Advocacy Tasmania is a non-profit, non-government advocacy and rights information service.
We have been working to protect Tasmanians’ rights for over 30 years. Over this time, we have worked for many thousands of Tasmanians.
We have a wealth of knowledge and skills that we use to help our clients to access services, fix problems or change things that just don’t feel right.
These can be things like accessing the National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS), defending your right to remain independent and free from guardianship, accessing supports so you can stay at home. Or, asking your service provider to do things differently, speaking to medical staff about your wishes, or your aged care provider about the quality and type of food you receive. These are only a few examples.
Our clients often tell us that their lives change for the better when they’ve had the support of an advocate.
Advocacy is an important service to support people to have their say and protect their rights.
Who can we help?
To use our service, you must be an older person, a person with disability or mental health issues or a person who uses alcohol and other drugs.
Why advocacy?
Systems and services can be very complex and trying to fix a problem or make a complaint can feel overwhelming. That’s when our advocates can help.
Our advocates know all about the aged, disability, mental health, and alcohol & drugs sectors and they can provide information and work at their client’s direction to resolve concerns.
Specialist support
Along with our general advocacy services we help Tasmanians:
- on a mental health order or who have been told they must attend a hearing in the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TasCAT) Mental Health Stream.
- on guardianship or administration orders or who have been told they must attend a hearing in the TasCAT Guardianship Stream.
- accessing the NDIS and wanting to appeal decisions through the NDIS Administrative Appeals Tribunal.
- through the Tasmanian Elder Abuse Helpline which we run on behalf of the Tasmanian Government. We also provide advocacy support for people experiencing elder abuse.
- who are concerned about their aged care fees.
- to know more about our clients’ rights by talking to groups of our clients, potential clients and to service providers.
Changing systems
When a system breaches human rights and badly affects so many of our clients we can also work to change that system. You can find out more about how we change systems here.
Funding
Our services are free, confidential, and available state-wide. We only work for our clients and our clients are always in control of how we work.
To provide our independent advocacy service we receive funding from:
