Law Council of Australia calls for lawyers’ HECS debts to be cut in Alice Springs

Australia’s peak legal body has called on the Albanese government to cut student loans dramatically for lawyers willing to travel to Alice Springs – because of a shortage.

Alice Springs courthouse.

Australia’s peak legal body has called on the Albanese government to dramatically cut student loans for lawyers willing to travel to Alice Springs, in a bid to help overcome a catastrophic shortage of practitioners in one of the country’s most remote jurisdictions.

The Law Council of Australia has been pressuring the government to improve access to justice for Aboriginal offenders in Central Australia, primarily through subsidising university debts for lawyers willing to work in remote and regional areas, and adequately funding under-resourced legal assistance services.

This comes as Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus is due to table a report into the National Legal Assistance Partnership in coming months. Under the scheme millions of dollars are allocated to the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, which has in recent months faced allegations of corruption and fraud.

The Australian last week revealed the extent of the crisis facing courts in Alice Springs, with vulnerable Aboriginal people accused of serious crimes unable to get legal representation, frequently misunderstanding the allegations levelled against them and making “pleas of convenience” just to get off remand.

One lawyer in Alice Springs, who was from an east-coast state on a short-term contract, said the only way he would be able to work there long term was if his HECS debt was wiped.

“At the moment most lawyers come here for short-term locums, they come for two, three weeks, two months, it’s not that long,” the lawyer said.

“But there’s no point in having short-term lawyers here. There needs to be some sort of incentive to get people to work here long term because having people here for short stints just creates additional workload.

“The only way I’d come here for a long stint, say three or so years, would be if they cleared my HECS.”

Law Council of Australia chief executive Greg McIntyre SC said Indigenous Australians “are more likely than non-Indigenous people to experience multiple, intersecting legal problems”.

“First Nations people in some remote communities also face particular sociocultural and linguistic difficulties, including language and communication barriers, lack of accessibility and a mistrust of the justice system, resulting from a history of marginalisation,” he told The Australian.

Law Council of Australia president Greg McIntyre SC. Picture: David Broadway

“These challenges exist throughout communities across Australia, including Alice Springs.”

He said the country’s legal assistance services, such as Legal Aid, were “under-resourced and unable to keep up with demand, creating a huge justice gap in Australia”.

“Lack of specialisation and cultural competency on the part of legal and support services has also been identified as a key barrier constraining First Nations people from accessing justice,” he said.

“We need to ensure that culturally appropriate services are available across Australia and that legal assistance service workforces are appropriately paid and supported to undertake their difficult and complex work.”

About a third of the Australian population lived outside capital cities, but only about 10 per cent of solicitors practised in remote, regional or rural areas, Mr McIntyre said.

He called on the federal government to subsidise university loans for lawyers who lived and work in those areas for at least two years – an incentive which is ­offered to doctors, nurses and teachers.

“Law degrees are currently among the most expensive tertiary courses in Australia,” Mr McIntyre said.

“A law student today is likely to accumulate a Higher Education Loan Program debt of at least $70,000 prior to their admission to practice.

“This would make an offer of debt forgiveness extremely attractive and we believe an effective lever to encourage early and mid-career lawyers to relocate to – and stay in – a remote, regional or rural area.”