March 2025: Federal Budget response
26 March 2025
The budget contains no surprises in terms of legal assistance but does confirm important commitments made previously. The budget confirms Commonwealth funding for the National Access to Justice Partnership (NAJP) 2025-30, announced in September 2024. Beyond this, the budget did not meet any of our priority pre-budget asks including targeted funding to support community legal centres in regional, rural, remote, and very remote communities, access to justice for refugees and asylum seekers and LGBTIQ+ people, and funding to support people who rely on Centrelink payments to access legal assistance.
Clearly a pre-election exercise, the budget aimed to ease some cost-of-living pressures through measures like further tax cuts, energy bill relief, wage increases for workers in some feminised sectors, and reduced healthcare costs. We echo the concerns raised by ACOSS that this is a budget that provides more dollars for everyone except those with the least, namely those dependent on social security payments. It offers a little extra help to most people across the community, and this is welcome, but fails to provide targeted help to those doing it toughest, or to make any proper structural change to address social and economic inequity.
Here, Community Legal Centres Australia provides an overview of measures in the 2025-26 budget that relate to our sector’s work.
Community legal sector funding
National Access to Justice Partnership 2025-30
The 2025-26 budget includes $3.1 billion from 2025-26 to 2028-29 for the National Access to Justice Partnership (NAJP). This is in line with the Commonwealth’s announcement of its financial contribution to the NAJP 2025-30 in September 2025.
In 2025-26, the Commonwealth is allocating $737.7 million to legal assistance through the NAJP. This is an increase from the $569 million it allocated to legal assistance through the National Legal Assistance partnership for 2024-25. This amount rises by about $20 million per year over the forward estimates. There will be no indexation in 2025-26, but subsequent years will involve some indexation based on the formula outlined in the NAJP.
As previously announced, the NAJP will become a permanent budget allocation, removing the risk of five-year funding cliffs at the Commonwealth level.
In 2025-26, the breakdown of NAJP funding by legal assistance provider type is as follows:
- Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services: $160.7 million
- Community legal centres: $104.5 million
- Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services: $70.4 million
- Legal Aid Commissions: $341.4 million
- Women’s Legal Services: $52.9 million
- State and territory legal assistance administration: $7.8 million
Women’s Legal Services get their own budget line distinct from other community legal centres from this budget onwards, as promised. Understanding the Commonwealth’s commitment to community legal centres requires adding the community legal centres and Women’s Legal Services budget lines, giving a total $157.4 million in 2025-26. This is 21% of the Commonwealth’s spend on legal assistance.
Beyond this, we cannot determine exactly how much more community legal centres will receive under the NAJP compared to the last year of the NLAP.
In 2025-26, the breakdown of NAJP funding to states and territories for legal assistance is as follows:
- NSW: $193 million
- VIC: $129 million
- QLD: $158 million
- WA: $98 million
- SA: $58 million
- TAS: $24 million
- ACT: $15 million
- NT: $62 million
Overall, there are no surprises in this budget in relation to legal assistance funding under the NAJP. As the Commonwealth announced in September 2024, its commitment to the NAJP represents an uplift of $800 million over five years, for all provider types across all jurisdictions (collectively).
While any uplift is welcome, the Commonwealth’s commitment to the NAJP falls far short of what is required to address the community legal sector funding crisis. The impact of chronic underfunding by all governments over the past decade has pushed many local services to the brink of closure and led to poor pay and conditions for workers supporting local communities. Community legal centres are turning away over 1,000 people a day nationally – a number that continues to rise year-on-year. Legal need in the community and cost of delivering services have both risen sharply over the past 5 years. While the Commonwealth’s increase to legal assistance funding provides a brief reprieve from the depths of the community legal sector funding crisis, it is far from enough.
Community Legal Centres Australia has been calling on the Federal Government to invest an extra $230 million per year in community legal centres alone to address the funding and workforce crisis and to enable centres to begin to meet unmet legal need in the community. The 2025-26 budget did not deliver on this request.
