PAST WEBINARS
Missed a webinar? You can catch up in your own time!
The last 12 webinars are below and older webinars can be found on our Vimeo page.
Accompanying factsheets can be found in the Resources.
6th May 2025
Working while being pregnant
Presented by Sharmilla Bargon, Legal Director – Working Women’s Centre NSW
Being pregnant can be an exciting, but also a challenging time, especially when it comes to navigating your relationship with your employer through your pregnancy and beyond. Pregnant workers in Australia are protected from discrimination and are also entitled certain protections and entitlements under the employment legislation.
This webinar looks at the various options/protections/entitlements available to pregnant workers at work and when they are ready to take time off to have their baby.
4th April 2025
Family Law Amendment Act 2024: Parenting and Property Changes
Presented by Rishika Pai – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
The Family Law Amendment Bill 2024 has passed, and most changes will come into effect on 10 June 2025. These changes relate to property settlements and pets, children’s contact services, case management of divorces and family dispute resolution, and protecting sensitive information.
This webinar will provide an overview of the changes and discuss what these changes will mean, particularly for victim-survivors of family violence.
26 February 2025
Women at Work: How can we help?
Presented by Sharmilla Bargon – Assistant Principal Solicitor, Working Women’s Centre NSW
In this webinar we will introduce the work of our recently expanded Working Women’s Centre NSW. We will look at some key workplace rights and laws that particularly affect women. We will consider some of the options and challenges in responding to discrimination, harassment, and dismissal in a timely manner. We will also explain how to access our service and what how we can support women in making complaints or claims.
4 December 2024
AVO Series part 3 – Misidentifications and AVO issues
Presented by Karen Mifsud – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
In part 3 of our AVO series we considered the issue of misidentification and other issues with AVOs. We looked at ways to support and advocate for women who have been incorrectly identified as the predominant aggressor who have an AVO and or charges taken against them. We also looked at breaches and at how AVOs intersect with family law matters.
6 November 2024
AVO Series part 2 – AVOs and Coercive Control
Presented by Karen Mifsud – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
In part 2 we looked at the new Coercive Control legislation and its interaction with AVOs, the types of evidence that could be used to support an AVO application and the role that workers can take in assisting victim survivors to document a pattern of coercive control.
PLEASE NOTE – We apologise for the poor audio quality in this webinar. Subtitles are provided.
2 October 2024
AVO Series part 1 – Understanding AVOs
Presented by Karen Mifsud – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
An introductory overview of Apprehended Violence Orders and how they operate.
We discuss types of AVOs, how to get an AVO, the test and evidence, what orders can be included in an AVO, how to vary an AVO and what to do about breaches.
4 September 2024
Surviving the rental crisis for women.
Presented by Charlie Wilde, Lehana De Silva and Olivia Nielsen-Gurung – Tenants Union of NSW
Legal experts from the Tenants’ Union discuss some issues women face as renters. They explore issues like discrimination in rental applications, rent increases, negotiating with the landlord, unhealthy properties, renting and domestic violence, and help available.
7 August 2024
Understanding ‘Best Interests of the Child’ and ‘Parental Responsibility’
Presented by Mehzabin Farazi – Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
In this webinar takes a closer look at the recent changes to “best interests of the child” and “parental responsibility” in the new Family Law Act. We provide practical examples to help you understand what these terms really mean, and what your clients need to consider when preparing to make parenting orders.
10 July 2024
Navigating the intersections of family law with care and protection
Presented by Michelle Hayward – Assistnat Principal Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
This webinar looks at the two different court systems dealing with the care arrangements of children, being the Family Court and the Children’s Court, and how these two systems interact. We explore the alternatives to children’s court proceedings, what are Active Efforts, working with DCJ, and the potential impact of Care and Protection intervention on Family Law proceedings.
5 June 2024
Spotting the red flags and assessing the risk.
Presented by Kellie McDonald – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
Everyone working in the domestic and family violence sector must be able to identify the red flags (risk factors) in a case and understand how to assess the level and likelihood of risk faced by clients. Having assessed risk, the next step is to respond – with safety planning, building safety into the ways we manage the case and by ensuring that the work we do doesn’t inadvertently expose our clients to further risk. For those working in family law, it includes addressing risk and where appropriate, building safety into any proposals.
1 May 2024
Strangulation: Improving responses to an often-invisible form of gender-based violence
Presented by Jackie McMillan – Senior Project Officer, Women’s Health NSW and Karen Mifsud – Senior Solicitor, Women’s Legal Service NSW
Around half of women who experience non-fatal strangulation, also known as choking, have no external signs that strangulation occurred. Women’s Health NSW identified a need to strengthen professional understanding and local capacity to respond to sexual assault-related non-fatal strangulation and acquired brain injury and better meet the needs of women who have experienced this across the state. Women’s Health NSW introduce their work in improving responses to strangulation, including their online learning hub, ‘It Left No Marks’.
In conversation with Women’s Legal Service NSW, the webinar also addresses ways that service providers can support women who may choose to pursue legal and compensatory outcomes in the future.