Law Council of Australia

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National Access to Justice Partnership

6 September 2024

The Law Council welcomes today’s announcement that a Heads of Agreement has been signed for a new National Access to Justice Partnership, and strongly supports the focus on uplifting legal assistance services responding to gender based violence and achieving pay parity across the legal assistance sector.

“This is a sector that has been chronically under resourced over many years, and we acknowledge the progress made towards a new agreement for the next financial year, which will provide much needed certainty to legal assistance services in the sector,” Law Council of Australia President, Mr Greg McIntyre SC said.

The Commonwealth’s confirmed additional commitment of nearly $800 million over five years represents a substantial increase on previous years and will go some way to addressing key recommendations arising from Dr Warren Mundy’s recent independent review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership.

However, after years of stagnant Commonwealth funding in this area, more is needed.

“We applaud this significant injection of funding, and the Attorney General’s ongoing commitment to the cause,” Mr McIntyre said. “But it is not enough and falls well short of the amounts recommended. We strongly encourage the Commonwealth to continue to work with its State and Territory counterparts to build on this momentum and ensure that each of Dr Mundy’s recommendations is implemented in full.

“More is required beyond today’s announcement to address key areas of identified unmet need within the legal assistance sector. This includes, for example, increased resourcing of legal aid commissions to expand current means testing arrangements and increase grants of legal aid to facilitate legal representation for some of our most marginalised members of society, especially in rural, regional and remote areas of the country.

“Over 70 per cent of legal aid approved matters are assigned to private practitioners. However, it is becoming increasingly unviable for the private profession to offer support to legal aid clients under current conditions. This leaves many individuals without the legal help they require to navigate complex legal systems such as family law disputes.

“These are issues that can only be addressed through continued financial investment from governments, building on the one we have seen today.

“While we await the details on how additional funding will be allocated, there are currently critical unmet legal needs across multiple areas—including for example, employment law, consumer law, government decision making, social security, elder abuse, and criminal law.

“Today’s announcement is certainly a positive step for access to justice in Australia. However, the job is far from done. Commonwealth, State and Territory governments must all work together to further recognise the critical role the legal assistance sector plays in Australia, and the significant benefits for all Australians, both financially and socially, from government investment in these services.”

Last Updated on 06/09/2024

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