Community legal sector funding beyond the NAJP included in the budget
Spending from the Attorney-General’s Department on the National Strategy to Prevent and Respond to Child Sexual Abuse continues in 2025-26, with funding of $15.7 million. It is unclear whether or how much of this funding will flow to the specialist community legal centres that run programs to support victims-survivors of child sexual abuse. Impacted centres are concerned about program funding ending, and anxious for certainty and funding security. We are seeking further information from the Department about this measure.
The budget confirms funding for the extension of Sexual Assault Legal Service pilots, as previously announced. $19.6 million will be provided over three years to establish pilots in all jurisdictions and expand existing pilots. Women’s Legal Services are key providers of these pilots.
Legal assistance funding to support communities in NSW and Queensland impacted by floods will continue in 2025-26 at the same level as in 2024-25.
The Community Legal Services Program is increasing from $10 million to $19 million this year and then reducing slightly thereafter. This expected increase includes the $4.5 million commitment towards the National Data Repository for community legal centres, as well as increased funding for peak bodies Community Legal Centres Australia, Women’s Legal Services Australia and First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence.
The budget did not include key measures we proposed to support people and communities with high unmet legal need
Access to justice and safety for people in regional, rural, remote and very remote communities
The Commonwealth Government did not provide any targeted funding to improve access to justice and safety for people in regional, rural, remote, and very remote communities in the 2025-26 budget.
Community legal centres in regional, rural, remote and very remote areas experience additional challenges in meeting the needs of the communities they serve. Legal need is greater in these areas, as is the cost of delivering services. Communities in regional and remote areas have access to fewer services, and to a narrower range of services. This means that the community legal centres that support them are often required to meet a whole range of needs for people who cannot access support elsewhere.
The work of regional, rural, remote and very remote community legal centres is disproportionately supporting people impacted by domestic and family violence. In 2023-24, three quarters of the people assisted by rural, remote and very remote centres disclosed to the centre that they were impacted by domestic and family violence. Nationally, community legal centres are forced to turn away over 3,000 people each week who are victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. Many of these people are in regional, rural, remote and very remote communities, and for many, there is no alternative service they can go to for the help they need.
Community Legal Centres Australia has been calling on the Commonwealth to invest an additional $20.8 million in 2025-26 to offset some of the challenges faced by community legal centres serving regional, rural, remote and very remote communities. This investment has not been made.
Access to justice for LGBTIQ+ people and vulnerable migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees
The Commonwealth Government did not provide any additional funding to enable community legal centres to meet the needs of newly added priority groups under the NAJP.
The detail of the NAJP was published after the Commonwealth Government had made its funding commitment to the agreement. At the time of the Commonwealth’s funding announcement, it was not yet known which groups of people would be designated as priority groups for legal assistance.
The NAJP includes several new priority groups for legal assistance, including LGBTIQ+ people, and vulnerable migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees. These are inclusions that the community legal sector has long advocated, and they are very welcome. However, the Commonwealth has not provided any additional funding to enable community legal centres to meet the high and complex legal and related needs of these groups.
Community Legal Centres Australia has been calling on the Commonwealth to invest an additional $14.5m in 2025-26 in targeted funding for community legal centre assistance to the LGBTIQ+ community, and an additional $14.5m in 2025-26 in targeted funding for community legal centre assistance to vulnerable migrants, including asylum seekers and refugees. These investments have not been made.
Ensuring people who receive social security payments can access legal help when they need it
The Commonwealth Government did not provide any additional funding to ensure access to justice and due process for people who receive social security payments.
The Commonwealth’s work in response to the Robodebt Royal Commission and its recommendations is far from finished. The Royal Commission’s final report recognises the key public interest role played by specialist social security community legal centres and calls for this to be considered with respect to funding decisions. The Commonwealth has a responsibility to ensure fair access to social security, including through the ability to access specialist legal assistance.
Community Legal Centres Australia supports Economic Justice Australia’s call on the Commonwealth for a $5m uplift to specialist social security legal services. The budget has not delivered this uplift.
