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Legal assistance sector receives largest funding increase in 20 years
The national cabinet has committed nearly $800 million over the next five years to enhance critical legal services, addressing the ongoing challenge of gender-based violence in Australia.
Grace Robbie
Last week, the national cabinet signed a heads of agreement for a new National Access to Justice Partnership, providing a “critical increase” of nearly $800 million to the legal assistance sector over the next five years.
Under the newly established National Access to Justice Partnership with the states and territories, the Commonwealth government is poised to allocate $3.9 billion to bolster frontline legal assistance services.
This includes Legal Aid commissions, community legal centres, Women’s Legal services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services and family violence prevention legal services.
The national cabinet has disclosed that this substantial financial commitment constitutes the “largest injection of funding to the legal assistance sector in 20 years and provides much-needed funding certainty for hundreds of services nationwide, including many who provide holistic support for victims and survivors of gender-based violence”.
The funding agreement, revealed during a national cabinet meeting last Friday (6 September), is a critical component of a broader $4.7 billion package aimed to address the “national crisis of family, domestic and sexual violence and support legal assistance”.
This new partnership will take effect upon the conclusion of the current National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) on 30 June 2025.
The national cabinet outlined how “the government’s commitment of funding for the partnership, well before the expiry of the NLAP, will give the sector the certainty it needs to continue vital services”.
The full details of the National Access to Justice Partnership will be finalised through the Standing Council of Attorneys-General towards the end of this year.
In response to this announcement, Prime Minister Anthony Albanese said: “We recognise that the legal assistance sector plays a vital role in that response.
“Legal assistance helps victims safely leave and recover from violent relationships, through access to finances, secure housing and safe arrangements for children.
“Today’s announcement builds on our government’s efforts to provide better access to services for women and children fleeing domestic and family violence.”
Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus also commented on the new National Access to Justice Partnership, stating: “I have spent decades fighting for a better deal for the legal assistance sector. Legal assistance is essential to ensuring access to justice and equality before the law for all Australians, and safety for victims and survivors of family, domestic and sexual violence.
“I thank the many workers on the frontline who have been tireless advocates for the sector and for the rights of the thousands of Australians who rely on them every year.
“This funding is critical – it will mean that essential frontline services can continue to operate and help the most vulnerable in our community.”
Greg McIntyre SC, the president of the Law Council of Australia, expressed the Law Council’s strong support for the national cabinet’s announcement regarding the new National Access to Justice Partnership. He also commended the initiative for its commitment to supporting legal assistance services that address and respond to gender-based issues.
“This is a sector that has been chronically under-resourced over many years, and we acknowledge the progress made towards a new agreement for the next financial year, which will provide much-needed certainty to legal assistance services in the sector,” McIntyre said.
However, McIntyre voiced how further measures and additional action are necessary from the government to address and support this critical area effectively.
“But it is not enough and falls well short of the amounts recommended. We strongly encourage the Commonwealth to continue to work with its state and territory counterparts to build on this momentum and ensure that each of Dr Mundy’s recommendations is implemented in full.
“More is required beyond today’s announcement to address key areas of identified unmet need within the legal assistance sector. This includes, for example, increased resourcing of legal aid commissions to expand current means testing arrangements and increase grants of legal aid to facilitate legal representation for some of our most marginalised members of society, especially in rural, regional and remote areas of the country,” McIntyre said.
“Today’s announcement is certainly a positive step for access to justice in Australia. However, the job is far from done. Commonwealth, state and territory governments must all work together to further recognise the critical role the legal assistance sector plays in Australia and the significant benefits for all Australians, both financially and socially, from government investment in these services.”
