❓ Ms. Quirk questions the Attorney General about the risks of the Commonwealth merging funding streams for legal aid, community legal centres, and the Aboriginal Legal Service. The Attorney General strongly criticises the federal government's decision, highlighting its potential negative impact on Indigenous people's access to justice.
AnsweredQoN 601Legislative Assembly
QuestionView source ↗
ABORIGINAL LEGAL SERVICE —
FUNDING
601. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Attorney General:
I refer to the commonwealth
government's decision to merge from July 2020 the funding streams for
Legal Aid, community legal centres and the Aboriginal Legal Service.
(1) Can the
Attorney General outline to the house what risk this approach poses to legal
support across the country?
(2) Can the
Attorney General advise the house what steps he will be taking to ensure that
these important services remain adequately funded?
FUNDING
601. Ms M.M. QUIRK to the Attorney General:
I refer to the commonwealth
government's decision to merge from July 2020 the funding streams for
Legal Aid, community legal centres and the Aboriginal Legal Service.
(1) Can the
Attorney General outline to the house what risk this approach poses to legal
support across the country?
(2) Can the
Attorney General advise the house what steps he will be taking to ensure that
these important services remain adequately funded?
AnswerView source ↗
I thank the member for Girrawheen
for her insightful question, and I note her commitment to justice.
(1)–(2) This
is not Labor–Liberal ideology; everyone in this chamber who has some
sense of or concern for justice should be concerned with what the federal
government is doing here. The Aboriginal Legal Service was inaugurated in
Redfern back in 1970, and then in Western Australia in 1973. It was serviced by
brilliant lawyers such as the late John Toohey, QC—a High Court judge—Peter
Dowding, QC, who went on to become WA Premier, and the late Henry Wallwork, QC.
They were all committed to the cause of trying to deliver justice to Indigenous
people. I have already noted that 38 per cent of our prison population is
Indigenous. For the first time ever, the federal government intends to withdraw
funding from the Aboriginal Legal Service, give it to the Legal Aid Commission,
quarantine it for two years for the Aboriginal Legal Service and, after that,
it is on its own. The Aboriginal Legal Service will then have to fight with
other people who need money from Western Australian Legal Aid for funding.
I note that the federal government
has already run down the Aboriginal Legal Service to the point at which for
Port Hedland, Broome and Karratha, Western Australian Legal Aid has to do 80 per
cent of Indigenous representation because of the withdrawal of funding. This is
a disaster for First Nation people. As we know from the Gene Gibson case, a lot
of these people intersect with the justice system with English as their second
or third language. It is imperative that they have access to good legal
services. This patch of history will be written harshly about when up to 40 per
cent of our prison population is drawn from the Indigenous two per cent of our
general population. We know that if they are represented, they have a better
chance of getting community service or other alternatives to being taken away
from their families, put in prison, and the whole cycle just repeating. The
federal government commissioned an inquiry and it recommended keeping the
separate funding program, noting that Aboriginal young people were 25 times
more likely to be incarcerated and that the community rates of child removal
and contact with police far outweighed those for other Australians. The federal
government's own inquiry recommended the continuation of separate
funding for the Aboriginal Legal Service. Now we have no funding for the
community legal services. That money will run out and it will go into legal
aid. What is propping up the community legal services—members on the
other side of the chamber would know about these services—is the drug
confiscation money that I have been sending to them to keep them afloat. I get
questions from the shadow Attorney General in the other place about why I am
doing this. I am doing this so that there is reasonable access to justice for
those people in the suburbs who need legal advice. We have a crisis of
assistance to people who deserve representation before the courts. No-one is
more deserving than a First Nation person in our country who goes before the
court with English as their second or third language. They do not stand a chance.
This is appalling. The federal government's own report recommended
maintaining separate funding for the Aboriginal Legal Service, yet, two weeks
later, the federal government brought down
its budget and said that it was junking its own report, the Aboriginal Legal Service could get quarantine funding with the Legal Aid Commission for two
years and then it would be on its own. It is just shameful.
Mr P. Papalia : Homelessness.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : That is
right. It is just a disgraceful situation that has taken society back 40 years.
This government will do everything it can to urge the federal government to
change its mind and join with all Aboriginal legal services around the country
and the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia to make sure that we maintain
the Aboriginal Legal Service for First Nation people.
for her insightful question, and I note her commitment to justice.
(1)–(2) This
is not Labor–Liberal ideology; everyone in this chamber who has some
sense of or concern for justice should be concerned with what the federal
government is doing here. The Aboriginal Legal Service was inaugurated in
Redfern back in 1970, and then in Western Australia in 1973. It was serviced by
brilliant lawyers such as the late John Toohey, QC—a High Court judge—Peter
Dowding, QC, who went on to become WA Premier, and the late Henry Wallwork, QC.
They were all committed to the cause of trying to deliver justice to Indigenous
people. I have already noted that 38 per cent of our prison population is
Indigenous. For the first time ever, the federal government intends to withdraw
funding from the Aboriginal Legal Service, give it to the Legal Aid Commission,
quarantine it for two years for the Aboriginal Legal Service and, after that,
it is on its own. The Aboriginal Legal Service will then have to fight with
other people who need money from Western Australian Legal Aid for funding.
I note that the federal government
has already run down the Aboriginal Legal Service to the point at which for
Port Hedland, Broome and Karratha, Western Australian Legal Aid has to do 80 per
cent of Indigenous representation because of the withdrawal of funding. This is
a disaster for First Nation people. As we know from the Gene Gibson case, a lot
of these people intersect with the justice system with English as their second
or third language. It is imperative that they have access to good legal
services. This patch of history will be written harshly about when up to 40 per
cent of our prison population is drawn from the Indigenous two per cent of our
general population. We know that if they are represented, they have a better
chance of getting community service or other alternatives to being taken away
from their families, put in prison, and the whole cycle just repeating. The
federal government commissioned an inquiry and it recommended keeping the
separate funding program, noting that Aboriginal young people were 25 times
more likely to be incarcerated and that the community rates of child removal
and contact with police far outweighed those for other Australians. The federal
government's own inquiry recommended the continuation of separate
funding for the Aboriginal Legal Service. Now we have no funding for the
community legal services. That money will run out and it will go into legal
aid. What is propping up the community legal services—members on the
other side of the chamber would know about these services—is the drug
confiscation money that I have been sending to them to keep them afloat. I get
questions from the shadow Attorney General in the other place about why I am
doing this. I am doing this so that there is reasonable access to justice for
those people in the suburbs who need legal advice. We have a crisis of
assistance to people who deserve representation before the courts. No-one is
more deserving than a First Nation person in our country who goes before the
court with English as their second or third language. They do not stand a chance.
This is appalling. The federal government's own report recommended
maintaining separate funding for the Aboriginal Legal Service, yet, two weeks
later, the federal government brought down
its budget and said that it was junking its own report, the Aboriginal Legal Service could get quarantine funding with the Legal Aid Commission for two
years and then it would be on its own. It is just shameful.
Mr P. Papalia : Homelessness.
Mr J.R. QUIGLEY : That is
right. It is just a disgraceful situation that has taken society back 40 years.
This government will do everything it can to urge the federal government to
change its mind and join with all Aboriginal legal services around the country
and the Legal Aid Commission of Western Australia to make sure that we maintain
the Aboriginal Legal Service for First Nation people.
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