Shayne Neumann (Blair, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

by leave—on behalf of the member for Dunkley, I move:

That this House:

(1) recognises the vital role played by Community Legal Centres in Australia, emphasising that Community Legal Centres:

(a) serve as pillars of support for individuals and families navigating legal matters, offering essential guidance and assistance; and

(b) contribute significantly to ensuring equal access to justice, particularly for vulnerable and marginalised communities;

(2) notes recommendation 12.4 of the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme that states, 'When it next conducts a review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership, the Commonwealth should have regard, in considering funding for legal aid commissions and community legal centres, to the importance of the public interest role played by those services as exemplified in their work during the Scheme'; and

(3) acknowledges that the Government has initiated an independent review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership.

I'm pleased to move this motion in the name of and on behalf of my colleague the member for Dunkley, who cannot be with us this week for health reasons. I'm sure I speak on behalf of all of us in wishing her well with her treatment and recovery.

An honourable member: Hear, hear.

As a lawyer like me she's passionate about this issue and knows that community legal centres assist thousands of Australians who could not otherwise have access to legal assistance. Community legal centres ensure that all Australians are able to have their rights upheld. They serve to rebalance the weights of justice into equilibrium, going some way towards levelling the playing field for those who need help. The most vulnerable members of our community rely on community legal centres. I know many of my constituents rely on the services of centres like TASC Legal and Social Justice Service in Ipswich, for example.

The Albanese Labor government acknowledge that the work done by CLCs is very important. It's fundamental to who we are as a nation. When Labor were last in government, we injected almost half a billion dollars into the legal assistance sector. In our last government budget in 2013 we continued the long haul of repairing and rebuilding this sector by providing an extra $52.3 million for legal aid, community legal centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services. I know this personally because I can remember, as Parliamentary Secretary to the Attorney-General, letting people know of the extra funding and how pleased and appreciative they were.

One of the first moves of the Abbott coalition government was to strip all that back, and then those opposite carried on with that form for a decade. I remember the Taylor Street Community Legal Service centre up there in Hervey Bay losing funding, and that's just one example of a number around the country that lost funding because the Abbott coalition government immediately stripped away funding.

In fact, the sector has suffered from neglect, funding cuts and occasional outright hostility from the coalition government of the past decade. It was often dragged into a wider culture war waged by the Liberal Party's hard Right. Lawyers who provided critical assistance to vulnerable people were branded un-Australia by senior members of the former government. Successive coalition Attorneys-General did nothing to defend the legal assistance profession against those attacks.

Before entering parliament, I was an accredited specialist in family law and practised law for nearly 25 years across a range of areas. As a lawyer, I witnessed the damaging impact of coercive control and other forms of domestic violence on women, in particular, and on their children. I know how crucial community legal centres are for giving women and children access to justice that they otherwise wouldn't have. Recently, the Albanese Labor government made significant changes to family law to make it simpler and safer for separated families and their children.

It's important to note these reforms, and the backing of the community legal centres, as well as other key stakeholders. I know some government members have been reaching out to their local community legal centres to raise awareness of the changes. We know that community legal centres are best placed to understand and advocate for changes to unfair systems that impact their clients. On that front, the royal commission into the robodebt scheme recommended that when it next conducts a review of the national legal assistance partnership the Commonwealth should have regard, when considering funding for legal aid commissions and community legal centres, for the importance of the public interest role played by these services, as exemplified by their work during the scheme.

The robodebt royal commission indeed acknowledged the significant role legal assistance providers played in advocating for systemic change and for the discontinuation of that unlawful and shameful scheme. To that end, it's worth noting that in June the government initiated an independent review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership. The current NLAP is a $2.4 billion agreement between Commonwealth, state and territory governments to provide legal assistance services to the most vulnerable people in Australia, including community legal service centres. The current NLAP is due to expire in 2025, and this independent and transparent review will consider how future funding arrangements can best provide access to justice for those who need it. The terms of reference have been agreed on by all jurisdictions in consultation with representatives from legal assistance. It is due to be completed by early 2024, and its findings will inform governments regarding future funding arrangements.

I want to give a quick plug: the member for Moreton and I are co-hosting a briefing for parliamentarians on community legal centres this Thursday. This was organised by the member for Dunkley, and I thank her for the work she's done.

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