Actions for the 48th Parliament of Australia
Urgently invest in community legal centres’ frontline domestic, family and sexual violence work to support safety, justice and healing for victims-survivors
The community legal sector is a cornerstone of Australia’s frontline domestic, family and sexual violence service system. Of the 160+ organisations in our membership, 94% provide direct services to victims-survivors of domestic and family violence. This includes legal services and other supports from allied professionals who provide trauma-informed, integrated, wraparound supports.
Sector data shows that nationally, 40-50% of people centres helped in 2023-24 disclosed that they were impacted by domestic and family violence. This is a significant under-count both because community legal centres’ data collection systems result in under-use of the ‘family violence indicator’ and because some clients choose not to disclose their experience of violence, especially where the help being sought is discrete one-off legal information or advice. The real number of people impacted by violence helped by our sector is likely far higher than the data shows.
Regional and remote centres have a disproportionately high rate of clients who disclose that they are victims-survivors of domestic and family violence. On average, three quarters of rural, remote and very remote centres’ clients disclose having been impacted by domestic and family violence. These centres tend to be smaller, place-based, and experience acute challenges in attracting and retaining staff, as well as the high cost of delivering appropriate services to regional and remote communities.
Most centres in our membership help victims-survivors with legal problems directly related to their experience of violence, including in family law, family violence orders, child protection, victims of crime compensation, and more. Even community legal centres that don’t help in those areas – like the specialist centres that work in areas like tenancy, social security, and credit and debt – are crucial parts of the network of supports on which victims-survivors rely. Victims-survivors’ legal problems in these areas are often connected to their experiences of abuse, and support to resolve them can be vital for safety, justice and healing.
Victims-survivors of sexual assault pursuing justice often do so with no one providing them with independent legal representation in the process. Many who pursue a criminal legal avenue are surprised to find out that the prosecutor acts for the state, while the defence represents the accused. International evidence demonstrates that independent representation can reduce trauma for victim-survivors engaged in the criminal legal system.
Victims-survivors of sexual violence need legal assistance to understand their options and to support them through their chosen processes. The Federal Government’s response to the Australian Law Reform Commission report 143 Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence included funding for sexual assault legal assistance service pilots, which included assistance for restorative justice and justice navigation. This was a positive step, but far greater investment is required.
Problem:
Community legal centre under-funding is forcing our sector to turn away almost 400,000 people a year. In 2023-24, between 400 and 500 victims-survivors of domestic, sexual and family violence were turned away from community legal centres every day. We estimate our network needs an investment of at least an extra $95 million per year to significantly reduce the number of victims-survivors turned away from community legal centres.
We have welcomed the modest increase in community legal sector the Federal Government has delivered under the National Access to Justice Partnership (2025-30) from 2025-26. Any uplift to our member organisations is helpful, however:
- The targeted Women’s Legal Services funding uplift fell far short of the amount these centres need to meet demand for specialist services from women and children experiencing gender-based violence
- Most of the other 130+ community legal centres in our membership also play a critical role in domestic and family violence prevention and response, and many have seen only a very modest, or indeed no, real increase in funding.
Community legal centres are independent organisations that together make up the community legal centres movement. The connectedness of the centres that make up our movement ensures a network of services on which communities can rely. The sum of our movement is greater than its individual parts. Centres often work together to provide place-based and specialist help to clients at once, cross-refer clients between centres, and run programs together. If part of the sector is in crisis, this impacts other parts of the sector and increases the strain on our sector across the board.
To effectively address unmet domestic, family and sexual violence legal need, our entire sector needs to be resourced.
Solution:
Urgently reduce the number of victims-survivors turned away from community legal centres by investing an additional $95 million per year, from 2026-27. Funding should flow to all community legal centres that work to support victims-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence seek safety, justice and healing. This includes place-based or ‘generalist’ centres, Women’s Legal Services, and other specialist community legal centres.
Ensure all victim-survivors of sexual violence have access to legal assistance to navigate the criminal legal system and other processes such as restorative justice and seeking redress.