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LCA: Urgent reform needed on access to justice
Speaking on Wednesday at the National Press Club, the peak national legal representative body argued for immediate changes to the ways Australians can access the justice system.
Jerome Doraisamy
Law Council of Australia president Morry Bailes, together with immediate past president Fiona McLeod SC, released a progress report on its nationwide Justice Project, which is examining the state of access to justice for numerous disadvantaged groups and vulnerable persons across Australia.
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We need to value a just society, Mr Bailes said, and not merely one which keeps law and order.
“The values of equality, of democracy and of justice underpin who we are as a nation. If those values are compromised…so are we,” he said.
Ms McLeod added that reform is a project that transcends party politics, and is instead about supporting our most vulnerable and lifting them out of disadvantage.
“It’s absolutely clear that a systemic lack of access to justice contributes enormously to cycles of intergenerational trauma and disadvantage within communities,” she said.
The Justice Project is therefore one of the most important pieces of work LCA has ever undertaken, the two argued, given how many Australians are “falling through the cracks”.
The pair release three early recommendations, as part of its progress report, in support of their advocacy for urgent reform.
These recommendations were for a “whole of government approach to reform”, by way of embedding access to justice within multidisciplinary policy and funding frameworks, and the introduction of justice impact tests for government policies, like the tests now in place in the United Kingdom.
In addition, the pair recommended additional funding for legal assistance and the courts to the tune of $390 million per annum, in order for the legal assistance system – which, they said, features overloaded courts and waiting times of up to three years – to “get back on its feet”.
“We must recognise the preventative, everyday role of timely, effective legal assistance in stopping simple problems from escalating into more serious, often criminal matters, costing the taxpayer and the community,” Mr Bailes said.
Ms McLeod also spoke of the personal impact of the Justice Project’s work, and how it had reinforced the need for timely action.
“I heard stories that moved and stunned me,” she recounted.
“A new mother in jail, whose child was removed within 24 hours of birth and placed into state care…women jailed after calling the police to report domestic violence because they had unpaid fines.”
“Australia needs a plan. The Justice Project will provide us with a roadmap,” she concluded.
