International Access to Information Day Lightning Talk: Working with vulnerable groups seeking access to information
As part of International Access to Information Day, OVIC is hosting a lightning talk on the topic Working with vulnerable groups seeking access to information.
It can be challenging for some members of the community to access their right to request documents under FOI. This presentation will provide practical tips for agencies on what they can do to assist vulnerable groups seeking access to information.
This presentation will be given by Michelle Goldberg and Nick Newlands from Fitzroy Legal Service.
About the presenters
Michelle Goldberg
Michelle Goldberg is the Senior Lawyer for the Women’s Integrated Legal Outreach team at Fitzroy Legal Service (FLS) where she advocates for criminalized women, a social work team. Before joining FLS, Michelle was a Principal Lawyer at First Step Legal where she oversaw a legal practice of staff that worked to advocate for clients within a number of Health Justice Partnership. Michelle’s legal career of twenty years has focused on assisting clients address the underlying reasons that bring them before a court, working closely with non-legal supports of clients in a trauma informed and cross- disciplinary approach.
Nick Newlands
Nick Newlands is the Senior Lawyer for Migration at Fitzroy Legal Service (FLS) where he is charged with establishing the organisations state-wide migration law services. Before joining FLS, Nick was a Senior Lawyer at the Law Institute of Victoria where he worked to reform key legal policy relating to Administrative and Human Rights Law in Victoria. For over six years, Nick also worked with Australia’s largest community legal service for people seeking asylum, the Asylum Seeker Resource Centre, where he oversaw a weekly legal clinic for people in the community and navigated complex cases through immigration law.
Key details
When: Wednesday 25 September, 2025
Time: 1:00pm - 1:45pm AEST
Where: Online - Microsoft Teams
This event will be recorded and published on OVIC’s Vimeo channel. You do not need to register if you will not be attending live.
To find out more about International Access to Information Day, visit the IAID webpage.