The Community Consultative Committee in its current form lapsed in late 2014. The committee was made up of representatives from a wide range of organisations we work with, or that are impacted by our work. Committee members were appointed by the Board and included a Victoria Legal Aid staff member and a person nominated by the Federation of Community Legal Centres.

We are grateful to the former members of the Community Consultative Committee who provided advice and recommendations about various matters referred to it by our Board. In 2014–15 the committee met twice and discussed:

  • our review of high court appeal processes
  • the development of our new organisational strategy, with a particular focus on our engagement with the community to ensure the strategy reflects community needs and expectations.

Members

The Community Consultative Committee was chaired by the Chairperson of the Victoria Legal Aid Board, Andrew Guy. We thank the following people who were members in 2014–15:

Professor Marie Connolly
Chairperson and Head of Social Work, Melbourne School of Health Sciences, University of Melbourne

Nicky Friedman
Head of Pro Bono and Community Programs, Allens

Dr Stefan Gruenert
Chief Executive Officer, Odyssey House Victoria

Peter Norden AO
Vice Chancellor's Fellow, University of Melbourne; Adjunct Professor, RMIT University; Director, Norden Directions

Alan Wu
Non-Executive Director, Oxfam Australia; former Chairperson, Australian Youth Affairs Coalition

Denis Nelthorpe AC
Manager, Footscray Community Legal Centre (Federation of Community Legal Centres nominee)

Dr Beth Wilson AM
Former Victorian Health Services Commissioner

Tracey Cocks
President of the Foster Carers Association

Inghard Ehrenberg
Superintendent, Victoria Police

Aimee Cooper
Senior Lawyer, Equality Law Program, Victoria Legal Aid (staff representative).

The Board of Victoria Legal Aid has endorsed the establishment of a sector planning and innovation committee to provide advice on key planning and reform issues. This new committee, to be established in 2015–16, will constitute the Victoria Legal Aid Community Consultative Committee.

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