Disaster Preparedness and Recovery - What’s Law Got To Do With It?
Tracks
Norfolk Hall | In-Person Only
| Monday, July 22, 2024 |
| 2:35 PM - 3:05 PM |
Overview
Ma'ata Solofoni, Legal Aid NSW
Details
Key Presentation Learnings:
1. Specialised legal services must be imbedded in recovery efforts both immediately after a disaster and for longer term recovery.
2. Collaboration, coordination, strong partnerships, and clear referral pathways aid efficiency and maximise reach to disaster impacted communities.
3. Identifying emerging systemic issues, through casework and partnerships, facilitates strategic advocacy and law reform to improve policies and practices.
Speaker
Ms Ma'ata Solofoni
Senior Disaster Recovery And Insurance Solicitor
Legal Aid NSW
Disaster Preparedness and Recovery - what’s law got to do with it?
Abstract
As disasters become more frequent, widespread and destructive, Legal Aid NSW’s Disaster Response Legal Service (DRLS) has seen a corresponding and exponential increase in demand for legal services. From January 2020 to March 2024 the DRLS has provided over 11,500 legal services to 5,000 individuals from communities impacted by disasters across NSW.
The DRLS is a statewide specialist service, providing legal assistance to communities impacted by disasters as part of the NSW Government response. It adopts a scalable, flexible partnership model of service delivery that can be rapidly mobilised. It’s a client centred partnership, end-to-end service model for the full life cycle of disasters, from preparation and mitigation to crisis response and post-disaster support such as ongoing complex casework and representation, and strategic advocacy.
Since the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires, the DRLS has been delivering timely, trauma-informed statewide services where they’re needed most. DRLS lawyers have seen firsthand the impact disasters have on individuals and their communities. Their vast experience in responding to significant disaster events over the last 4 years, has garnered a strong data set and case studies evidencing which approaches work best. This has also informed what legal education and capacity building can achieve in preparing communities for future disasters, empowering them to minimise their vulnerabilities and ensuring their resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
The DRLS is a statewide specialist service, providing legal assistance to communities impacted by disasters as part of the NSW Government response. It adopts a scalable, flexible partnership model of service delivery that can be rapidly mobilised. It’s a client centred partnership, end-to-end service model for the full life cycle of disasters, from preparation and mitigation to crisis response and post-disaster support such as ongoing complex casework and representation, and strategic advocacy.
Since the 2019/2020 Black Summer bushfires, the DRLS has been delivering timely, trauma-informed statewide services where they’re needed most. DRLS lawyers have seen firsthand the impact disasters have on individuals and their communities. Their vast experience in responding to significant disaster events over the last 4 years, has garnered a strong data set and case studies evidencing which approaches work best. This has also informed what legal education and capacity building can achieve in preparing communities for future disasters, empowering them to minimise their vulnerabilities and ensuring their resilience in the face of extreme weather events.
Biography
Ma’ata Solofoni is the Senior Disaster Recovery and Insurance Solicitor at Legal Aid NSW. A dedicated consumer advocate with almost 15 years of legal experience and specialising in insurance law, Ma’ata leads a team of lawyers in Legal Aid NSW’s Disaster Response Legal Service, a specialist service providing legal assistance to communities impacted by disasters. Ma’ata works closely with government, industry and regulators to raise systemic issues arising from disasters. She sits on multiple consumer advisory panels and recently gave evidence at the House of Representatives Standing Committee on Economics Inquiry into insurers’ responses to 2022 major floods claims.
