”

Ultimately, the vision is for a state-wide, LGBTQ+ hub that offers wrap-around legal support and outreach services for all of NSW’s LGBTQ+ residents.  

“The NSW Government is proud to support the establishment of the state’s first dedicated LGBTQIA+ legal service to provide specialist advice and support to the LGBTQIA+ community,” said Attorney General Michael Daley.

“We know stigma and discrimination can make it harder for people who are queer or gender diverse to access legal advice and support for sexual, family and domestic violence as well as discrimination and vilification. This standalone legal service for the LGBTQIA+ community will significantly expand the Inner City Legal Centre’s ability to help vulnerable members of the community access justice.”