Graham Perrett (Moreton, Australian Labor Party) Share this | Hansard source

My focus during this consideration in detail is on legal aid, which we all know is a critically important resource for vulnerable Australians. I knew this fact from my very first day, last century, as an article clerk. I knew it while working as a solicitor, while working as an MP and working for the then shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus, and during my two years serving on the joint select committee looking into Australia's family law system.

During that time I came to even better appreciate how essential legal assistance is when it comes to ensuring Australians have access to justice and equality before the law. My wife, Lea, back when she was a solicitor this century also volunteered at Queensland's amazing Women's Legal Service. The work that comes out of that small office in Annerley is all about helping a marginalised clientele—and a big shout-out to the dedicated staff and volunteers there. You provide an essential service to all of Queensland.

The legal assistance sector is supported by the National Legal Assistance Partnership between the Commonwealth and all states and territories. It provides funding for legal aid, commissions, community legal centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services. The current agreement expires at the end of June in 2025. The recent independent review, conducted by Dr Warren Mundy, considered how legal assistance in the future could provide better access to justice for all who need it. The review was asked to evaluate legal need, legal assistance funding, the effectiveness and challenges of service delivery, and data collection outcomes and reporting.

The resulting report has 39 recommendations to resolve a range of issues, with four main themes. Firstly, it recommended increased funding. Marginalised people have been further disadvantaged by little investment in the sector over the past decade. Dr Mundy recommended changes to funding calculations and distribution, changes to indexation, and highlighted the opportunity to target funding to priority cohorts.

Secondly, the sector needs to be strengthened by developing a sustainable workforce. Pay disparities need to be addressed to help with staff attraction and retention. Service providers are also facing growing pressures on their fixed costs, so the report recommends options to invest in infrastructure, such as technology, data and evidence. I saw this recently when I met with some CLCs in Alice Springs and Darwin.

Thirdly, a group of the recommendations concerns better justice outcomes for First Nations people. The review found that the National Legal Assistance Partnership has not progressed on the priority reforms and socio-economic outcomes of the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. The recommendations included funding arrangements for Aboriginal community controlled organisations to enhance self-determination and service coordination effectiveness and coverage.

Fourthly, Dr Mundy recommended improved administration of funding as well as an outcomes framework, improved performance indicators and consistent data collection. These measures will assist with monitoring progress towards priorities and will inform future policy decisions.

The report is under consideration by the Commonwealth states and territories. Currently, there are about 200 CLCs across Australia. The hardworking staff of these centres help hundreds of thousands of Australians who otherwise would not have access to legal assistance. As we all know, the common areas of assistance are family law, civil law and criminal law matters. The work is challenging but rewarding. One aspect that makes CLCs special is that there are many specialist services catering to specific cohorts or issues. These include women, tenancy and housing, culturally and linguistically diverse people and refugees and migrants. It's a sad reflection of our national gendered violence crisis that women's legal services are experiencing unprecedented demand, and the chairperson of CLCs Australia also said that the cost-of-living crisis has created further demand, especially for assistance with credit, debt, consumer concerns and tenancy services.

The Albanese Labor government recognises both the crucial role played by legal assistance centres and the uptick in demand for services. This year's budget included over $44 million as an immediate funding boost to the sector. Seventeen million dollars of the funding is a one-off indexation boost to legal aid commissions, community legal centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services. The remaining money, approximately $27 million, is being directed to stabilising the workforce and reducing the pay disparities which are affecting retention problems.

I conclude by asking the Attorney-General to provide an update on the consideration of the National Legal Assistance Partnership report and on plans for additional funding for this crucial service.

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