Other key budget measures and omissions
Cost of living
The centrepiece of this budget is its new set of tax cuts worth $7 billion. This measure is typical of the government’s approach to cost-of-living in this budget across the board – offering a modest amount of extra help to most people across the community but failing to provide targeted help to those doing it toughest, or to make any proper structural change to address systemic social and economic inequity. As ACOSS points out, in the face of overwhelming evidence of the need to fix JobSeeker, the government has not acted to lift the poorest out of poverty. Meanwhile, $30 billion a year is being gifted to the top 10% of earners in the form of super and capital gains tax breaks.
The budget provides an additional $1.8 million in energy bill relief, delivering $150 in energy savings to every household. This is on top of previous energy bill relief measures. Any reduction in household expenses will help ease the pressure on the clients and communities we assist and is welcome on that basis. But it’s worth repeating what ACOSS has said in its budget media release – the government’s total $6.8 billion spend on energy bill rebates could have funded energy upgrades for every social housing property in Australia, permanently reducing bills by thousands of dollars each year.
The maximum cost of medicine on the Pharmaceutical Benefits Scheme (PBS) will be dropped from $31.60 to $25 per prescription, and an additional $1.8 billion has been allocated to list new medicines on the PBS. The Government has promised an additional $8.5 billion investment in Medicare if elected, by expanding the bulk-billing incentive scheme. These are welcome announcements that will ease a little of the pressure on the people and communities we serve.
Poverty is a driver of legal need. People in poverty are more likely to experience a range of legal problems, and less likely to have the resources to resolve these problems independently or access private legal advice. The justice system criminalises poverty through things like targeted policing of low-income communities, the types of behaviours that are and aren’t criminalised, and the differing treatment of poorer and wealthier people who are engaging in the same behaviours. Poverty also drives higher legal need in non-criminal areas of law, like tenancy, fines, social security, workplace issues, and many more. The Government will need to do more to meaningfully alleviate the pressure on the people and communities bearing the brunt of the cost-of-living crisis.
Closing the Gap
The Government has committed $506.4 million over the five years starting 2024-25 to achieve better outcomes for First Nations people under the National Agreement on Closing the Gap. Among other things, this includes:
- $70.9 million over two years to increase opportunities for First Nations families to buy homes.
- $50 million over four years to improve food security in remote communities
- $24.7 million over four years to improve access to culturally safe and qualified mental health support.
While investment towards Closing the Gap is positive, more will be required. What’s required is real investment in proven, community-based and self-determined solutions. Governments must meet their Closing the Gap obligations by delivering systemic and structural transformation to improve outcomes for First Nations people.
Reducing the gender pay gap
The Budget commits a further $2.6 billion for wage increases for aged care nurses and $3.6 billion for wage increases for the early childhood education and care workforce. These increases begin to rectify the significant undervaluing of some of the most highly feminised workforces in Australia. The Women’s Budget Statement recognises the unfair remuneration in the care professions and sectors and expresses the Government’s commitment to investing in reducing the gender pay gap. It refers to the funding provided under the NAJP to reduce pay disparity between the women-dominated community legal sector and Legal Aid Commissions as a measure that will reduce the gender pay gap. While these efforts to reduce pay disparity have been welcomed by our sector, we note that measures so far do not come close to eliminating the gap between wages for comparable roles in the community legal sector and at Legal Aid Commissions.
The budget reiterates the Government’s support for the Fair Work Commission’s Gender Undervaluation – Priority Awards Review. This review includes the Social, Community, Home Care and Disability Services (SCHADS) Industry Award 2010, which is the award that most workers at community legal centres are paid under. We support the review of the SCHADS Award as a measure to rectify the underpayment of our workforce and look forward to the Government investing in our sector the additional funds required to enable centres to pay increased wages once the review is complete.
Disability
The budget commits $364.5 million for foundational supports for people with disability. This safeguards previous budget commitments and provides a modest injection of additional funding. We note that People With Disability Australia has expressed concern that this does not reflect the urgent, targeted action needed in areas where people with disability are overrepresented and deeply affected – like housing and homelessness, family and domestic violence, and disaster preparedness.
Housing security and domestic, family and sexual violence
There will be $8.9 million over three years to expand support services for people experiencing housing insecurity and domestic, family and sexual violence. This includes funding for housing and homelessness peak bodies, funds for emergency accommodation for women and children experiencing violence, and funds to extend complex case management and wraparound support for victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence.
