Proposed Cuts to Indigenous Legal Aid
Thursday 12 September 2013 @ 8.00 a.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure
According to an article in Lawyers' Weekly, the new Government plans to cut $42 million from the Indigenous Policy Reform Program, which funds legal services for indigenous people across Australia, over the next four years which represents almost a 20 per cent drop in funding.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander prisoners make up just over a quarter of the total prisoner population in Australia, according to the Australian Bureau of Statistics and The Australian National Council on Drugs found that the average cost per prisoner in Australia is approximately $315 per day or $114,832 a year.
Michael Smith, national convenor of the National Association of Community Legal Centres, said indigenous legal services help the courts make fairer decisions by presenting clear, well-articulated cases on their clients’ behalf.
“You will see an increase in people facing custodial sentences and, if we’re talking about this solely as an economic factor, that doesn’t make sense; putting somebody in jail and keeping them in jail is far more expensive than providing funding for legal services for them.”
This reflects a greater pressure on legal aid and community legal centres across Australia, but especially in Victoria, to cope with increasing demand with less funding.
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