legal aid society

bevan, you commenced your role as managing director of victoria legal aid in 2008. mm. what have you seen over the last eight years or so to be your biggest challenge or challenges? well, i think there's a growing income inequality in australia. i think the gap between the haves and the have nots is growing. i think there's a growing coincidence of violence

and substance abuse in our community that’s making problems that used to exist more complicated to resolve. so i think the work's getting more difficult. the gap's getting bigger, and that people who aren’t directly connected with what's happening to people who have real problems are unaware and therefore don’t care. i think they should be caring

because what we value in australia is a fair go and, at the moment, we've got people for whom the law exists but whom are locked out of the law.