This National Water Week, HopgoodGanim Lawyers have partnered with Caxton Legal Centre for a Justice in Focus: Water Stories series. Through interviews with guest speakers, we explore multi-disciplinary responses to environmental disasters and climate change in Australia, particularly in Queensland and Northern New South Wales.
In this interview, Jacqui Cavanagh, a Lawyer at Caxton Legal Centre, interviews Bill Mitchell, OAM HonLLD, Principal Solicitor, Townsville Community Law.
Watch the full video
Quotes – Bill Mitchell, OAM HonLLD, Principal Solicitor, Townsville Community Law
“I think the community has got to the stage where we once just accepted that this was something that happened where we would have a cyclone every two or three or four years and you just got on with it. But given the frequency and the severity of these events, and the obvious changes in Townsville infrastructure, the community is now very concerned … will we have another event like this? Will we see houses inundated with a metre and half of water through them?"
- Bill Mitchell on increasing climate impacts in Townsville.
"We’re seeing some of the same clients or similar sorts of clients appearing each time and one of my first observations would be that those who aren’t resilient have been resilient an in fact, disasters are a series of cascading events for them where they lose more and more resilience as time goes by. They might well have owned their home back in the 90s which was impacted by a cyclone or a flood. They may have had an insurance claim refused because of a failure to maintain it or something like that. They didn’t do repairs, which are necessary. Then of course by the time the next disaster comes along, they and the infrastructure that supports them and their family is less resilient and so what we see is a sliding situation where they go from being maybe ok to really being far worse off each time."
- Bill Mitchell on the cumulative impacts of environmental disasters on resilience.
"I think emotional preparedness is a huge issue … in the 2019 before a client even spoke to a lawyer they had an opportunity to go through an intake process with a support worker who could identify all of the issues they were experiencing… that intake and support role is critical to not only give the person an opportunity for support and referral to many other agencies they need, but also to process and diagnose the legal issues that actually rise... They do actually build resilience through that process."
- Bill Mitchell on the importance of integrated and holistic support services for people impacted by environmental disasters.
"Disaster work needs to be very aware of the in-built inequities that flow from the way recovery services are structured. The way we prepare and recover from disasters is unfortunately mostly weighted towards those who have money and lost money such as through a large insurance claim. A human rights approach would say everybody of course has human rights, they are inherent to us, but there are some people who are more vulnerable in that setting. They need obviously to be prioritised in preparation, we need to identify who they are in advance."
- Bill Mitchell on the in-built inequities in recovery services and the need to prioritise those most vulnerable through a human rights approach.
"One thing that is valued in disaster recovery is transparency. People need to know what they are entitled to, they need to have easy access to those entitlements and they need the supports like legal services and others to help them promote and protect those interests.’
‘A human rights approach is about taking an approach that prioritises those that are most affected… to make sure you scale your services in a way that people who need the most get the most."
-Bill Mitchell on a human rights approach to recovery services.
"We need to understand that the lenses through which we see disaster and people’s experience and recovery from it must have much more deliberate human rights lenses applied to it, otherwise we do run the risk of simply ignoring preventable deaths and that of course would be unacceptable on any level."
- Bill Mitchell on the importance of applying a human rights lens to disaster experience and recovery.
What is the HopgoodGanim and Caxton Legal Centre Water Series?
The HopgoodGanim Lawyers and Caxton Legal Centre Water Stories series focuses on learnings and responses during recent flood events in Queensland and Northern New South Wales. Across the series we are shining light and provoking wider conversations on land and water management, disaster planning and response. By sharing the water stories of our guest speakers, we hope to better understand our collective responses and preparedness for environmental disasters. This Justice in Focus series will continue across each day of National Water Week and aims to generate discussion that encourages human-rights centred approaches and forward thinking that incorporates the many voices and stories about people, places and our connection to water.
The views expressed in this interview are personal views and should not be taken as legal advice.
About the speakers
Jacqui Cavanagh is a Lawyer at Caxton Legal Centre, which represents the interests of people who are disadvantaged or on a low income when they come into contact with the law. Caxton Legal Centre strategically advocates to government, providing legal advice and social work services, publishing legal information and building community awareness about the issues faced by the people who are helped.
Bill Mitchell is the Principal Solicitor and Registered Migration Agent at the Townsville Community Legal Service and Principal Lawyer at Townsville Community Law. Bill received the Australian Human Rights Commission Law Award in 2008, and the Law Council of Australia’s President’s Medal in 2019 and the Queensland Law Society’s Access to Justice Award in 2022. He was awarded a Medal of the Order of Australia in 2020.
Pro Bono services, HopgoodGanim Lawyers
HopgoodGanim has a Pro Bono strategy, which is focused on delivering long-term changes in three impact areas: First Nations communities, Environmental disasters, and Domestic and family violence.
Learn more about HopgoodGanim's Pro Bono services, and connect with our Head of Pro Bono, Leanne Collingburn, for more information.