Ms Noeline Blackwell:

I thank the Chairman and the members of the committee for inviting us to come here today. As the Chairman suggested, the Free Legal Advice Centres are known as an organisation that provides advice and information. Our work on debt has probably also been to the fore in recent times. Many questions relating to credit are associated with the work we do to protect those with consumer debt. The work we did over a long period of time on questions like how credit gets given in the first place, whether the protections given to consumers are adequate to protect their human rights and whether adequate redress systems are in place led to the publication of the substantial report we are discussing today. My colleague, Mr. Paul Joyce, who is FLAC's senior policy analyst, is the main author of the report in question. After he has made a presentation on the report, we will try to assist the members of the committee by clarifying matters of interest to them.