This Report was prepared for the Financial Rights Legal Centre & Community Legal Centres NSW by Judith Stubbs & Associates. The Report seeks to understand, document and quantify the impact of linking policy and law reform as part of an integrated service provided by CLCs in NSW. It also seeks to test the claims made by the sector and academics in relation to the value of policy and law reform.
Findings
Law reform or systemic advocacy activities were generally seen as important and effective, typically using 10% of a centre’s resources
Of the ten case studies, six provided significant benefits across a range of areas and to larger groups often characterised by disadvantage and vulnerability. In another three cases, there was a significant benefit to a small group characterised by significant disadvantage.
The study finds that policy and law reform activities undertaken by Community Legal Centres provide good value to society, are generally of high merit, and meet the social and economic objectives of government and the sector when assessed against key outcome measures.
This study finds that there is an important role for the sector in continuing its work in policy and law reform, integrated with front line services, to maximise the efficient use of resources, further the objectives of government, and support access to justice for all people, particularly those most disadvantaged in Australian society.
CCLC released its ‘Report in relation to Debt Collection’ in April 2004. The report, produced with support from the Law and Justice Foundation of NSW, reviewed the law in relation to debt collection, and consulted with industry and consumer stakeholders. In partnership with the Australian Consumers’ Association, we surveyed consumers regarding their experience of debt collection practices.
The level of consumer debt in Australia has been growing at unprecedented rates. At the same time there have been changes in debt collection practices, including increased outsourcing of debt collection to specialised debt collection agencies, and considerable consolidation of the debt collection industry resulting in a number of large, listed companies operating across state borders.
The report identifies a number of issues of concern, including harassment, collecting old debts, credit reporting, issues in relation to proof of debt, and other unethical debt collection practices.
CCLC was commissioned by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC) to conduct a research project on finance and mortgage brokers operating in Australia. We set out to look at some key aspects of the broker industry in Australia (such as fee/commission structures, access to lenders, etc) as well as the consumer issues that arise out of the use of broker services. The Report was released in March 2003, and contains an extensive analysis of the Australian broker industry, the regulation of brokers, the effectiveness of consumer redress, international regulation of brokers, and suggestions for reform.
