fbpx
skip to Main Content

LISTEN NOW

LATEST PODCAST EP

We’re here to help

Aboriginal Legal Service withdraws from 13 regional NSW courts

Picture of Catherine Henry Lawyers
Catherine Henry Lawyers

Share this: 

Aboriginal Legal Service

Federal and NSW governments must provide fair funding to the embattled Aboriginal Legal Service.

As lawyers who conduct cases for Indigenous clients and communities around NSW, this week’s news of the Aboriginal Legal Service (ALS) withdrawing services at 13 NSW courts, including three in the Hunter, has shocked and saddened us greatly.

The ALS withdrew indefinitely from NSW courts in Byron Bay, Eden, Forster, Junee, Lithgow, Moss Vale, Muswellbrook, Scone, Singleton, Temora, Tenterfield, West Wyalong and Wauchope after a request for emergency funding to maintain current levels of service was not met in the Federal Budget.

Despite demand for ALS services and its output doubling in five years, total allocations in the May Federal Budget increased by only 2% while inflation is running at more than 7%. ALS requested $250 million in emergency funding, but the Budget allocated just 6% of the funds requested.

Advocacy and legal groups have been scathing in their response, noting a $364 million commitment to the Voice to Parliament.

Culturally appropriate legal services for Aboriginal people are important and effective.

The legal system fails Indigenous Australians at all levels. As the peak body for Aboriginal legal services, the ALS has been a driving force for representing First Nations people for 52 years. In NSW, the ALS provides family law, criminal law, care and protection law, as well as tenancy services. The ALS also runs the 24-hour Custody Notification Service for Aboriginal people who have been taken into police custody. A service which received almost 25,000 notifications last year.

Much of our work with Indigenous clients is in health law and elder law, often in partnership or at the referral of the ALS. We also participate in the National Justice Project’s Aboriginal Health Justice Project. From this work we know many Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples experience a lack of access as well as significant discrimination and negligence in their medical treatment and in aged care.

Providing culturally appropriate and culturally sensitive legal support and representation is vital for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples. As an Aboriginal woman, our senior health law solicitor, Linda Crawford, understands that it is difficult for Aboriginal clients to feel safe and to trust the legal and justice system and the importance of Aboriginal led legal services.

Linda and principal of Catherine Henry Lawyers, Catherine Henry, visited ALS offices as part of a recent trip to the Central West and other parts of regional NSW. They saw first-hand the strain staff were under to meet ever increasing demand without a commensurate increase in funding.

ALS funding needed now, ahead of review

The Federal Government has said it will review the ALS funding model. ALS relies on split funding between the NSW and federal governments. The current National Legal Assistance Program ends in June 2025, but an independent review of the agreement will start this year.

The Federal Budget did include a $99 million allocation to start up a First Nations Justice Package, which includes $13.5 million to legal services across Australia, and $1 million to NATSILS. The NSW Government has invested in courts but not to the same extent in ALS front line services.

Meanwhile, the lack of funding stretches the hard-working ALS team and brings more pain and suffering and a lack of access to proper representation for Indigenous Australians. Not being able to provide decent wages to staff, makes it difficult for ALS to attract and retain staff, which is hard enough to do in rural and remote areas.

Both the NSW and Australian governments need to urgently review its priorities and find additional funding to keep the doors of this vital service open to those who most need it.

We urge others to join us in advocating for decent funding for the ALS to ensure it can provide quality legal representation and justice for First Nation Australians. Access to proper legal representation is vital for closing the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous Australians.

If you are an Indigenous Australian needing legal support or representation, please contact our caring and supportive team or call 1800 874 949 for a no obligation and confidential yarn.

 

Indigenous art banner

Latest blog articles

Back To Top
Search

Stay Informed

Would you like to hear from us with the legal issues and news that matters most to you?

Subscribing to Catherine Henry Lawyers monthly e-newsletter will provide you with access to expert articles, client stories, information resources, downloadable content and relevant updates on law changes that affect you and your loved ones.

Subscribe: