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19 Torrens St Braddon
ACT 1612 || GPO Box 1989
Canberra ACT 2601
Telephone +61 2 6246 3788
Facsimilie +61 2 6248 0639
MR4009
11 December 2009
Legal Bodies Unite to Lobby for
Access to
Justice for all Australians
The Law Council and a coalition of legal bodies have called on the Government
to restore access to justice for Australia’s most socially disadvantaged citizens.
The call comes in the wake of a new report on legal aid funding, which identifies
the on-going decline in access to legal aid, and calculates that an injection of
$43.2 million is needed to restore it to pre-1997 levels.
The PricewaterhouseCoopers report on Legal Aid Funding also points out that in
some Australian states the means tests for legal aid are so strict that even people
who fall below the poverty line do not qualify for legal aid.
The report was commissioned by the Victorian Bar, the Australian
Bar
Association, the Law Institute of Victoria and the Law Council,
to lobby for a
massive overhaul of federal/state legal aid funding.
Law Council President John Corcoran said, “No-one should have to face a court
on their own because they can’t pay for a lawyer. It flies in the face of equality
before the law – a core part of the integrity of our legal system.”
According to the report, the Commonwealth per capita contribution to legal aid
commissions in 1997 was $9.65. In 2008/2009, the level of funding was $8.26 per
capita and forecast to decline even further.
“As states and territories have been forced to take up more responsibility for legal
aid funding, this has exacerbated the unfair and unequal access to legal aid
according to where people live,” Mr Corcoran said.
The Victorian Bar’s David Neal SC, who project managed the report, said,
"Funding for legal aid is in crisis. We need the federal and state governments to
stop the blame game and come up with a national solution for an issue which
goes to the heart of the Australian system of justice."
“While we applaud the Government’s commitment to funding initiatives for
alternative dispute resolution programs and legal information systems, funding at
the coal-face of our justice system is declining in
real terms,” Mr Corcoran
concluded.
To access the report, visit,
77935F-1E4F-17FA-D20C-5FED259F0708&siteName=lca
Media Contact:
Ben Caddaye, Law Council: P. 02 6246 3725 || M. 041 399 3038
Alicia Patterson, Victorian Bar: 0403 172024
The Law Council of Australia exists to represent the legal profession at
the national level, to speak on behalf of its constituent bodies on national
issues, and to promote the administration of justice, access to justice
and general improvement of the law.
NEWS 
