“Legal services and so much more ” – 13 organisations sign onto open letter responding to Minister Madeleine King’s recent comments about community legal centres.
10 March 2026
In recent comments, Madeleine King MP stated, “Community legal centres are not political campaign vehicles – they are there to provide legal services to the community, nothing more.”
Community Legal Centres Australia has penned an open letter responding to the minister’s comments and highlighting the community legal centres’ sector’s unique work to remove justice barriers.
“We are more than just lawyers – our sector has a long and proud history of advocating for changes to our legal systems that make them fairer and more accessible for people experiencing poverty and disadvantage.” says CEO Tim Leach.
“Our community lawyers understand that many people’s legal issues are connected to other social and economic problems, so our centres provide wrap around support and employ social workers, financial counsellors, tenant advocates and community development workers.”
10 organisations across the community legal sector and civil society have signed onto the open letter including Community Legal Western Australia, ACOSS, Human Rights Law Centre, and the Grata Fund.
Today, community legal centres assist around 200,000 people across the country each year. Their stories show us how legal systems and government policy decisions continue to create barriers to accessing justice for people experiencing poverty or who are marginalised in other ways.
Community Legal Centres Australia warmly invites Minister King in her capacity as Minister for Northern Australia to visit Pilbara Community Legal Centre to see how we provide our communities legal services – and so much more.
You can read the full open letter on the Community Legal Centres Australia website
For media enquiries please contact Emily Hamilton at emily.hamilton@clcs.org.au and 0458066054