July 2015 - ABC AM
Michael Edwards, Michael Brissenden
Transcript
Michael Brissenden: Lawyers say a lack of funding for community legal services could cripple the sector and cause long-term consequences, including higher crime and domestic violence levels.
The Commonwealth Government has committed $1.3 billion in funding for community-based legal aid.
But the Law Council says this number falls well short of what is needed and community-based lawyers say it's the poor and vulnerable who will be worst affected.
Michael Edwards has this report.
Michael Edwards: The Redfern Community Legal Centre is one of the busiest legal aid operations of its type in the country.
Jo Shulman: We provide basic civil law services. So that's anything from housing disputes to domestic violence to complaints about police to credit and debt issues.
Michael Edwards: Jo Shulman runs the service and she tells me the centre is barely keeping up with demand.
Jo Shulman: We already turn away many people each year and we're unable to meet the current need. That's both because of our current resources but also because we've had funding cuts this year. And so that, you know, we're not able to meet the demand that's out there.
Michael Edwards: And the situation could get worse.
The Federal Government has announced a funding package for community legal aid organisations: $1.3 billion over five years.
The Attorney-General, George Brandis, says the agreement provides for a fair and more systematic approach to the funding allocation to deliver legal services to vulnerable people.
But the Law Council of Australia says the figure falls well short.
Mark Woods: The answer is: it's nowhere near what we need.
Michael Edwards: Mark Woods is the chairman of the Access to Justice Committee at the Law Council of Australia.
Mark Woods: The Commonwealth spends such a small amount of money on civil legal aid that its own Productivity Commission said, towards the end of last year, there should be $200 million extra per year put into the legal aid system by governments, state and federal, just to give us some proper semblance of a civil justice system.
Michael Edwards: Mark Woods says the $200 million shortfall will see many people who can least afford it miss out on vital legal services.
Mark Woods: In criminal law, it means that there are a number of people who should be legally represented who aren't. And whilst that might not concern some people, it should do because if we're going to have a fair society, everybody should be equal before the law.
The second problem is the increasingly recognised difficulty of family violence. The Law Council knows that there is no substitute for effective legal representation if you're a victim of domestic violence.
You need to be able to get to court and get enforceable orders that are going to make sure, firstly, that the violence stops and secondly that there's a reasonable outcome in family law terms.
Michael Edwards: Jo Shulman says the funding package means that places like the Redfern Legal Centre will have to cut the number of people they can help by as much as a quarter.
Across Australia, that could mean thousands of people missing out on legal aid. And Ms Shulman warns there will be serious long-term consequences that society will eventually have to pay for - one way or another.
Jo Shulman: If we don't provide a legal intervention at a point in someone's life when they really are in crisis - where they're facing domestic violence or where they're about to be evicted into homelessness - that problem simply escalates. And we're looking at increased government spending instead being spent in the welfare system or in the prison system.
Michael Edwards: The Federal Government says the funding package is the result of more than a year of intensive consultations with state and territory governments and the legal assistance sector.
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