Lawyers push Labor to fix $1bn legal aid gap

Peak legal bodies have signed a joint letter urging Labor to fix a $1bn shortfall in federal government funding for public legal ­services.

Australia’s peak legal bodies have signed a joint letter urging Labor to fix a $1 billion shortfall in federal government funding for public legal services.

Peak legal bodies have signed a joint letter urging Labor to fix a $1bn shortfall in federal government funding for public legal ­services, calling the federal government’s failure to adequately ensure vulnerable defendants received legal representation in court a “national shame”.

The Law Council of Australia has spearheaded a campaign for a complete overhaul of the distribution of taxpayer funds to public legal services, with president Greg McIntyre SC saying every year tens of thousands of desperate people, predominantly women and Aboriginal Australians, are refused service.

The letter comes off the back of extensive reporting in The Australian over the past year showing Aboriginal defendants in Alice Springs had been forced to represent themselves in court because of the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency’s inability to adequately staff its remote offices.

Written directly to Jim Chalmers, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus and Finance Minister Katy Gallagher, the letter says there is “a sword hanging over the heads” of community legal ser­vices that have been left in the dark about funds following an independent review into the National Legal Assistance Partnership.

“To this nation’s great shame, our legal assistance sector is chronically underfunded and unable to meet an ever-increasing demand,” the letter reads. “Ser­vices have no choice but to turn desperate clients away, with far-reaching implications for individuals, their families, and commun­ities. This is a sector in crisis.”

An independent review of the five-year NLAP agreement between federal and state governments was conducted by auditor Colin Mundy earlier this year, and has been handed to the Standing Council of Attorneys-General for consideration before the agreement expires next year.

The letter says the renewed partnership agreement can not “simply paper over the cracks in our system”.

“This report is the starting point for the transformational change that is required to give these vital services the stability and certainty they need and deserve, and to ensure that access to justice is facilitated for all,” it reads.

Mr McIntyre told The Australian the review showed community legal services urgently needed a $1bn annual injection to properly serve its clients, after about a decade of being underfunded.

“The Women’s Legal Services have said they’re having to turn away about 50,000 women a year and they just can’t provide the service because they don’t have the resources,” he said.

“The Aboriginal Legal Torres Strait Islander Legal Services are also not able to service all of their client groups in remote and rural communities. Even in suburban areas in WA they can’t get out to all the suburban courts.”

He said the issue was particularly pertinent because of the burgeoning domestic violence crisis gripping Australian families, saying if the government “is serious about responding to family violence”, it should overhaul the existing NLAP agreement. “If a woman in a domestic violence situation can’t get an immediate legal remedy, she’s going to end up probably the subject of ongoing domestic ­violence … which is another impost on the community, both socially and economically,” he said.

“There’s a legal issue there which is they need to go and get restraining orders and to sometimes get them enforced. They need help in getting advice on alternative accommodation and all those sort of things. A lot of these women’s legal services generally have a wrap­around service where they provide a mix of legal and other services.”

The NLAP agreement has come to the fore following revelations it provides about $20m a year to NAAJA, which has been besieged by scandal among its senior management, including allegations of misusing taxpayer funds, bulling, tax fraud and drug use against senior staff members.

Asked whether he had concerns over the integrity of some organisations that received money through the NLAP, Mr McIntyre said the government was “not going to give it to NAAJA in a situation where there’s any risk that it’s going to be misused”.