Page 2938 - Week 07 - Wednesday, 30 June 2010
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21 June, my department, including the chief executive of my department, met with representatives of the community legal centres to discuss issues associated with their accommodation. My chief executive has indicated to representatives of the community legal centres that she will make sure that the government, through the department, will provide assistance in a range of ways. First of all, in terms of long-term accommodation strategy, we will be providing them with the resources of the department when it comes to assessing capital works bids and projects and other issues associated with assessing alternative long-term accommodation options.
I am also very pleased to say that, prior to that meeting, other officers of my department had met with community legal centres and had already undertaken a number of steps, through the department’s minor works budget, to provide additional workstations and, through some minor renovation work and supply of furniture, to create two new workstations for the Women’s Legal Centre and the Welfare Rights and Legal Centre’s homeless legal service known as Street Law. So the government has been proactive on this issue since the matter has been drawn to my and the department’s attention.
I think, though, I do have to reject the claims made by Mr Rattenbury earlier in this debate—not today but I note some of his previous media statements on this matter—where he said that the government have simply said there is nothing we can do and the community legal centres have to wait until next year’s budget. As Mr Rattenbury knew then, and as he knows now, that is not the case. As I have just demonstrated, the government have been proactive, since the matter has been brought to my attention, to assist community legal centres with short-term solutions, where those have been feasible and practicable, and assist community legal centres in developing longer term solutions. The government will continue to provide a range of support to community legal centres, and that is a matter which we will evaluate each and every budget, as should be the process.
Turning to some other aspects of Mr Rattenbury’s motion, he raises the issue of the survey of legal needs in Australia, or SOLNA as it is known, which has been commissioned jointly by legal aid commissions across the country to give some assessment and analysis of unmet legal need. This is a valuable piece of work. Regrettably, it is taking a long time to be finalised by the body commissioned by the various legal aid commissions, and we do not expect to see the results of that work until next year. The government, though, look forward to seeing the results of that survey of legal needs. We will take into account that survey of legal needs in determining the most appropriate course of action by the government in relation to future funding of community legal centres.
Turning to my amendments, the government propose a new point (ea) in paragraph (1) to recognise that the department has already provided assistance to community legal centres in relation to these matters in the short term and, in a revision of paragraph (2), to recognise that the government will be providing assistance in the evaluation of accommodation options. The government will consider proposals for new and improved accommodation in the forthcoming budget process; and we will use the results of the survey of legal needs to quantify unmet legal need in the ACT.
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