The statistics tell the story.
In Australia, 1 in 3 Australian women experience physical violence and 1 in 5 experience sexual violence in their lifetime.
Women’s Legal Service Queensland plays a vital role in supporting women and children to navigate complex systems and seek safety and freedom from violence.
The specialist integrated service models mean that women can get free legal, social, and financial advice and support in a trauma-informed way from one service.
Women’s Legal Service Qld chief executive officer Nadia Bromley said Women’s Legal Service Queensland provide telephone-based legal advice and support with domestic and family violence (DFV), family separation or divorce, parenting, child safety, protecting counselling notes in sexual assault matters and minor criminal matters arising from DFV.
“We also have a RRR team which is now travelling to regional locations in Queensland every two months to provide face to face services and support,” she said.
“The skills and dedication of the WLSQ team are everything.
“Our mission is to create safer futures for women and children, and it is privilege to pursue that goal every day with the team.
“We have a broad range of skilled professionals, including lawyers, social workers and financial counsellors who direct their talents to making Queensland a better place for everyone, every day.”
Nadia herself commenced with WLSQ in March 2022, bringing with her qualifications in law and business and is passionate about access to justice, legal services, and women’s rights and safety.
Nadia has a broad range of experience across a diverse range of roles in the corporate, profit-for-purpose, and community sector, including working with Legal Aid Queensland for almost a decade.
“This role is so important as it provides the opportunity to lead an organisation with an extraordinary legacy of changing the legal landscape for the better for women and an incredible community of employees, volunteers and supporters who are united by a shared belief in protecting the rights of women.
“At times like during Queensland’s Women’s Week, it is so important that we celebrate our shared successes.
“While we still have a long way to go, so much has been achieved through hard work and community support.
“It is more important than ever that we highlight good work across the justice, health, and education sectors and in the broader community to continue our engagement and progress.”
Also, the For Her, With Her is a podcast by Women’s Legal Service QLD, created to inform, support, and empower women navigating domestic and family violence, family law, and complex legal systems.
Knowing that people consume information in different ways, making a podcast was an opportunity for WLSQ to create a channel for people to consume in their own time.
The episodes are designed to break the law down into clear, practical guidance, and be accessible for people seeking support, wanting to help others, or those working in the sector.
Nadia shared that unfortunately, they are seeing demand for their service growing and continue to far exceed capacity.
“January 2026 was one of our busiest months on record, with the Helpline receiving an average of 730 calls every week.
“We also know that there are areas in which there is clearly a need for more intensive support.
The data points we look at include things like:
The number of Domestic Violence Orders granted in the relevant Magistrates Courts, and the number of DVO breaches.
The availability of three key service types – Community Legal Centres, domestic and family support services and financial counselling services. social and economic disadvantage (Socio-Economic Indexes for Areas (SEIFA), Australia).
“Based on these data points, we are investigating options for how we can better support women in Bundaberg and surrounding regions.”
Women’s Legal Service Queensland (WLSQ) was established in 1984 and across its 42 years has helped women all over Queensland with free legal advice, social work and financial counselling services.
This year commemorates 10 years of their free Statewide Helpline, and the milestone of answering more than 100,000 calls from women across Queensland seeking safety and support.
The WLSQ Statewide Helpline has become a vital first point of contact for women experiencing domestic and family violence, financial abuse and complex family law issues. In the past financial year alone, the Helpline answered 15,708 calls.
That’s an average of 63 Queensland women reaching out every working day.
WLSQ have also established a RRR team and a criminal law practice.
WLSQ are currently running a RRR pilot program to increase the support they provide to women in rural, regional and remote areas.
This program involves a team travelling to locations on a rotating basis to provide legal, social work, and financial counselling support as well as education sessions for local service providers.
The RRR team was developed in recognition of the additional barriers faced by women in regional areas, the scarcity of resources, and the distance women often must travel to receive legal and support services.
The targeted locations so far are Roma, Emerald and Longreach, Gympie and Kingaroy.
“Expanding our service to include a criminal practice was driven by client demand, particularly from vulnerable groups who face increasing interaction with the criminal justice system.
“Our criminal practice is available to support women who are victims of crime and those who come into contact with the criminal justice system as a result of domestic and family violence.
“This year we are focused on ensuring our services are reaching the Queensland women who need us most.
“That means ensuring we work across Queensland to assist more women where they live, engaging with community to identify and address service gaps, and using evidence from our clients’ experience to inform service design and advocacy.”
