The Chair of National Legal Aid sounded a warning to governments about the viability of the service at the launch of a new report yesterday.
John Boersig said the results of the Legal Aid Private Practitioners 2024 Census showed a crisis of under-resourcing, which was causing private practitioners to opt out.
Dr Boersig said the National Access to Justice Partnership finalised last year, containing a commitment of $3.9 billion over five years, was not enough.
“Unfortunately the envelope did not stretch far enough to allow for expansion of our services nor does it provide funding to increase private practitioner fees,” he said.
He said those fees had not kept pace with CPI or the Wage Price Index over the past decade, and were already low 10 years ago.
This was causing the loss of lawyers doing legal aid work, particularly in rural and remote areas.
“Following the census, we know that up to 30 per cent of lawyers plan to stop doing legal aid work in the next five years,” Dr Boersig said.
“This means that we have at most five years to address the current and ongoing loss of private practitioners and if we don’t address this by 2030, we will be looking at a failed legal aid system where there simply aren’t enough lawyers available to deliver these services.”
He said raising fees was necessary.
“This may mean that we have to do less but ultimately our priority must be to maintain an available workforce in order to provide any services at all, particularly in rural and remote areas,” he said.
“We are calling on the Standing Council of Attorneys-General to commit to a review of Legal Aid Commission fees and grant structures and identify funding options that can support a greater commitment of resources.”
In August last year, the census carried out by UNSW Sydney’s Social Policy Research Centre surveyed 1010 private practitioners from across the country who obtained or sought legal aid work.
It was designed to gain a better understanding of private practitioners’ characteristics; types of legal aid work and clients; motivations; supports; and practical and ethical challenges.
It found practitioners servicing regional areas faced particular challenges in delivering legal aid, not only because of the time and cost of travel, but because clients outside the major cities lacked access to community services needed, including drug and alcohol, mental health and homelessness services.
Many felt frustrated with low grants which did not cover time, activity and travel costs; inefficient processes around grant approvals, audits, and billing; and lack of access to Commission staff to quickly resolve queries, it found.
“The strongest thread running through the survey, evident in responses to multiple questions, is that legal aid work must be adequately resourced,” the report concluded.
“Indeed, much practitioner dissatisfaction and disengagement with legal aid arises from low resourcing, raising risks of ongoing reductions in willingness to undertake legal aid work. Adequate resourcing is essential if practitioners are going to sustain their involvement. Currently, legal aid work is widely considered underfunded, and around half of practitioners feel undervalued.”
Law Council of Australia (LCA) President Juliana Warner said the report revealed the extent of the crisis facing the legal assistance sector.
“I commend National Legal Aid for facilitating this important first-of-its-kind national survey to expose the pressure points that exist and what measures will be most effective in ensuring all Australians can access justice,” Ms Warner said.
“What the survey clearly demonstrates is that long-term shortfalls in government funding must be urgently addressed.
“The private legal profession is critical to the delivery of legal aid in this country, particularly in rural, regional and remote areas.
“Survey responses paint a picture of legal aid rates that have stagnated for more than a decade and are now around three times less than what they can earn privately.
“In addition, the complexity of cases, level of support required by the client, and time required from practitioners are all on the rise.”
The report showed 85 per cent of practitioners rated having to provide unremunerated work as a difficulty, and 77 per cent said it was hard to do quality work with limited time and resources.
“This survey highlights the remarkable dedication of those private practitioners who continue to deliver legal aid, despite the very real financial and emotional pressures this can create,” Ms Warner said.
“It tells of the stress and worry they deal with because they desperately want to continue providing legal aid, and at the same time pay their staff and keep their practices operating.
“As a result, a third of the private lawyers doing all they can to support access to justice in this country are having to contemplate doing less legal aid work in the next five years.”
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