An independent review of legal service funding has found that current levels are insufficient to meet Australia’s legal assistance needs, especially help for marginalised groups, which legal services say they have been raising concerns about for years.
The Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP), which provides federal and state funding for Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, was compiled by Dr Warren Mundy, who was asked to consider the future of the partnership and its ability to provide access to legal services.
He gave his review to the federal government in March. It was publicly released on Tuesday, just under three months after the government received it.
The review makes 39 recommendations and identifies a range of issues, including funding shortfalls and staffing, that affect the sector’s capacity to deliver legal services. The NLAP was due to expire at the end of June.
“Current funding levels are insufficient to meet the legal assistance needs of the Australian community,” Dr Mundy said.
“Government has treated service providers like sporting clubs tendering for funds to renovate a block of change rooms.”
Noting a previous review of the sector, where he said 18 recommendations to improve legal assistance in Australia were made but only three were taken up by the then-government, Dr Mundy said “there is not much point to a review if its work and recommendations do not lead to transformational change”.
“We’ve been saying for a long time that governments need to do more to deliver justice for communities across Australia. The review confirms this and identifies many parts of the legal assistance sector that need to be better resourced,” Community Legal Centres Australia, the peak body for community legal services, said in a statement.
“Community legal centres have just 13 months of funding remaining.
“Governments must now move fast to use the review’s findings and recommendations to agree a new national agreement to fund legal assistance.”
Dr Mundy also found most providers had existed for more than a decade, and were mostly or solely funded by government.
He found there to be very little evidence of maladministration in the sector.
‘There are parts of Australia with no legal assistance’
Dr Mundy said that “broader socio-economic conditions and policy changes” were contributing to the increase in legal need, including the growing economic disadvantage of marginalised groups and state and territory criminal law reform, particularly concerning bail, sentencing and family violence.
“There are parts of Australia where there are little or no legal assistance services provided to disadvantaged and vulnerable people,” he said.
The review found Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience greater unmet legal needs than any other group in the community.
The peak body representing Australia’s seven state and territory-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services said the review found that government funding arrangements must deliver better justice outcomes for First Nations people.
“NATSILS (National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services) will be reviewing the report in detail, but it’s immediately clear this is a vindication of what we’ve been saying all along. Our government resourcing is totally inadequate and doesn’t come close to meeting the legal needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which is an affront to justice and an obstacle to Closing the Gap,” NATSILS chair Karly Warner said.
NATSILS called on the government to implement all of Dr Mundy’s recommendations.
Recently, Aboriginal legal services in the Northern Territory have been under strain. In Alice Springs, one of the nation’s largest Indigenous legal aid services, the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), stopped taking on new criminal matters.
The day after NAAJA announced the moratorium on new cases, the NT’s only other legal aid service, the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission, announced it would also cut back on services in Alice Springs.
Dr Mundy’s recommendations
The government has not yet said what recommendations, if any, it will adopt out of the 39 made by Dr Mundy.
“The Commonwealth, states and territories will carefully consider the report and continue working together to agree on how best to support the sector to provide access to justice in the next partnership agreement from 1 July 2025,” a statement from Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus’s office said.
There are several recommendations to increase funding for the sector, including an extra $459 million to ease means test criteria for civil matters.
“Over 1.5 million people living below the poverty line are ineligible for legal assistance under current means tests,” Dr Mundy wrote.
The recommendations include:
- ABS conducts a legal needs survey every five years, addressing unmet geographic needs across Australia.
- Recognition of underserved areas with little to no legal assistance, especially for disadvantaged and vulnerable populations.
- Proposal for additional funding of $250,000 starting from 2024–25 for Women’s Legal Services Australia to act as the national women’s legal assistance peak.
- $12 million allocated to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and $4 million to Family Violence Prevention Legal Services to ensure they have the capacity to develop their organisations and for other matters.
- Emphasis on proper access to justice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Australians, highlighting the essential need for adequate interpreter funding.
- Reduce competitive tendering for legal assistance and allocate sufficient grants, especially for family, criminal, and civil matters under NLAP.
- Proposal to establish a working group to develop a framework for future levels and structures of legal aid grants, including culturally appropriate approaches.
- A HECS-HELP forgiveness scheme starting in 2025-26 for rural, regional, and remote community sector lawyers, similar to existing schemes in medical and teaching fields.
‘Same job, same pay’
Dr Mundy also found the legal services sector was a highly feminised workforce, leading to a pay disparity.
“I am recommending that the Commonwealth adopt a policy of ‘same job, same pay’ for legal assistance workers,” he said.
He recommended an increase in funding to all the major legal services to “close the wage gap”.
The review found contracts in the sector were often limited to a year or two on lower pay “without certainty of rights like long service and parental leave.”
“The Commonwealth should withhold funding until it receives evidence that employment contracts have been varied.”
Women’s Legal Services Australia welcomed the report.
“This report highlights the significant unmet legal needs of women in the community,” executive officer Lara Freidin said.
She called on the government to focus on women when developing the next funding agreement.
“In the midst of a women’s safety crisis, we are pleased this report recommends dedicated funding for women’s legal services and investment in our capacity to support victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence.”