The Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service works to ensure that all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Victoria enjoy and exercise their legal rights, are aware of their responsibilities under the law, and have access to appropriate legal representation in the legal system.

Aims

VALS’ aims are to provide high quality assistance consistent with:

• VALS’ obligations under the Contract with the Attorney-General’s
  Department (C’th) to provide legal aid services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in Victoria.
• Legal professional practice and ethical obligations.
• The relative needs of individual clients.

Objectives

VALS’ objectives are to:

• Address both the causes and effects of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander disadvantage. Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience far higher rates of adverse contact with the justice system than do other Australians. They are incarcerated at significantly higher rates than non-Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. They are also one of the most profoundly disadvantaged groups in Australian society. They fall well below relevant national benchmarks on virtually every measure of well-being and socio-economic status.
• Improve the access of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders to high quality and culturally appropriate legal aid services so that they can fully exercise their legal rights as Australian citizens.
• Improve both the quality and efficiency of service delivery to the
  ultimate benefit of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients.
• Prioritise and target available resources to ensure that
  services are responsive to established policy priorities and community needs, and to provide the best possible quality of service to individual clients.