New agreement welcome, but misses many access to justice needs

“We are very pleased that legal assistance services now have the certainty of knowing the national agreement between jurisdictions on access to justice funding will continue beyond July next year and into the future, but we strongly believe this is a missed opportunity to make sure that all Australians in need can access timely legal assistance,” Law Council of Australia President, Mr Greg McIntyre SC said.

“Australia’s legal assistance sector provides a broad range of advice, support and representation to members of our community who are experiencing significant vulnerability, need, hardship and stress.

“These essential services provide help in so many ways, including to women fleeing harm; those facing discrimination in the workplace; people experiencing elder abuse; those facing criminal charges; people at risk of homelessness; and First Nations people with acute legal need.

“Services across the country are having to turn people away because they are under-resourced. The necessary Commonwealth funding uplift was quantified by Dr Warren Mundy in his landmark Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership and is estimated to be around $500 million a year.

“While we acknowledge there has been an increase in funding from the previous agreement, we remain disappointed that the NAJP agreed to at the meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys-General last Friday continues to fall well short of this recommended amount and seems to have overlooked many critical areas of concern.

“This includes resourcing of legal aid commissions to expand current means testing arrangements and increase grants of legal aid, particularly for those areas where we know there is substantial unmet need, including family and civil law, employment law, consumer law, social security decisions and elder abuse.

“We remain especially concerned about the flow-on effects of continued underfunding of the sector on the private legal profession, who undertake more than 70 per cent of legal aid funded matters. Rates paid for such work are at unsustainably low levels which is forcing lawyers out of being able to undertake this increasingly complex work.

“There is no access to justice without skilled individuals who are willing and able to deliver it. This will particularly impact access to justice for Australians living in rural, regional and remote parts of the country.”