Although the above article is a few months old, its message is as timely as ever.
Successive governments (both state and federal, of both political persuasions) have decimated funding to the community legal sector.
Even leaving aside for a moment the inherent importance of access to justice, study after study has shown that a properly funded and effective community legal sector actually saves money. One cost-benefit analysis found that for every dollar spent on community legal centres they return a benefit that is 18 times the cost. Eighteen times!
Much has been made recently about the backlog in the Family Court and Federal Circuit Court, with that delay being used as a justification for the proposed family court restructure. Whilst it is true that there can be significant delays, some of this can be attributed to the increase in self-represented litigants who, if they had access to legal advice, may be able to resolve their disputes faster and more effectively.
Of course, the usual pundits will just say that lawyers earn too much and should just work for free. As Ken Taylor points out, Queensland lawyers already provide an average of one-and-a-half weeks of volunteered service per year. Breen Smith’s lawyers have a long history of working with Legal Aid, volunteering at community legal centres and otherwise acting on a pro bono or low-cost basis. Lawyers are already doing their part, it’s for our society as a whole to decide what value it places on access to justice.
