Questions over what is happening with Australia’s legal aid continued to be asked in federal parliament last week.

Tony Windsor MP asked Attorney-General Philip Ruddock what his plans for funding in the area were, and what provisions in the Budget had been made.

Would the A-G increase national legal aid funding to provide for duty solicitors at the Family Court, Windsor asked.

These lawyers were provided for litigants who have been denied legal aid, and are therefore forced to represent themselves, he said.

Windsor asked whether there had been any provision in the Budget to provide regional litigants with better access to the Family Court Registries in metropolitan areas.

Ruddock was also asked whether Commonwealth funding for legal aid had decreased since 1996 and, if so, whether he would restore funding.