George Brandis (Queensland, Liberal Party, Attorney-General) Share this | Hansard source

Before I address that, can I finish what I was about to say. The government have provided a one-off funding allocation of more than $600,000 to NAAJA for front-line legal services. That is what we are doing for NAAJA.

In relation to Senator Peris's most recent question, the government is certainly aware that the need for the provision of front-line access to justice services in Indigenous communities is the greatest relative need in that system and that is why it is where the government spends relatively the greatest amount of funding. Of the elements of Commonwealth legal assistance to state and territory legal aid commissions, to community legal centres and to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, proportionately the greatest concentration of that funding is on the latter of those for the very reason you identify.