Facilitated by:  

• Daniel Vansetten - Level Up Legal Rights Advocate. Daniel is currently studying for a Bachelor of Laws following imprisonment. Daniel uses his lived experience and study to assist people generally with understanding law and legal processes and advocate for prison reform, working with other prison reform advocates across the country. Daniel’s lived experience included significant engagement with Freedom of Information processes in which he found highly beneficial to maintaining integrity and fairness in official government decision-making processes. 

• Hannah March - Justice Reform Initiative SA Campaign Coordinator. Hannah is a former advisor to a Federal Government Minister, a former public prosecutor and lawyer, and has extensive experience in the use of FOI requests to further advocacy goals.  

Time: 9am-12pm 
Morning tea: Included 
Cost: $130 ex GST 
Capacity: 25 people 

About:

This workshop will support you to use Freedom of Information (FOI) applications to help meet your advocacy goals. FOI refers to the right of the public to access information Australian Government ministers and Australian Government agencies hold, with some exceptions. Each state and territory has FOI laws that cover the use and release of government information. Examples might include information about the development of new prisons, data about reasons for bail refusal, evaluation reports and sensitive information that has not been released to the public.  

The workshop will explore: 

• What Freedom of Information (FOI) is. 

• The documents that can be accessed. 

• Limitations and costs. 

• The application and appeal process. 

• Examples of Freedom of Information (FOI) strategies from around Australia. 

Facilitated by:  

• Taylor Budin - proud Dharug woman, NSW Intellectual Disability Rights Service

• Jai Haines - proud Tomminigini man, Voices for Change 

Content facilitators: 

• Amelia Paterson - Paediatric Clinical Neuropsychologist, Clinical Lead Child and Youth Assessment and Therapeutic Service at Central Australian Aboriginal Congress

• Beth Wild - Barrister from Mindil Chambers in Darwin. Previously, Beth Wild was the Acting Principal Legal Officer at the Northern Australian Aboriginal Justice Association (NAAJA) 

Time: 9am-12pm 
Morning tea: Included 
Cost: $150 ex GST 
Capacity: 30 people 

About:

First Nations people with Foetal Alcohol Syndrome Disorder (FASD) are significantly overrepresented in the youth detention centres, in mainstream prisons and in forensic detention units around the country. Whilst incarcerated First Nations people with FASD are vulnerable to arbitrary detention and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment, there are few culturally safe pathways out of detention back into family and community and into accommodation and support.  

Many of the assessment tools which guide FASD diagnosis are used to assess an individual’s risk of recidivism and/or their risk of harm to others. However, these assessment tools are not generally culturally valid for First Nations people with FASD. Moreover, there remains no strategic plan for how to develop and embed culturally valid assessments into the legal, corrections or disability and mental health systems which dominate the lived experience of First Nations people with FASD who are in contact with the criminal justice system. 

This culturally safe workshop will seek to address three key issues: 

• What does improving the cultural acceptability and validity of assessment look like for First Nations people with FASD at risk of incarceration? 

• When and how should cultural adjustments be prioritised in assessment? 

• How do culturally valid assessments lead to improved support?