The numbers
Here are some statistics relating to justice barriers and access to justice for people in regional and remote communities.
People in regional and remote communities
7 million people, or 27% of the population in Australia, live in regional and remote areas: 18% in inner regional areas, 8.0% in outer regional areas, 1.1% in remote areas, and 0.7% in very remote areas.
30% of people living in remote and very remote areas are Aboriginal or Torres Strait Islander people, and 15% of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people live in remote and very remote areas.
A greater proportion of people living in regional and remote areas report having a disability than people living in cities.
People living outside of the capital cities have, on average, 15% less household income per week compared with those living in capital cities, and 22% less mean household net worth.
One quarter of women in regional and remote areas have a personal income under $400 per week.
People living in very remote areas are hospitalised at almost twice the rate of people living in major cities. People living in remote areas are hospitalised at 1.3 times the rate.
For preventable hospitalisations, the rates are 2.8 times as high for people in very remote areas, and 1.8 times as high for people in remote areas, as compared to people in major cities.
The rate of family and domestic violence hospitalisations for people living in very remote areas is 41 times higher than for people living in major cities.
23% of women living outside major cities have experienced partner violence compared to 15% of women living in major cities.
Community legal centres in regional and remote communities
There are at least 44 organisations in our membership situated in regional and remote communities: [broken down by the 4 Rs]
There are also a number of centres with offices in major cities that offer statewide or national services, that do significant outreach to remote areas.
People we support
Community legal centres support over 51,000 people living in regional, rural, remote and very remote communities per year. Over 5,000 of them are people living in remote and very remote communities.
Almost 40,000 of the people in regional and remote communities that our sector supports each year, are assisted by community legal centres situated in regional and remote communities, with the remainder of our sector’s regional and remote clients supported by centres based in metropolitan areas.
Among clients in rural, remote and very remote communities assisted by a regional or remote community legal centre, over 95% are experiencing family violence.
[sentence about how centres support victim-survivors with DFV-related legal and related matters, and also with other areas (but that are often still connected to the violence)]
The top five most common things community legal centres help people living in regional and remote communities with are:
- Domestic and family violence and domestic violence protection orders
- Parenting arrangement
- Other civil law problem (not sure how to list this)
- Housing
- Victim and injury compensation.
For clients in remote and very remote communities, the proportion of clients needing support in family law is double the national average for community legal centre clients. The proportion of clients needing support in victim and injury compensation (almost entirely related to domestic and family violence) is triple in remote and very remote communities as compared to in the cities.
Our workforce
Number of workers at regional/remote centres [check SotS]
82% of workers at regional and remote community legal centres are women and nonbinary people.
53% of regional and remote community legal workers hold a Legal Practising Certificate. 35% of our workforce are currently working as lawyers, while many other Legal Practising Certificate holders are in Leadership roles, such as a Managing Principal Solicitor or CEO.
Around 1 in 11 regional and remote community legal workers are allied professional workers, like social workers, financial counsellors and tenant advocates. Another 1 in 11 are in legal support roles, like paralegals.
Workers at regional and remote community legal centres are almost twice as likely to be Aboriginal, Torres Strait Islander or South Sea Islander people than workers at metropolitan centres.
Workers at regional and remote centres who hold a Legal Practising Certificate are over 40% more likely than those at metropolitan centres to have held their certificate for under two years – i.e., to be newer lawyers. They’re also more likely to be new to our sector.