Joe Ludwig (Queensland, Australian Labor Party, Minister for Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry) Share this | Hansard source

The Attorney-General has provided the following answer to the honourable senator ' s question:

Further to the interim answer tabled on 22 November 2011, the Attorney-General's Department has obtained additional information on services provided by legal aid commissions.

Legal Aid New South Wales has reported that for the relevant period costs and disbursements recovered by Legal Aid NSW were $218,006.

Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) has confirmed that it is assisting four former child detainees at immigration detention facilities in actions against the Commonwealth for illegal detention. VLA advises that it would not be appropriate to disclose information about costs at this point in time as it may have a bearing on the outcome; including VLA's ability to recover some or all of its costs from the Commonwealth.

VLA does not anticipate that it will usually or frequently fund claims for compensation by immigration detainees.