MR# 1351

23 December 2013

Law Council opposes cuts to legal assistance

The Law Council has called on the Federal Government to guarantee proposed cuts to the legal assistance sector will not affect the provision of front line legal services. Law Council of Australia President, Mr Michael Colbran QC, also sought an assurance from the AttorneyGeneral that he would do all in his power to resist any further cuts to legal assistance services in the forthcoming federal budget, and in subsequent budget processes. The call comes after the release of the Mid-Year Economic and Fiscal Outlook last week, under which the Federal Government announced reductions in legal assistance sector funding of $43.1 million. The Law Council acknowledges the Governments primary objective of finding budgetary savings is to reduce the federal budget deficit and to limit funding reductions to law reform and advocacy programs maintained by some legal assistance providers. However, the Law Council is concerned some of the programs may have been inappropriately identified as law reform and advocacy programs and that the proposed cuts will have a significant impact on the capacity of already chronically under-funded legal assistance bodies to provide legal services to disadvantaged Australians, Mr Colbran said. The Law Council has received advice from Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services that the proposed funding cuts will impact on frontline legal services. The Law Council has consistently observed over many years that the level of funding provided to legal assistance services is unsustainable - it is clear that those organisations require urgent additional funding in order to meet increasing demand for legal assistance services. The Law Council is also concerned that the cuts have been announced before the findings of the Review of the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services have been made public; and before the current Productivity Commission Review of Access to Justice Arrangements has been concluded. The Law Council is particularly concerned about funding cuts for ATSILS. It is well known to the Government that imprisonment rates for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are alarming and have been rising for many years. This is a time for increasing legal assistance and justice reinvestment programs, which would be consistent with the Prime Ministers undertaking to be a Prime Minister for Indigenous Australians. These cuts will ultimately create a net burden for the economy and work counter to the Governments objectives. Actuarial studies of return-on-investment in Legal Aid Commissions and Community Legal Centres have repeatedly demonstrated that funding cuts to legal assistance services are more likely to result in greater downstream costs for the economy and society as a whole, Mr Colbran concluded.

Vanessa Kleinschmidt, Director, Government and Corporate Affairs P. 02 6246 3716 // M. 0408 014 110 E. vanessa.kleinschmidt@lawcouncil.asn.au // www.lawcouncil.asn.au