Wednesday, 7 October 2020
Federal budget overlooks legal assistance sector
The ACT Law Society has joined our colleagues at the Law Council of Australia in expressing disappointment at the federal government’s failure to properly fund the legal assistance sector in the budget announced overnight.
Our front line legal services provide access to justice to the most vulnerable members of our society, and they’ve been under ever-increasing pressure due to the Covid-19 pandemic.
The federal government has missed an opportunity to invest in secure and sustainable funding for the legal assistance sector and ensure that access to legal representation is available to all.
We concur with the Law Council's summation that this will only hurt Australia's recovery from the Covid-19 crisis, and we will continue to work with the local legal assistance sector to advocate for better funding to support access to justice for all in the Canberra community.