Two lawyers at a free legal service in Epping will keep their jobs after the federal government back-flipped on cuts to community legal centres.
Federal Attorney-General George Brandis recently announced that the proposed cuts of $6 million to community legal centres and $15 million to legal aid commissions would not go ahead, citing a strong backlash from the legal sector and a need to address family violence.
The cuts were first mooted in the 2013. The decision restores $14 million over two years to legal aid commissions and community legal centres .
Jemal Ahmet, chief executive officer of Whittlesea Community Connections, which runs the Epping-based Whittlesea Community Legal Centre, said the backflip would give the service some breathing space.
“We’ll at least have some certainty for another two years. I don’t want to sound ungrateful but it was a very stressful period for us, having that hanging over our head,” Mr Ahmet said.
While Mr Ahmet was relieved funding for community legal centres would be reinstated, he said there was under-investment in legal services in growth areas.
“We need a funding model that recognises growth,” he said.
“Not many other legal centres deal with a population that swells by 200 people each week.”
Senator Brandis’s move came with an additional $12 million sweetener for the 61 community legal centres around the nation.
He said the call to reverse the cut was ultimately made by Prime Minister Tony Abbott and was heavily influenced by state and territory attorneys-general, who wrote to the senator last month warning of a “crisis” in legal assistance funding.
Victorian Legal Aid’s director of civil justice, access and equity, Kristen Hilton, welcomed the announcement but said the guarantee did not go far enough.
“The northern growth corridor is one of the fastest-growing communities in Australia, and maintaining funding at current levels will lead to a growing access to justice gap in the region,” she said.
“More needs to be done so that we can help more people.”
