Spotlight On The Welfare Rights Centre

Law for Community Workers

The Welfare Rights Centre opened its doors in 1983 as part of the community legal centre movement in Australia that began in response to scarcity of affordable legal assistance available to marginalised members of society. Originally co-located with Redfern Legal Centre, the Centre opened its own premises in 1985. Since then it has experienced changes in location, staff, funding sources, law and policy. Throughout these changes, the Welfare Rights Centre has remained the lead service agency in NSW for social security law and policy.

The Welfare Rights Centre is a community legal centre specialising in social security law and family assistance law and its administration by Centrelink.

They provide free legal information, advice and representation to thousands of NSW residents every year who are adversely affected by Centrelink decisions. The Centre also provides education to improve knowledge and understanding about social security law in the community. They use the knowledge and experience they gain through their casework to advocate for reforms to the law and policy that would make the Australian social security system fairer for everyone.

They can advise people about their social security rights, entitlements and obligations and assist people through the social security review and appeals system, including Centrelink internal review and the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. They provide all initial advice by phone.

Contact Information

Phone: [phone] OR 1800 226 028 (toll-free from outside Sydney metro area)

Advice intake times

Monday: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Wednesday: 9:30 am - 12:30 pm

Website: https://welfarerightscentre.org.au/

Online Enquiries: https://welfarerightscentre.org.au/need-help

Community Legal Education: https://welfarerightscentre.org.au/community-legal-education

Facebook: Welfare Rights Centre NSW | Sydney NSW | Facebook

Twitter: Welfare Rights (@welfare_rights) / Twitter

Link to Transcript: https://otter.ai/u/DQPnNtnHXQJOSeT9oSQuifIj69Y?utm_source=copy_url

Acknowledgments

The music in our Law for Community Workers on the go podcasts is Blue Highway by Podington Bear licensed under Creative Commons: Attribution Non-Commercial 3.0 Licence

https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/

Legal Aid NSW has met all our legal copyright and intellectual property obligations in the preparation of these podcasts.

Disclaimer: This podcast is a general guide to the law. You should not rely on it as legal advice. We recommend that you talk to a lawyer about any particular situation. The information is correct at the time of publishing but it may change. For more information, start with our team at LawAccess NSW via webchat at www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au or on 1300 888 529.