Legal centres focused on climate justice

A BENDIGO region legal and tenancy support organisation has received $1 million to expand its work into climate justice.

ARC Justice, a rights-based group which has community legal centres in Bendigo and Shepparton, will receive the funding over a four-year period.

The money will come from the Victorian Legal Services Board and Commissioner’s Strong Foundations Program, which is designed to help community legal centres provide vital long-term services.

ARC Justice chief executive officer Damian Stock said climate justice, or recognising human rights implications of climate change and unequal distribution of the burdens of climate impacts, was a growing area of focus for his organisation.

Mr Stock described the funding as “game-changing.”

“It will accelerate the establishment of a climate justice portfolio within ARC, aligning the programs we developed in response to the devastating 2022 floods and furthering the co-ordination of the broader sector to enhance community climate resilience and response when future disasters happen,” he said.

“It will create new functions and capacity in the organisation to further our understanding of the impact of the climate crisis on access to justice and allow us to invest in capability building.”

Victorian Legal Services board chief executive officer and commissioner Fiona McLeay said the funding would provide the “flexibility and certainty” required to achieve long-term growth in access to justice.

“Strong Foundations grants are about building a solid base and creating the infrastructure that’s needed to run a community legal organisation effectively, and keep it running, even when there are significant stressors and circumstances change,” Ms McLeay said.

ARC Justice was one of eight community organisations to share in a $7 million funding package.

It provides legal and tenancy support services across 13 local government areas in central and northern Victoria, and employs 54 people.