Our Vision
All people should have the right to equity and fairness.
Our Mission
To provide high quality social and legal advocacy to people in need. We are committed to servicing regional, rural and remote communities as well as metropolitan communities and we focus on empowering clients to navigate the legal and social systems to achieve fair outcomes.
Our Values
Courageous – we have the courage to what’s right.
Caring– we care about our people and the work we do.
Creative – we use innovation, evidence and curiosity to continually strive to improve.
Connected – we are better together.
Our Community
Mid North Coast Legal Centre is a community legal centre. We are an independent, not-for-profit organisation that offers free legal services, including information, advice, advocacy and education. We empower individuals with knowledge of their rights and the ability to resolve their disputes.
MNCLC can help people living in the following areas:
- MidCoast (Taree)
- Port Macquarie-Hastings
- Kempsey Shire
- Nambucca Shire
- Bellingen Shire
- Coffs Harbour (south of Woolgoolga)
Our Story
Mid North Coast Legal Centre was established after the local community worked together, assisted by funding from the Law and Justice Foundation, to clearly demonstrate the need for a legal service to assist disadvantaged residents.
A legal needs analysis was developed that demonstrated significant evidence that disadvantaged people living on the Mid North Coast of NSW had poor access to legal support in dealing with the justice system.
The research found that the Mid North Coast region has one of the highest levels of social disadvantage in NSW, with extensive social and geographic isolation, separation from family networks and limited social and economic infrastructure.
An important part of this problem was that Mid North Coast residents did not have access to a community legal centre which focuses on the legal needs of disadvantaged groups.
On 3 December 2010, Commonwealth Attorney-General, Robert McClelland, and NSW Attorney General, John Hatzistergos, announced the Mid North Coast would soon have access to improved legal services, with a new community legal centre to open in Port Macquarie early in 2011. There was a tender for the service and the successful applicant to operate the new centre was Disability Advocacy NSW, now known as Advocacy Law Alliance.
“The new service will play a key role in ensuring disadvantaged residents of the region have greater access to legal assistance to encourage early resolution of disputes before they escalate,” Mr. McClelland said.
The new legal centre was a joint initiative of the Commonwealth and NSW Governments, funded by the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department and Legal Aid NSW.
The funding was consistent with the findings of a February 2010 Mid-North Coast Legal Needs Analysis Report which clearly demonstrated the need for a Community Legal Centre on the Mid North Coast.
Following the Cameron Review in 2018, Mid North Coast Legal Centre was successful in a State government tender which increased the Centre’s footprint to cover three new local government areas: Nambucca Shire, Bellingen Shire and Coffs Harbour. In August 2019 we opened a new office in Coffs Harbour to service these new areas.
In 2021, after 10 years serving the community, the Centre updated its logo and shortened its name from Mid North Coast Community Legal Centre to Mid North Coast Legal Centre.
Our Board
Hayden Asper
Nicole Grgas
Toby Thomas
Jack Lindgren
Rachel Sowden
Ross Casey
Ndi Ruppert
Our Reconciliation Journey
Mid North Coast Legal Centre acknowledges the Biripi, Birpai, Dunghutti and Gumbaynggirr Peoples as the traditional custodians of the lands in which we work. We acknowledge the continued deep spiritual attachment and relationship of First Nations Peoples to Country and commit ourselves to the ongoing journey of Reconciliation. MNCLC launched its first Reconciliation Action Plan (RAP) on 4 April 2019 and its second Innovate RAP on 26 September 2024. Since opening its doors in 2011, MNCLC has worked hard on fostering positive relationships and meaningful engagement with the local First Nations communities.
A RAP provides a framework for organisations to support the national reconciliation movement. MNCLC recognises the fundamental importance of our second RAP in continuing to strengthen our policies and procedures. This initiative serves the dual purpose of contributing to an overarching framework aimed at advacning reconciliation in Australia. Building upon the foundation laid by our inital RAP, MNCLC is dedicated to further enhancing our relationships with local communities and intensifying our efforts to identify opportunities for collaboration with and support of First Nations Peoples. Our primary focus lies in the identification od innovative approaches and improved methods of collaboration to advance the cause of reconiliation.
MNCLC collaborated with artist Angela Marr. Angela is a Birrbay woman and the Creative Director of Cultural Industries, a National Aboriginal Design Agency Member, a Supply Nations Registered Business and an Indigenous Art Code Member. Angela has over 20 years industry experience in cultural arts, project management and workshop facilitation. Angela is an accomplished artist and has established herself in cultural branding and design within the corporate sector. She is an artist for the National Aboriginal Design Agency and has been a finalist at both state and national artist award levels. Angela is also an accredited trainer and teaches cultural arts and language for TAFE NSW.
Angela says, “As an Aboriginal woman and artist, I am extremely passionate about celebrating and promoting my culture through art and language. I am inspired and driven by the depth of my culture through art and my place within it. This artwork is named ‘Djuyalgu Barrayga’, meaning ‘Conversations on Country’ in Gathang, the language of the Birrbay, Warrimay and Guringay people. It represents the MNCLC and the communities they work within across three nations of Birrbay, Daingatti and Gumbayngirr Countries. It highlights Country from the west in the mountains and hinterlands, the river systems and east to the headlands and sea. It symbolises a gathering on Country, with the line work having a dual meaning of flowing waterways but also communication”.
Click here to download our Innovate Reconciliation Action Plan August 2024 – August 2026.
Advocacy Law Alliance (ALA) advocates to achieve fairness and equality for disadvantaged groups in the community.
ALA auspices two programs, Disability Advocacy NSW (DANSW) and Mid North Coast Legal Centre (MNCLC). DANSW provides non legal advocacy services to people with a disability and the MNCLC provides legal advocacy to disadvantaged groups. We believe the strength of our organisation lies in combining the expertise of different professions (lawyers, social workers, disability workers) to achieve the best outcomes for disadvantaged clients. As well as providing direct advocacy assistance to clients our organisation is involved in community education, systemic change, law reform and research to ensure that disadvantaged people get a fair go.
Disability Advocacy NSW (DA) is a program of Advocacy Law Alliance Inc.
DA believes that people with a disability have the same rights (and responsibilities) as people who do not have a disability. DA’s core purpose is to ensure that people with a disability realise these rights in practice by advocating with and for them.
DA helps people of all ages with any type of disability or mental illness get fair treatment in the Hunter, New England, Mid North Coast, Central West, Central Coast and Hawkesbury-Nepean regions of NSW, AUSTRALIA. An advocate can provide individual advocacy and help get fair treatment: from government departments, disability services, other services and businesses; at work, university, school or TAFE; with accommodation, transport and access; with legal, healthcare or money issues; with the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) We also assist with systematic advocacy issues and provide education sessions.