At the beginning of last year, Glenn Duker,
solicitor and lawyer, lamented the underfunded state of Australian
Legal Aid in Law Biz News. Unfortunately, the latest government budget
looks like it will only make this issue worse.
Since that article in January 2014, legal aid funding from the
Commonwealth has been slashed by $60 million. This has had a huge
impact on services such as the Aboriginal Family Violence Prevention
and Legal Service, Community Legal Centres, the Aboriginal & Torres
Strait Islander Legal Service, and, of course, Legal Aid. In March of
this year, the government injected $5.2 million into the Legal Aid fund
to help with complex criminal cases. While this was welcome, it was a
mere fraction of what has been lost and is nowhere near enough to
address the shortfall in what can be provided to those in need.
To address this problem, Legal Aid called for an additional $200
million. Without this, it argues, the country faces a “justice gap”, in
which those who can't afford legal action have no access to redress in
the courts. The main areas in which this effect can be seen is in
consumer law, and also those who have been affected by domestic
violence.
Gabrielle Canny, Chair of National Legal Aid, was involved in
“intense” negotiations with Commonwealth officials and was hopeful that
the asked-for funding would be allocated in the next budget.
Unfortunately, the unveiling of the budget showed that not only has
this funding allocation not taken place, but further reductions are
projected to occur from mid 2017.
It appears that the justice gap will continue - in fact, it's looking likely only to widen. Glenn Duker believes this is a shame in a country reputed to have one of the highest standards of living in the world.
For more information :- http://www.glenndukersolicitor.com.au/
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