RU OK? For over ten years, ALS has been asking RU OK? to Aboriginal people taken into custody. NSW police, by law, are required, to ring our 24-hour Custody Notification Service (CNS) phone line whenever they take an Aboriginal person into custody. ALS lawyers answer the call, give legal advice, and ask the Aboriginal person, RU OK?
Our 24-hour CNS phone line was set up after the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody to ensure Aboriginal are provided with a well-check, and legal advice, when taken into custody.
Our 24-hour CNS phone line now gets 300+ calls per week. That's around 17,000 calls a year! Or 17,000 times when an Aboriginal person gets necessary legal advice and asked an important question, RU OK?
HELP PLEASE! Since May 2012, the ALS has been negotiating with the Federal and NSW government for funding of the CNS. The Federal government granted ALS partial funding of $126,000 in June 2012. This amount is obviously inadequate to run the CNS for a full year. Negotiations are continuing but we feel these are not going in our favour. The CNS phone line is a priority. We need more funding!
The phone line costs less than $500,000 a year to operate, with a staff of six-seven lawyers working around the clock. The future of the 24-hour CNS phone line is uncertain. Without more funding it will be impossible to sustain beyond June 2013.
Can you help? Please send a donation – big or small - to help keep our 24-hour CNS phone line going.
Please visit our website or click here to donate. Donations can also be made by phoning the ALS Finance Manager on 02 8303 6699 or posting a cheque to the Chief Financial Officer, ALS, PO Box 646 Surry Hills NSW 2010.
And please, spread the word so that more and more people can donate to this really important 24-hour phone line protecting Aboriginal people's rights, humanity, and wellness when taken into custody.
Thank you!
Mr Phil Naden
Chief Executive Officer
