knowmore legal service today officially launched its Melbourne office allowing more face-to-face service to Victorian, Tasmanian and South Australian clients, along with the release of an infographic providing service statistics and achievements thus far.
knowmore provides independent legal advice for people currently engaging with or seeking to engage with the Royal Commission into Institutional Responses to Child Sexual Abuse.
knowmore Executive Officer Jenny Hardy said that high demand for their services meant that opening additional offices was imperative.
“We have had in excess of 3000 calls since the service began in July 2013, and our small team of 16 hardworking staff in Sydney were responding to all national requests for assistance, including requests for outreach services.
“We are thrilled to be able to expand our capacity to meet that demand and help people with their inquiries about the Royal Commission, including how to engage, clarification of the terms of reference, advice around unique individual legal circumstances such as confidentiality agreements, and assisting people to obtain representation or refer people on to seek compensation.
“Most of the legal advice and assistance we have provided thus far has been to survivors of historic child sexual abuse whilst under institutional care.
“We have also conducted a great deal of regional outreach visits, more than 200 across Australia over a nine-month period.
Given the widespread institutionalisation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, knowmore has invested in supporting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people to come forward and tell their stories in culturally safe ways, providing they wish to do so.
knowmore employs Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Cultural Liaison officers who work together with our lawyers and social worker/counsellors to provide trauma-informed service to anyone who engages with our service.
For a snapshot of our service statistics and services provided, refer to our infographic.
Download this media release as a PDF.