- Women's Legal Services Inc. (WA) Constitution, sub-clauses 3.1(a), (f), (g). All documents filed in the Administrative Appeals Tribunal, General Administrative Division, Perth Registry, No. W1999/316, in the matter Dr J Purdy v Attorney-General's Department are also identified by the ‘T-Documents' reference: T1, 60
- Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia and Women's Legal Services Incorporated Relating to the provision of community legal services 1999. T1, 77–96.
- Two page internal e-mail Attorney-General's department, 7 January 1999, document 2 identified in the decision of Snr Member Hotop, AAT matter No. W1999/316, by consent, 4 January 2000.
- TWo page ‘PPQ’ Attorney-General's department, 8 January 1999, document 3 identified in the decision of Snr Member Hotop, AAT matter No. W1999/316, by consent, 4 January 2000.
- In James Baldwin, Notes of a Native Son, Penguin, 1995, 25.
- Minutes of the Women's Legal Services (WA) Annual General Meeting 1997.
- See Women's Legal Services (WA) Annual Report 1995/6, 4.
- Letter to the Convenor WLSWA from Legal Aid and Family Services, Attorney-General's department, 21 July 1998.
- The composition of the Indigenous women's committee had altered, and for some time substantially consisted of Indigenous women. There were some concerns about the lack of rural representation on the committee given its state-wide responsibilities, but such concerns applied equally to the management committee of the WLSWA which also had state-wide responsibilities and no rural representation.
- Notices included with the Women's Legal Services Inc. WA Newsletter, November 1998: Issue 8.
- The following clause was inserted into the protocol:
- Following a joint meeting and in the event that there is a failure to agree, the Management Committee retain final decision making authority.
- Minutes of the WLSWA Special General Meeting, 7 December 1998.
- Two page ‘PPQ’ Attorney-General's department, 8 January 1999.
- T1, 97.
- T11, 127.
- Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia and Women's Legal Services Incorporated Relating to the provision of community legal services 1999, clause 4, ‘The Organisation warrants that its rules of association are not, and will not be, inconsistent with this Agreement. ‘T1, 82.
- The constitutional changes as agreed at the Special General Meeting were lodged with the Department of Fair Trading (which oversees associations under the Associations Incorporation Act 1987 (WA)) on the 3rd of January 1999 and were effective from 5 January 1999, almost a month after the decision was made to withdraw the funding.
- Letter to the author from the Assistant Secretary, Legal Aid Branch, 8 March 1998, T1, 46.
- No document containing the proposed or actual constitutional changes was identified as being in the possession of the Legal Aid Branch in relation to a subsequent Freedom of Information request. On the 19th of February 1998 I received a telephone call from the Community Legal Services Section requesting a copy of the WLSWA constitution. (T1, 48)
- Agreement between the Commonwealth of Australia and Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia and Women's Legal Services Incorporated Relating to the provision of community legal services 1999 clause C, T1, 78, 79.
- Clause 28, T1, 89, 90.
- T1, 90.
- T1, 91, 92.
- The letters were dated 10 January 1999. The Freedom of Information letter was filed at T3, 103–105.
- Annexure A, Letter to CLS State Program Manager from the WLSWA.
- T1, 50.
- Refer note 14.
- T7, 110.
- T8, pp. 111, 112; referring to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal decision Salem Subramanian and Refugee Review Tribunal, AAT No. 11592 (6 February 1997).
- T11, 118–130.
- T11, 127.
- T11, 120, 126.
- Minutes of the WLSWA General Meeting, 12 April 1999.
- T12, pp. 131–138. In an attempt to reduce any further delays, I provided a cheque for the application fee and sought exemption on the grounds previously allowed—public interest at the same time I applied for an internal review. (See ‘Remittal of Fee'at T 12, p. 135) In breach of its obligations under subsection 31A(3)the Freedom of Information Act, I have never been advised of any reasons for the decision not to allow the exemption.
- T16, 161, 162.
- T7, 110. One of the grounds for review was the granting of an extension of time on the basis that the documents contained ‘personal information’ and the subsequent withholding of the documents on grounds which did not permit an extension of time. Section 54(2) of the Freedom of Information Act requires that someone other than the person who made the original decision conduct the review.
- T1, 22–29.
- T1, 19, 20.
- T1, 17, 18.
- T1, 1–97.
- T2, 100, 101.
- Internal departmental e-mail, including legal advice concerning the Freedom of Information request. The full sentence is ‘Probably only the second sentence is genuinely sensitive and should not be released, although the third sentence may be sensitive in that it suggests the existence of an informant at WLS’. (T9, 114)
- Internal departmental e-mail, seeking legal advice concerning the Freedom of Information request. (T6, 109) Interestingly, this same internal departmental e-mail of 18 January 1999, also stated that both the information and identity of the source were ‘provided in strict confidence’ and ‘neither… should ever be released’. Interestingly because this would appear to directly contradict the current position adopted by the Attorney-General's department that it was required to maintain the confidentiality of the source but not the information.
- In the two page internal e-mail Attorney-General's department, 7 January 1999.
- Given the subsequent assessment by the Legal Aid Branch that the constitutional amendments were in fact consistent with WLSWA obligations.
- Given a significant proportion of funding of the WLSWA is Indigenous, it is interesting that when a substantial number of Indigenous women were expected to attend the meeting it was considered to be ‘stacked’.
- Definition of ‘Paternalism’ taken from The Penguin Dictionary of Sociology, Nicholas Abercrombie, Stephen Hill and Bryan S. Turner, 3rd ed, London: Penguin, 1994.
- Minutes of the Women's Legal Services (WA) Annual General Meeting 1999.
- Women's Legal Services Inc WA, Newsletter, Issue 12, July 2000, p.8.
Australian Feminist Law Journal
Volume 14, 2000 - Issue 1