The LCA was the first legal body to slam this year’s budget, saying the funding dedicated to legal aid for 2019-20 is “abysmal” and does little to address a “huge justice deficit”.

“The budget may be in surplus but Australia will remain in a significant justice deficit so long as the government fails to deliver adequate funding for Legal Aid Commissions (LACs), Community Legal Centres (CLCs), Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services,” LCA president Arthur Moses SC said.

“Additional funding of $20 million, while welcome, does not come close to addressing the minimum $310 million a year shortfall identified by the Law Council, which is required to address decades of chronic underfunding of the legal assistance sector, and includes $200 million recommended by the government’s own Productivity Commission for civil law alone.

“The provision of an additional $10 million for the sector over three years starting in 2020-21 provides some funding certainty and, while welcome, does not address underfunding concerns.

“For too long, the community legal sector has been subject to a hand-to-mouth existence that has had a real impact on the ability of these centres to provide services to vulnerable members of our community.”

Community divide

“We should not have two classes of citizens in this country – those who can afford justice and those who cannot – yet this is the unfortunate reality for Australians,” Mr Moses said, noting that this year’s budget is both “disappointing” and “represents a false economy”.

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“Australian courts and legal assistance are vital social infrastructure that have long been neglected,” he added.

“Vulnerable people in our community will continue to face significant barriers to justice until more legal assistance funding is allocated, as the Law Council’s Justice Project report illustrates.

“[Last night’s] budget represents a missed opportunity to make a direct difference to peoples’ lives.”

ATSILS acknowledgement welcomed

Despite slamming the aforementioned aspects in the budget, Mr Moses did give thanks to the Treasurer for reserving proposed cuts and providing additional funding of $16.7 million over three years for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS), noting that doing so allows the nation's Indigenous Legal Assistance Program and funding for ATSILS to remain independent from one another.

“ATSILS provide specialised and culturally appropriate legal services for some of the most marginalised people in our community. They need to maintain independence to effectively continue their vital work,” Mr Moses said.

The courts dilemma

Mr Moses also welcomed a funding increase of almost $7 million for the federal courts in 2019-20, but overall said it “fails to address the chronic underfunding and under-resourcing of the federal courts”.

This is in addition to the $35 million set aside to support the expansion of the jurisdiction of the Federal Court of Australia to include corporate crime, he noted. 

“A thorough review of the resourcing needs of federal courts and tribunals is desperately needed,” Mr Moses said.

Mr Moses also reiterated the LCA’s “staunch opposition” to the government’s proposed merger of the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court, following last month’s plea to government to dedicate additional funding, rather than combine the two, in its pre-Budget submission. 

“Without doubt Australia’s family law system is in need of reform but the proposed restructure currently before the Senate will hurt Australian families and compound the courts’ problems, not solve them,” Mr Moses said.

“Ramming through flawed legislation in the days before an election is inevitably called risks causing more harm, confusion and cost.”