As the election looms, the Commonwealth Government has provided more than $14 million in additional funding for legal assistance services in the NT, bringing the total investment in the area to more than $80 million in four years.

Attorney-General, Robert McClelland and Federal Member for Solomon, Damian Hale visited the Darwin Community Legal Service to announce the additional funding.

As part of this investment, the Darwin Community Legal Service will receive around $348,000 to support their partnership with the Darwin Family Relationship Centre to provide legal advice and assistance to separating families and people at risk of homelessness.

“It is important that families in Darwin and the Northern Territory have access to a range of legal, counselling and information services to support them when they most need it,” Hale said.

“The Darwin Community Legal Service is a great example of the work Community Legal Centres do in providing expert advice and assistance for the local community and I congratulate the Centre for their hard work and commitment.”

In this year’s Budget the Government invested an additional $154 million into legal assistance services across the country, including over $26 million for Community Legal Centres.

This represents the single biggest funding injection in the history of the program and brings the Commonwealth’s total contribution for legal assistance services to over $1.2 billion over four years.