The Law Society of Western Australia Gala Dinner and Annual Awards Celebration for the Legal Profession
12 September 2024
On 6 September 2024, Greg McIntyre SC, President of the Law Council, spoke at the Law Society of WA Gala Dinner held at the Crown Towers in Perth.
In his speech, President McIntyre highlighted the announcement made by Prime Minister and Attorney-General Dreyfus that a Heads of Agreement had been signed for a new National Access to Justice Partnership.
While the Law Council welcomed the funding, President McIntyre emphasised that much more is needed.
“This is a sector that has been chronically under-resourced over many years, and we acknowledge the progress made towards a new agreement commencing in the next financial year, which will provide much-needed certainty to legal assistance services in the sector.
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, 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.”
Read the full speech below.
Last Updated on 19/09/2024
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