Join our team of Legal Officers
The Office of the Public Guardian has offices in Brisbane, Ipswich, Townsville and Cairns, and are looking for legal officers with a strong interest in social justice to work within our three teams.
Legal officers in our Child and Young Person’s team perform child advocacy functions for children and young people in the child protection system. This involves advocating in child protection proceedings in the Children’s Court and the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT), and supporting a child’s criminal lawyer in youth justice matters to effectively advocate about the impact of a young person’s care experience on their offending, and to get appropriate supports. Officers also support children and young people in decisions made about their education, particularly long suspensions and exclusions.
Legal officers in our Adult team act as appointed decision makers for adults with impaired decision-making capacity in relation to legal matters (not property or finance). They use a supported decision-making framework to support and advocate for adults with impaired decision-making capacity to access justice and equal treatment in a range of legal processes including criminal law, mental health and child protection.
Legal Officers in our Corporate Legal team provide legal advice and assistance to the Public Guardian (and delegates) about the performance of their statutory functions and exercise of statutory powers. They also coordinate external requests for information and advise on information sharing arrangements.
OPG staff use a human rights framework when advocating for clients that is focused on supporting them to be heard in administrative decision making and tribunal/processes. It is informed by the views and wishes of our clients and is focused on ensuring procedurally fair and just legal decision-making processes.
Our ‘day in a life’ articles provide more information about the Child Advocate Legal Officer and Adult Legal Officer roles.
Current vacancies
All current Guardian vacancies are advertised on SmartJobs.