Whittlesea Community Legal Services appears likely to lose two of its lawyers if the federal government doesn’t reverse millions of dollars in cuts to community legal centres.
Jemal Ahmet, chief executive officer of Whittlesea Community Connections, which runs the service, said the organisation’s capacity would be reduced significantly if funding was cut.
The current national partnership agreement for legal assistance expires at the end of June.
All state and territory governments have written to Attorney-General George Brandis warning that cuts to legal services would hamper efforts to combat family violence.
Last year’s federal budget cut $6 million from community legal centres and $15 million from legal aid commissions.
Mr Ahmet said a four-year funding deal of $120,000 a year for the Whittlesea centre would cease on June 30.
“We use that money to employ two part-time lawyers. If that money isn’t replaced, we will have to lay off staff.”
Service staff members fear there could be even more cutbacks if the Attorney-General’s plans to rearrange funding arrangements go ahead.
“We could go from six lawyers to three if there’s no other way to replace those funds,” Mr Ahmet said.
He said there were rumblings from the state government about a rescue package to assist the worst-affected community legal centres.
“We’re telling them we want to be part of that rescue package and would like it to be meaningful to retain our staff,” he said.
“But it’s still a cut because Whittlesea’s population grows by 200 people every week.”
Victoria Legal Aid’s Kristen Hilton said VLA research conducted last year identified Whittlesea as a legal-needs hotspot, with family violence cases about 200 a year higher than the state average.
“There’s strong demand for legal assistance in Whittlesea and cuts to funding of local community legal centres means more people will miss out on the help they need,” she said.
McEwen MP Rob Mitchell raised the plight of the Whittlesea legal centre in Federal Parliament late last month.
The parliamentary secretary to the prime minister, Alan Tudge, did not respond to requests for comment before deadline. But he has previously said new funding arrangements for legal services would be announced in the May budget.
