VICTORIA’S only legal clinic for international students will continue for the next six months after an eleventh-hour reprieve.
Newport-based Western Suburbs Legal Service opened the International Student Legal Advice Clinic following violent attacks on Indian students and workers in 2009 and 2010.
The clinic needed state government or Victoria Legal Aid funding beyond June 30 to continue and
on Monday was told VLA would ensure that the service could continue until the end of the year.
“The service will be funded for another six months while long-term arrangements are evaluated,” a VLA spokeswoman said.
Clinic manager Emel Ramadan welcomed the news but said future uncertainty made it difficult to retain staff.
She said an independent evaluation showed a need for a specialist legal service for international students.
“The international education industry injects more than $4billion into the Victorian economy every year,” she said. “A legal service for international students costs a fraction of that.”
Continued funding would cost $325,645 a year. College disputes and immigration issues make up most international students’ legal problems, along with employment and tenancy disputes, family violence, debt and road crashes.
Major Brendan Nottle of the Salvation Army said legal clinic
staff members had developed an amazing level of specialist expertise in international student issues. “There is no service in Victoria that can address the legal concerns of international students in such a holistic, cost-effective way,” he said. “To see this service disappear would be an absolute travesty.” -Benjamin Millar
