THE HON MARK DREYFUS QC MP
SHADOW ATTORNEY-GENERAL
SHADOW MINISTER FOR THE ARTS
MEMBER FOR ISAACS
George Brandis STICKS HEAD IN SAND on Legal assistance
The Abbott Government is stubbornly refusing to provide more legal assistance funding despite clear evidence that those most in need will miss out from its mean-spirited budget.
On Friday, a group of State and Territory attorneys-general, including his Liberal Party colleagues in NSW and Tasmania, informed Senator George Brandis that budget funding for legal assistance under a proposed new National Partnership Agreement was insufficient.
Their position is consistent with the Productivity Commission report that found that an additional $200 million a year needs to be injected into legal assistance funding.
Yet in a draft national partnership agreement New South Wales, Queensland, Victoria, South Australia and Tasmania will have their funding cut and support for community legal centres will be cut by $12 million a year in two years time. Already the Redfern Community Legal Centre and the HIV/Aids CLC have been forced to launch a public appeal for donations to maintain their current service levels.
But Senator Brandis is pig-headedly refusing to budge and acknowledge this legal funding crisis and the concerns of legal professional bodies like the Law Council of Australia and the Australian Bar Association.
The Law Council has made clear the level of unmet legal need in Australia is now overwhelming and the budget cuts will heavily impact service providers.
Senator Brandis is holding a gun to the States and Territories and demanding they sign this mean-spirited agreement, said shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus QC.
With population growth and rising demand for legal assistance that maintaining the status quo is not an option and Senator Brandis should not be placing the States and Territories in this position.
If Senator Brandis says he is unable to find the additional money, then this is an indictment of the Abbott Governments short-term political priorities. These mean-spirited cuts to legal assistance will have long-term consequences not only for the most vulnerable in our community but all Australians.
SUNDAY, 24 MAY 2015
