Actions for the 48th Parliament of Australia
Reduce geographic inequity in access to justice and safety
Problem:
People who live in regional and remote communities face unique barriers to accessing justice not experienced by metropolitan communities. Courts and tribunals do not sit in regional and remote communities as regularly as they do in cities (or at all) and governments increasingly rely on digital solutions as ‘one-size-fits-all’ responses to remoteness. Regional and remote communities have access to fewer services, and to a narrower range of services. This means services that do operate in these areas are left to meet a broad range of needs for people who cannot access other supports.
The high cost of delivering effective services to regional and remote communities is not reflected in funding contracts. This leaves community-based services struggling to meet demand with limited resources. Regional and remote community legal centres travel very long distances to provide outreach services to meet the needs people who live in geographically isolated communities. Centres and the communities they support are disadvantaged by government funding models that rely too heavily on population data, don’t accurately reflect the true cost of delivering services, and don’t aim to provide full geographic service coverage.
The lack of housing and childcare in regional and remote areas, chronic underfunding, and lack of a strategic response to these challenges are driving an acute workforce crisis for community legal centres and other local services. Staff shortages leave people and communities without access to the help they need and workers at risk of burnout and vicarious trauma.
Solution:
Ensure the workforce strategy developed under the National Access to Justice Partnership responds fully to the needs, experiences and challenges of regional and remote communities and the services that support them.
Use findings from the 2023-24 mid-point review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership agreement to drive supplementary research into the true cost of delivering services in regional and remote communities. Ensure models for funding community legal centres under the next national partnership agreement (to begin in 2030) are informed by this research and are targeted to reduce geographic gaps in access to justice.
Ensure research, policy, and program development for legal assistance in regional and remote areas are co-designed with local services and are accountable to communities.