Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service

Come see us on Thursday the 1st of October at The Collective Mental Health Expo & Circle of Solidarity! We'll be there to answer any disability related justice questions you have.

Women with disability are twice as likely to experience violence, including sexual violence, as women without disability. For many clients, harm has occurred not only at home but in the context of receiving services and support - from carers, support workers and within the systems that are intended to assist them.
The third webinar in our Conversations on Legal Practice – Trauma-Aware Lawyering series examines what accessible, trauma-informed legal practice looks like when working with clients with disability experiencing family violence.

Drawing on legal, integrated practice and lived experience expertise, the panel will discuss:
- how family violence and systems abuse may present for clients with disability
- supporting clients when the person using violence is also their carer, support worker, guardian or administrator
- impact on clients when a family violence intervention order also removes the care and support they rely on
- practical strategies for accessible communication and supported decision-making
- how to support a client through legal processes that are not always designed with a disability lens
- when to refer to and collaborate with a specialist disability service

The session will include opportunities for audience Q&A.

Panellists
Katie Gomez, Gender and Disability Training Coordinator, Women with Disabilities Victoria
Elise Almond, Senior Lawyer, Villamanta Disability Rights Legal Service
George Young, Team Leader Social Work, Women's Legal Service Victoria

Details
Online via Zoom
Date: Thursday 8 October 2026
Time: 9:30am – 11am
Cost: $27.50

Register today 👇

We have been given the opportunity to provide feedback on the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing's consultation regarding a possible commissioning approach of Supported Independent Living.

We are not persuaded that a new SIL commissioning framework is the most effective response to the challenges that have been identified. The consultation paper does not provide a sufficient evidence base demonstrating that commissioning will deliver better outcomes for participants compared to alternative approached.

Read our full submission here:
https://villamanta.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/SIL-Commissioning-Villamanta-response.pdf

An Easy Read version can be found here:
https://villamanta.org.au/wp-content/uploads/2026/09/Easy-Read-Response-to-SIL-Commissioning-.pdf

The vote has happened. Now we need to come together.
The last few months have asked a lot of our community.
People with disability and families have shared deeply personal experiences, made submissions, contacted politicians, followed inquiries and fought hard for an NDIS that delivers the support, choice and control people were promised.
The NDIS changes have now passed Parliament.

So what actually changed? What do the amendments mean? What happens next? And how are we all feeling after everything that's happened?

Join Every Australian Counts and members of our Steering Committee for a special Protect Our NDIS Community Debrief.

📅 Friday 28 Aug
⏰ 12pm AEST
💻 Online via Zoom
🔗 Register: https://events.humanitix.com/after-the-vote-ndis-community-debrief

We'll explain the changes in plain English, talk about what we need to watch as they're implemented, share information about where people can get help, and most importantly, make space for our community to talk.

You can ask questions, share what's on your mind or simply come along and listen.
This has been a tough fight. You don't have to process what happened on your own.
The vote has happened. Our community is still here, and our campaign is not over.

[Image description: Every Australian Counts event graphic promoting “After the Vote: NDIS Community Debrief”. The NDIS changes have passed Parliament, and the community is invited to come together online via Zoom on Friday 28 August, from 12–1:30pm AEST. A “Register Now” button appears at the bottom.]

NDIS changes have passed. Here’s where to get help if you’re affected - Every Australian Counts Every Australian Counts is here to make sure the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) is delivered as promised and is the best it can be. Find out how the NDIS process works and hear real stories from people who have been through the process, and keep up to date with the NDIS rollout with lat...

Seafolly must release its gender pay gap data! Gaps like this are not about paying men and women differently for the same job. They're usually about who holds which roles: men concentrated in senior, higher paid positions, women in lower paid, customer facing ones. As a customer, you'd never see that. It's invisible unless the data is made publi...

At the request of PWDA, a number of Disability Representative Organisations, legal organisations and representatives from the Department of Health, Disability and Ageing met to discuss the NDIS Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.

The roundtable provided an opportunity for organisations to present evidence of the significant and foreseeable harm this Bill will cause if it passes in its current form directly to Government representatives involved in developing and drafting the legislation.

Our organisations stress that the evidence is clear. The harm and risks are foreseeable.

Parliament now has the opportunity to prevent that harm by rejecting this Bill in its current form.

Read more: https://buff.ly/06T4bOg

PWDA is warning the Government is pushing ahead with the biggest changes in the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) before the agencies responsible for delivering them are ready.

Acting CEO Megan Spindler-Smith, said the recent evidence showing 40 per cent of a sample of providers continued claiming supports that were no longer permitted raised a simple question for Parliament.

“If the NDIA is still struggling to implement and effectively administer changes introduced almost a year ago, why should Parliament have confidence it can safely and effectively deliver the biggest reforms in the Scheme’s history, where even more is at stake for people with disability?

PWDA is urging Parliament to not pass the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Securing the NDIS for Future Generations) Bill 2026.

The evidence shows the Government has targeted the wrong problem.

Instead of fixing the institutions responsible for administering and safeguarding the NDIS, it has created new pathways to reduce participant supports.

The foreseeable result is not a stronger Scheme.

It is greater harm for people with disability.

Read more: https://pwd.org.au/media-release-pwda-warns-new-evidence-shows-government-is-not-ready-for-sweeping-ndis-reforms/

We're Hiring!

Villamanta is looking for a Senior Community Lawyer to join out close knit team.

For more information on the position and how to apply, check out our job on Ethical Jobs:

https://www.ethicaljobs.com.au/members/villamanta/senior-community-lawyer-geelong-west-4?workTypes=3