Funding crucial for legal aid

ON April 24, the Federal Attorney General announced that the government had decided to not proceed with plans to cut 30 per cent, or $35 million, from community legal centres (CLC) from July 1, 2017.

Though it was met with great relief, the eleventh-hour announcement was becoming increasingly unexpected by the Australian legal profession, which had been united in the lengthy and committed Legal Aid Matters campaign, spearheaded by the Law Council of Australia.

The announcement also came after a historic Senate crossbench motion passed on the second last sitting day of parliament before the Federal Budget, which called upon the government to immediately respond to the funding crisis in the legal assistance sector and the federal courts.

In the NT, CLCs are underresourced, in extremely high demand and do not enjoy the benefits of economies of scale that organisations in larger jurisdictions sometimes do.

The July 1 cuts would have been crippling in the NT and had devastating consequences, especially for families, women and children, and remote and indigenous Territorians.

The government’s announcement was therefore very much welcomed by CLCs in the Northern Territory.

This is not the end of the discussion, however.

On a broader level, the legal assistance sector in Australia is underfunded and this takes a severe social and economic toll on the community.

For Australia to have a fully functional justice system, it must have a sustainable system of legal aid.

This means additional funding is still required from the Federal Government.

In 2014, the Productivity Commission’s inquiry into Access to Justice recommended that the legal assistance sector needed an interim funding injection of $200 million to enable the sector to maintain existing frontline services and broaden the scope of legal assistance services.

This has never been acted on.

Also, the Federal Government’s contribution to legal aid funding has been declining in real terms — its funding contribution has reduced from $11.22 per capita in 1997 to around $7.84 today. The Law Council of Australia, with the support of the Law Society Northern Territory and the NT Bar Association, has been calling for the Federal Government to restore its contribution to legal aid funding to 50 per cent in line with the Territory Government’s contribution and to provide the interim injection of funds as recommended by the Productivity Commission.

There is a sound social and economic policy basis for properly resourcing Australia’s courts and legal assistance sector.

For every $1 spent on legal aid, there is a return of between $1.60 to $2.25 in efficiency savings to the justice system — not to mention the additional savings in areas such as health, housing, social security and other community services.

Let’s invest the smart way upfront and enjoy the savings down the track, so we can put the extra money into other areas, like our schools and hospitals.

The legal profession will continue to be a loud voice in support of these objectives and access to justice for the entire community.