Senator Lidia Thorpe has raised concerns that the Attorney General is intentionally withholding a report on the dire state of legal assistance funding, in a move to avoid scrutiny ahead of the May budget.
On Tuesday, the Senate will vote on Thorpe’s order to produce documents, which would compel the government to make the report publicly available.
The report of the Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP), prepared by Dr Warren Mundy, was presented to the Attorney General two weeks ago, but he has not yet made the report public.
The NLAP includes funding for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, Legal Aid Commissions, and Community Legal Centres.
With the current NLAP due to expire in 2025, the independent review considered how future arrangements could better provide access to justice for all who need it.
The legal assistance sector, particularly Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services, remain critically underfunded.
Legal assistance service demand has increased by up to 100 per cent since 2018, with government funding failing to maintain service delivery.
Recently, services that help First Nations women and children experiencing family violence have been forced to turn people away, and First Peoples who don’t speak English are being forced to represent themselves in court, as staffing and funding shortages cripple the sector.
Thorpe says the sector needs vital funding, and there is no good reason for the Attorney General to withhold the report.
Well resourced legal services as well as access to them are also important recommendations from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, whose full implementation Thorpe continues to champion.
Quotes attributable to Senator Lidia Thorpe: Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurrung woman and independent Victorian Senator
"We know that legal assistance services across the country are overwhelmed and underfunded, leaving many disadvantaged people and First Peoples without access to legal support.
‘’Access to properly funded and culturally safe legal services is an important recommendation from the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody, and over 30 years later remains an ongoing challenge in addressing both over-incarceration and deaths in custody.
"This so-called justice system has no interest in actual justice, only in criminalising people. Legal assistance must be properly resourced and accessible to everyone to address the incarceration and deaths in custody crisis in this country.
"It looks like Dreyfus is intentionally withholding this report, to avoid coming under pressure to commit extra funding for legal services in the May Budget.
"While Labor is happy to waste billions on more police and prisons, they have consistently underfunded legal assistance services. Their attempt to hide this report indicates that they intend to continue this negligence.’
"When the government commenced this review, they said the process would be transparent. Now they’re trying to hide this report, rather than face scrutiny of their ongoing failure to fund the front line legal services people need.