Justice QLD

Booking a beauty service for a children’s party or beauty pageant? 💇‍♀️

Make sure the provider holds a blue card!

✔ Ask if they have a blue card
✔ Check it’s valid
✔ Confirm these details before the day.

Check a blue card and learn more at https://bit.ly/4nnZkDK

Brett Thompson spent nine years as a volunteer ambulance officer on Norfolk Island. It's where he first saw what homicide does to a community.

"You got to be in a very private moment, where someone was in absolute crisis," he says of those years. "You got to be someone who could contribute - who could provide that sense of safety, but also that hope."

Today, Brett is the CEO of the Queensland Homicide Victims' Support Group, leading a small team and more than 70 volunteers supporting Queensland families bereaved by homicide. "It's worth getting out of bed for.

This Queensland Law Week, we're celebrating the people powering justice across our state.

Comment 'LAWWEEK26' 👇 and we'll send you the link to Brett's full story - plus more from our Law Week series.

Law Week Learn about Law Week.

"It is everyday adults and children - the complainants and witnesses - who do the heavy lifting of powering justice."

Meet Ann, a PACT (Protect All Children Today) volunteer who supports victims and witnesses of all ages, and their families through the Queensland court process. A "lapsed lawyer" by her own description, Ann first heard about PACT through her daughter's hockey team and was drawn to the idea of supporting vulnerable witnesses at one of the hardest moments of their lives.

Going to court is overwhelming for most people. For those asked to recount traumatic experiences, it can be more so. PACT volunteers offer calm, practical support - so witnesses feel prepared, supported and able to give their best evidence.

"It takes real courage for these witnesses to speak up in court. Seeing this courage firsthand stays with you."

This Queensland Law Week, we're celebrating the people powering justice across our state.

Comment 'LAWWEEK26' 👇 and we'll send you the link to Ann's full story - plus more from our Law Week series.

Law Week Learn about Law Week.

"What you do now is going to set the dynamic up for the rest of your children's lives."

Rebekah volunteers at Women's Legal Service Queensland - giving women across the state early legal advice that can change the course of a separation, and help protect children from the start.

A family lawyer in private practice and an Independent Children's Lawyer, Rebekah's philosophy is simple, and always child focused.

"Do no harm."

This Queensland Law Week, we're celebrating the people powering justice across our state.

Comment 'LAWWEEK26' 👇 and we'll send you the link to Rebekah's full story - plus more from our Law Week series.

Law Week Learn about Law Week.

Meet Janet, a PACT volunteer on the Sunshine Coast. PACT (Protect All Children Today) volunteers support child victims, witnesses and their families as they navigate the court process - often at the most difficult moments of their lives.

After retiring from a long career in healthcare, Janet was looking for a meaningful way to give back. For the past two and a half years she's been doing exactly that - sometimes over cups of tea, sometimes over UNO on the floor, sometimes driving out to a farm to meet a young person where they are.

"Being able to be there for somebody at an incredibly vulnerable time is a privilege."

It's Queensland Law Week - and this year we're recognising the people powering justice across our state.

Comment 'LAWWEEK26' 👇 and we'll send you the link to Janet's full story - plus more from our Law Week series.

Law Week Learn about Law Week.

Update: The Qld Legal Walk event (tomorrow Tues 19 May) has been cancelled due to wet weather. Please read their caption for further details.

Dear colleagues and friends,

We have made the difficult decision to cancel tomorrow's Queensland Legal Walk due to rainy weather.

While we could hold out hope for some relief from the rain, it looks very unlikely, and we need to ensure the safety of everyone participating and volunteering. Although walks in Brisbane and the south-east are cancelled, it is likely that Walks in Cairns and Townsville will proceed.

Unfortunately, we are unable to reschedule the cancelled events due to Council permit requirements and approvals.

While we are very sad to miss seeing everyone in person to celebrate Law Week and National Pro Bono Day, the most important impact of the Walk is the difference your fundraising makes.

Thanks to the Walk, each year we can provide legal help to more people in need. Your fundraising also helps pro bono clients with out-of-pocket costs. This can include helping clients pay for medical reports or transcripts needed to progress their case or helping out with practical needs such as a grocery voucher.

Recently a client told us that financial support from LawRight was the reason she could leave a violent relationship and establish a new home with her kids. That is all thanks to you. You can still donate at www.qldlegalwalk.org.au.

We will also ensure the breakfast goodies are delivered to one of our Homelessness Law partners, so they don't go to waste.

Thank you for your understanding.

LawRight team

Meet Maria and Irene - two sisters who have spent close to 100 years between them helping their communities navigate the paperwork of everyday life.

Maria has been a Justice of the Peace, and now a Commissioner for Declarations, since the late 1950s - first in New South Wales, then in Queensland from 1980. Her sister Irene served as a JP for more than 50 years in Brisbane.

Their father was a JP before them.

"He was a very community-minded person, and it was just a natural progression that we would do that too," Maria says.

Today, Maria continues to support her local Greek community in Brisbane - helping elderly residents understand forms, witness documents, and point them in the right direction for the services they need.

This Queensland Law Week, we're celebrating the people powering justice across our state.

Comment 'LAWWEEK26' 👇 and we'll send you the link to Maria and Irene's full story - plus more from our Law Week series.

Behind Queensland's digital court transformation is a leader who knows that new systems only work when people feel confident using them.

Meet Eloise Dundas-Taylor, Senior Learning and Development Officer with Courts Learning, Development and Engagement.

Eloise is helping drive the digital transformation of Queensland courts - supporting staff, Magistrates and QCAT adjudicators to adapt to new systems and ways of working.

She leads a small team responsible for designing and delivering training programs and resources for Court and Tribunal Services staff across Queensland - from systems rollouts to onboarding programs and workshops.

She also helped deliver training to Magistrates and QCAT adjudicators in new digital judicial workspaces - a first for the team.

"Helping the courts move to a paperless future is one of the major projects coming out of Digital Services and Programs, so it's been a major stepping stone into the digital future," she said.

For Eloise, supporting staff through tailored learning programs helps build confidence and capability across the department.

"We have such a dynamic workforce, so being able to deliver products that are suitable gives them the confidence they need to do their jobs effectively.

"It's that puzzle-solving element of trying to figure out what would work best - either during the design phase or the delivery phase - that keeps me going."

Eloise's work is helping shape the future of Queensland courts - one training session, one system rollout, one confident staff member at a time.

Parents - if you're booking a photographer or videographer for your child’s special event, make sure they have a blue card!

✔ Ask if they have a blue card
✔ Check it’s valid
✔ Confirm these details before the day.

Check a blue card and learn more at https://bit.ly/4nnZkDK