The state opposition has warned moves to hire in-house lawyers across the government could lead to compromised legal advice in departments as compared to advice provided “without fear or favour” from the State Solicitor’s Office.
The Department of Premier and Cabinet will spend $6 million over the next four years to establish a four-person general counsel function that would deal with “whole-of-government legal matters, including strategic reform initiatives and legislative proposals”.
A move to hire in-house counsel has angered the opposition.Credit: Jessica Shapiro
However, that function is currently performed by the State Solicitor’s Office – a taxpayer-funded law firm at the disposal of the government for legal advice and representation.
But Liberal MP David Honey said the money was a wasteful duplication of legal resources, and the move to having more in-house lawyers would mean less independent legal advice for government decisions.
“[The State Solicitor’s Office] are very highly regarded for the way they give advice, and they won’t be bullied by departments to give the advice that the department wants. They’re famous for it,” he said.
“Having in-house lawyers … it’s not a criticism of them as individuals, but when they’re embedded in the department like that, they’re going to be more inclined to give departments the advice they want to hear or their bosses the advice they want to hear.”
In response to Honey’s questions about the $6 million spend at a budget estimates hearing on Tuesday, Premier Roger Cook revealed several government agencies already had in-house counsel – as did other premier and cabinet agencies in Australia.
Cook said it was a response to the department’s expanded need for legal services in recent years, and that dealing with smaller legal matters in-house would make them “better customers” of the SSO.
“In recent years the department’s reliance on the SSO for legal advice has led to unsustainable demands on its resources,” he said.
“The establishment of a general counsel function in the department will ensure that both the department and the SSO can most effectively discharge their roles and responsibilities.”
Cook said the in-house team would be involved in policy development and would better assist the government in developing instructions for the Parliamentary Counsel’s Office, which drafts legislation on behalf of government.
Department of Premier and Cabinet director general Emily Roper revealed that over the past two to three years, SSO staff had been embedded in the department, a move initially thought to be temporary, but which had become ongoing.
She said the department had been discussing with the office over the past six months whether it might be pragmatic to have those staff permanently based there.
“We have had a pretty intense legal requirement over the past few years,” she said.
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