Federal funding cuts harm the most vulnerable
Women, children, Aborigines now at increased risk of harm, warns Lisa Singh
TASMANIA is a community that prides itself on protecting its vulnerable citizens.
Witness the outpouring of shock and sympathy that followed the tragic death of Olga Neubert in May as an example of our community’s stand against family violence.
But sympathy is not enough to protect the most vulnerable. We must also fully fund the services to support vulnerable Tasmanians.
Unfortunately, the Abbott Government’s funding does not support delivery of legal assistance services to meet demand. There are significant areas of unmet need and shortfalls mean disadvantaged Australians, including victims of domestic violence, are ignored by our justice system.
Community Legal Centres in Tasmania are integral to stopping that cycle. They provide access to justice and advice on legal issues for the most defenceless Tasmanians.
However, in Joe Hockey’s 2014 Federal Budget, CLCs copped a flogging. Although the Government backpedalled somewhat, after sustained protest from Labor and strong community opposition, cuts have still been enforced across Tasmania.
Why would a government, meant to govern for all, target the most marginalised? Recent research shows what an important role CLCs play in protecting women.
We know that of those seeking advice from CLCs a disproportionately large number are women, with violence against women and children the main issue.
The Tasmanian Aboriginal Centre’s Aboriginal Legal Service recently lost its funding, after 42 years of providing legal services. Statistically, Aborigines are over-represented in our prison systems, with the Australian Institute of Criminology calculating imprisonment rates of 12 times that of the wider Australian population. Yet Tasmanian clients of the ALS have been left stranded without any confidence of local legal advice from July 1.
Commonwealth funding for Tasmania’s Environmental Defenders Office ceased on July 1 last year. Since then, our local EDO has survived on donations and is severely limited in its ability to provide services for the community.
The EDO has protected farmers’ rights when mining is proposed on their property, defended endangered species and the World Heritage Area and helped negotiate between businesses and residents to improve the life of their neighbourhood. That work has been curtailed, those successes may not be repeated.
The 2014 Productivity Commission inquiry into access to justice recommended an additional $200 million in funding CLCs. Instead, the 2015 Federal Budget cut $370,000 from legal aid and $200,000 from CLCs.
CLCs run on the smell of an oily rag with a minimum of administrative staff to support lawyers. These cuts mean the loss of jobs, limited opening hours and fewer opportunities for clients to receive advice.
This will have an effect on access to justice. Frontline services will be affected by the closure of outreach services that provide help in isolated communities, intervening early before problems become intractable.
It will mean domestic violence victims lose legal representation in court and are subject to public crossexamination by their attacker. It will mean those in serious situations of workplace harassment, homelessness, eviction and debt will be denied help.
Community Law Australia executive officer Liana Buchanan stated: “The reality is that Community Legal Centres already struggle to meet demand so ... cuts to services mean that they will have to start closing outreach offices, cutting back services, stopping duty law services for victims of family violence.”
Withdrawal of funding from essential legal services that protect women, such as CLCs and Legal Aid, leaves people exposed to greater risk of violence and exploitation. When Joe Hockey defunds a community lawyer who represents women seeking apprehended violence orders, or a centre that challenges unfair credit contracts, he empowers those who take advantage of the vulnerable.
As we have seen in the cuts to Women’s Legal Services Tasmania, this has a serious effect on our community and court system. Lisa Singh is a Labor senator and shadow parliamentary secretary for Environment, Climate Change and Water.