Law Council of Australia

Media

National Access to Justice Partnership

13 September 2024

The Law Council welcomed the 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.

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.

Read the full media release below.

Last Updated on 19/09/2024

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