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Legislative Assembly for the ACT: 1997 Week 1 Hansard (18 February) . . Page.. 59 ..

MR HUMPHRIES (continuing):

It is ridiculous for a small jurisdiction like the ACT to even contemplate subsidising the Commonwealth in legal aid matters. The ridiculous element of that decision, I think, needs to be drawn attention to. I hope and trust that the Assembly will send a clear message that it solidly views the decision by the Commonwealth as being unwise and contrary to the interests of the citizens of this Territory and that it will try to act to protect those interests in whatever way it can.

MS TUCKER (4.28): Madam Deputy Speaker, the subject of this matter of public importance is:

The need for legal aid to be readily available in all circumstances where ACT residents have legitimate need.

The reason we are debating this issue today is that the Federal Government has not recognised this need. Of all the damaging and inequitable cuts made by the Federal Government in the 1996-97 budget, the $33m in cuts to legal aid services in one year, and $120m over three years, across the country is one of the worst and most illogical. In the ACT I understand the cut to legal aid is of the order of $700,000 to $900,000. Nearly all the State governments have protested at the cuts. There have been threats by two jurisdictions, including the ACT, to go it alone and set up separate legal aid bodies. Welfare groups around the country are also up in arms, and that is because legal aid is not just a legal issue; it is very much a social justice issue. Services already under strain will be put even more under strain if the justice system cannot respond fairly and promptly to people in legitimate need.

We hear the Federal Attorney-General claiming that our legal system should not be providing Rolls-Royce justice for only a few. From the experience I have had with the legal aid system, Madam Deputy Speaker, it is hardly Rolls-Royce justice. The provision of adequate legal aid, even at present funding levels, is causing a lot of strain in the system. It is a core responsibility of government if, as a community, we believe in access to justice and the right to a fair hearing irrespective of income. There are many in our community who could suffer as a result of the cuts. Victims of domestic violence are one group that has been highlighted already by the director of the ACT Legal Aid Commission.

I would like to take this opportunity to congratulate Mr Humphries for the very firm stand he has taken on this issue and for briefing us last year on his actions. He is not the only Liberal to have written to the Federal Attorney-General and spoken out publicly about the issue. If Liberal representatives around the country are calling for a reversal of the budget cuts, it must be pretty bad. Mr Burke, the Northern Territory Attorney-General, has been quoted as saying:

The question is - who is in need, the Commonwealth or the disadvantaged?

In so many areas the Federal Government has betrayed its promise of governing "for all of us". "For all of us who are not poor, black, or otherwise disadvantaged" is closer to the truth. I will say, in conclusion, only that the Greens would be happy to be involved in any discussions aimed at finding ways of minimising the impact of these cuts in the ACT. As over 100 people have already been turned away in the ACT because of the Commonwealth's cuts, the need to do whatever we can is increasingly urgent.

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