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The Guardian - AU
The Guardian - AU
National
Kate Lyons

‘We start the day with 60 people waiting’: the lawyers helping the ‘never-ending list’ of Australia’s DV victims

Melanie Alexander, Anna Baltin and Amanda Gale of Legal Aid NSW’s Domestic Violence Unit
‘We just don’t know what we’re going to deal with that day’ … Melanie Alexander, Anna Baltin and Amanda Gale of Legal Aid NSW’s Domestic Violence Unit. Photograph: Carly Earl/The Guardian

Each day the Legal Aid lawyers rostered on to run the New South Wales domestic violence hotline log on to find 60 women waiting to speak to them.

The lawyers are part of Legal Aid NSW’s Domestic Violence Unit (DVU), a team of 70 lawyers, case workers, financial counsellors and others who, along with the teams in other states, make up the engine room of the legal response to family violence across Australia.

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