Page 3168 - Week 07 - Thursday, 30 June 2011
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However, Legal Aid will lose three full-time equivalent positions from other parts of Legal Aid, and this is an area where we had some questions and concern. So on the one hand we will have the help desk which will be triaging and prioritising legal aid clients, but on the other hand there will be three less positions in the office to assist people once they are deemed to be a priority and need a face-to-face appointment.
Time will only tell if the balancing act works out and the help desk can effectively offset the work that has been lost from those three full-time equivalent positions. What we do know is that even if the balancing act does work, there will still be people who do not qualify for legal aid and cannot afford a private lawyer. For those people in need, the community legal centres are able to offer assistance. I have spoken already tonight about the clear need to assist the community legal centres to reach their full potential, particularly in regard to accommodation.
I think what this does summarise is that you cannot see all of these bits of the Justice and Community Safety portfolio in isolation. They do need to be joined up. We particularly need joined-up thinking when it comes to addressing unmet legal need. I do not think we are quite there yet in finding the right answer. I think that there is room for improvement. With the legal dollar being so scarce, we need to invest it wisely.
So whilst on balance there are some good, proactive investments made in the Legal Aid budget this year, I think that we require some further thinking and discussion on this. As I noted in my comments on the Justice and Community Safety Directorate, I think the best answers on unmet legal need are still ahead of us.
MRS DUNNE (Ginninderra) (2.12 am): I concur with Mr Rattenbury that a wholly joined-up JACS portfolio includes the work of the Legal Aid Commission. I have been quite critical of the Legal Aid Commission over the years. I welcome that there has been a shift in the staffing structure more towards lawyers and less towards administration. I have always been of the view, and I have expressed it, that I think the Legal Aid Commission should act more like, but not necessarily identically like, a legal practice. It does have more roles than just providing legal services. It has an educative role that a normal legal practice does not have.
However, I am concerned at the incapacity of the Legal Aid Commission to meet the demand for legal aid services in the ACT. It was interesting in answer to questions that the Legal Aid Commission does not really see a time when there will be an upturn in the number of people who are coming to the Legal Aid Commission who will actually receive services rather than be turned away. This is a matter, along with the synchronicities with the community legal centres, that we need to work on to provide an entirely connected legal service for the community.
Proposed expenditure agreed to.
Proposed expenditure—Part 1.25—Public Trustee for the ACT—$682,000 (net cost of outputs), totalling $682,000.
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