THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR NATIONAL SECURITY
FEDERAL MEMBER FOR ISAACS
BRANDIS AND TURNBULL'S FAILURE FORCING STATES TO PICK UP THE TAB ON COMMUNITY LEGAL CENTRES
The New South Wales Liberal Government has highlighted the Turnbull Governments failure to support the Community Legal sector by picking up the tab for Senator Brandis 30 per cent cut in Commonwealth funding for Community Legal Centres for the next two years.
This is a stunning policy rebuke to Malcolm Turnbull by his Liberal Party colleagues in the New South Wales Government.
Hot on the heels of a similar announcement by the Tasmanian Government, the only other State or Territory with a Liberal Government, Turnbull and Brandis are now well and truly alone in their disdain for the Community Legal sector.
Community Legal Centres are at the frontline of the fight against family violence, with family violence related advice making up the majority of work done by many of these centres.
When even Liberal State Governments call out the Turnbull Governments failure to support Community Legal Centres and their clients, you know that Turnbull and Brandis's cuts have gone too far.
The Community Legal sector deserves support and respect. It should not be used as a pawn in Turnbull's game of cost-shifting to the states.
While the Turnbull Governments priorities are to give a $50 billion tax cut to big business, a Labor Government will invest in schools and Medicare and restore Brandis's funding cuts to the Community Legal sector.
WEDNESDAY, 5 APRIL 2017
