2022-23 Pre-Budget Submission

The submission to the Treasury for consideration in preparing the 2022-23 Federal Budget was prepared by the Law Council.

Key recommendations from the Law Council contained in this submission are as follows:

• Funding for Justice Impact Tests should be provided at the Commonwealth level to facilitate the smoother development of laws and policies which have downstream impacts on the justice system.
• The Australian Government should increase baseline ongoing funding by least $400 million per annum to Legal Aid Commissions (LAC), Community Legal Centres (CLC), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS), and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS) to address critical civil and criminal legal assistance service gaps.
• The Australian Government, in consultation with state and territory governments, the judiciary and the legal profession, should commission a full review of the resourcing needs of the judicial system with a commitment to then addressing those needs.
• The Australian Government should increase the resources of federal courts, tribunals and commissions by:
  • appointing additional judges and members;
  • promptly filling judicial vacancies;
  • providing adequate resources for registries;
  • improving relevant technology and infrastructure, including:
    • comprehensive electronic case management systems;
    • audio video capabilities in all courtrooms and other areas such as interview and break out rooms to allow parties to appear and access legal advice remotely; and
    • hearing and interview rooms, and separate waiting areas for matters involving children and domestic and family violence; and
  • improving court services in rural, regional and remote (RRR) areas.
• The Australian Government should substantially increase resources for the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT) including the appointment of new members in the Migration and Refugee Division (MRD) with the aim to meaningfully reduce case backlogs in that Division.
• The Australian Government should ensure adequate funding and resourcing of the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCA) to address critical backlogs and delays in family law proceedings.
• The Australian Government should ensure an improved family law system by implementing the remaining Australian Law Reform Commission’s (ALRC) recommendations which are supported by the Law Council, including:
  • continued funding to sustain judicial resourcing, particularly to ensure the replacement of judges promptly after retirement;
  • sustained funding of Court-based initiatives that aim to facilitate early dispute resolution, such as the Lighthouse Project, the Priority Property Pools under $500 000 (PPP500) program and the Court-based Family Dispute Resolution program; and
  • increased funding for family law services provided by legal aid commissions and community legal centres.
• The Australian Government should urgently increase funding to LACs to enable to enable them to improve the availability and quality of Independent Children’s Lawyers (ICL), including to fund the return of senior, experienced private practitioners to this work.
• The Australian Government should provide adequate, ongoing funding which meets demand for the Commonwealth Family Violence and Cross-Examination of Parties Scheme.
• The Australian Government should implement the new National Plan to Reduce Violence Against Women and their Children. This will require sustainable and appropriately funded and targeted specialist legal assistance services and court-based measures supported by social and economic measures.
• The Australian Government should allocate adequate, long-term funding for legal assistance services in RRR communities and investigate funding for the development of incentive programs that encourage solicitors to take up employment in these communities.
• Working with state and territory governments, commission a full review of the resourcing needs of RRR communities (including in relation to interactions with the justice system), with a commitment to then addressing those needs. This should include consideration of increased resourcing to fund adequate technology for internet reliability so that RRR communities have equal access to and opportunities for education and participation.
• Any review of resourcing should include nuanced and evidence-based considerations of the needs of vulnerable and digitally excluded Australians, to ensure that their legal needs are addressed and accommodated.
• The Australian Government should provide funding for a referendum regarding the establishment of a First Nations Voice to Parliament as a matter of priority.
• The Australian Government should:
  • implement the recommendations of the ALRC’s Pathways to Justice Report, informed by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander communities and their representatives, to meet or exceed the justice targets in the National Agreement on Closing the Gap;
  • ensure that the new Closing the Gap justice targets are backed by appropriate resourcing including for access to justice initiatives, particularly for Aboriginal community-controlled legal services, and preventative approaches spanning a wide range of health, housing, youth engagement, disability and broader services; and
  • establish and properly resource a national justice reinvestment body and expanded justice reinvestment trials, to redirect spending to long-term solutions that work (for example, early intervention, diversion, rehabilitation, therapeutic, and exit programs and strategies).
• The Australian Government should provide appropriate, sustained and increased funding for specialist legal assistance and aged care advocacy services, government agencies, and relevant tribunals that work towards reducing elder abuse.
• The Australian Government should:
  • re-instate full Commonwealth funding for the Immigration Advice and Application Assistance Scheme for all asylum seekers in need; and
  • provide additional resources to LACs and CLCs to address gaps in migration legal assistance.

• The Australian Government should reduce the filing fees for migration-related matters in the FCFCA.
• The Australian Government should set a target for the Humanitarian Program above the ceiling of 13,750 places allocated for the 2021-22 financial year so that its commitment to allocate 13,000 places to Afghans over the next four years amounts to a total increase to the Program, rather than a shuffling of allocation within it.
• The Australian Government aim to return to 20,000 places in the Humanitarian Program over the forward estimates.
• In consultation with, and in a manner endorsed by, the federal judiciary, the Australian Government should establish and adequately resource a Federal Judicial Commission to deal with any allegation of lack of competency, serious misconduct or corruption in the High Court, federal courts and AAT.
• The Australian Government must ensure that when established, the proposed Commonwealth Integrity Commission (CIC) is adequately funded to achieve its purpose.
• The Australian Government should provide appropriate resourcing to review and implement the remaining Respect@Work recommendations by the end of 2022.
• The Australian Government should adequately resource the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) to ensure that it can effectively carry out its investigation, complaint and conciliation functions and its function of enhancing public education and human rights resources.
• The Australian Government should review the funding of the Fair Work Ombudsman (FWO) to ensure that it is appropriately funded to meet the additional demand created by the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic.
• The Australian Government should review the funding of the Australian Competition and Consumer Commission (ACCC) to enable its enforcement program to be carried out effectively, which includes the ability to take action against Australian Consumer Law and other consumer law breaches.
• The Australian Government provide additional funding available to the legal assistance sector targeted at meeting the ongoing and increasing legal need of climate-impacted vulnerable and disadvantaged communities.
• The Australian Government should review current federal domestic legal frameworks regarding adaptation and mitigation to climate change, to ensure that they:
  • fully implement Australia’s international law obligations with respect to climate change;
  • respect, protect and fulfil Australia’s international human rights law obligations;
  • give effect to rule of law principles; and
  • are fair and equitable, promote public confidence and provide a just transition for affected communities.
• The Australian Government should provide funding to support the Law Council‘s activity in promoting the rule of law in the South Pacific region.

You can read the full submission below.

Last Updated on 10/02/2022

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• Policy Agenda Submissions