Supporting the Legal Assistance Sector

A high-performing and well-functioning legal assistance sector is invaluable not only because of the positive impact it can have for an individual, but also because of the broader, public benefits to the community.

The development of this Legal Assistance Strategy has been informed by consultation with the legal assistance sector. It is intended to be a practical, flexible and proactive roadmap to support legal assistance service providers in collectively delivering legal assistance in a way which responds to the needs of Western Australia’s diverse and geographically vast community. More broadly, this Strategy seeks to ensure that people experiencing vulnerability and disadvantage in Western Australia are best able to access appropriate and timely legal assistance irrespective of where they are located in the state.

Whilst the development of this Strategy is a requirement pursuant to the National Legal Assistance Partnership 2020-2025 (NLAP), this Strategy also seeks go beyond the minimum requirements of the NLAP and in doing so build on the guidance that the NLAP objective and outcomes provide to the legal assistance sector.

The Legal Assistance Action Plan sets out how the Strategy will be implemented, including the ongoing monitoring and evaluation of the Strategy as a whole to ensure continuous and demonstrable improvement, progress and change.

It is acknowledged that there are a number of socio-economic and systemic barriers to individuals which cannot be overcome simply by the provision of legal assistance. This Strategy also seeks to work in conjunction with other State Government initiatives towards improving access to justice and achieving a fair, just and safe community for all Western Australians.

As part of the ongoing work to estimate the level and nature of legal need in Western Australia, the Department of Justice commissioned the 2022 WA Legal Needs Report and the Legal Needs Service Data Tool. They are the first of their kind in Australia and represent an innovative approach to estimating legal need based on a range of data sources.

The WA Legal Needs Report provides a snapshot of the estimated level and nature of legal need in Western Australia, with reference to geographic regions, Priority Areas of Law and Priority Client Groups. The Legal Needs Service Data Tool synthesises legal assistance service provider data and legal needs indicators, providing an ongoing statistical narrative of legal need in Western Australia and how it is met.

Both the WA Legal Needs Report and the Legal Needs Service Data Tool contribute to a quantitative evidence base which informs service planning and funding decisions, while the Department’s ongoing consultation with the legal assistance sector and other stakeholders about on the ground experiences contributes to the qualitative evidence base.

It is acknowledged that the WA Legal Needs Report and the Legal Needs Service Data Tool do not completely overcome the challenge of identifying and documenting unmet legal need and measuring the statistically obscured population who do not obtain the legal help they need, either because they are not aware of their legal rights, or because there is not appropriate, accessible legal assistance available to them.

It is also acknowledged that the WA Legal Needs Report and the Legal Needs Service Data Tool are both long term projects. As part of the Legal Assistance Strategy (PDF) and Legal Assistance Action Plan (PDF), it is intended that the Legal Needs Service Data Tool and future versions of the Report are updated and refined with current data over time.

Reports

The Department of Justice, via the Legal Assistance Branch, chairs the Collaborative Services Planning Group (CSPG) as a requirement of the National Legal Assistance Partnership 2020-2025.

The CSPG brings together representatives from Government and leaders of the legal assistance sector to work together to maximise their reach so that services are targeted to areas of greatest need, within available resources.

In 2023-2024, the CSPG will work to implement the Legal Assistance Strategy and Legal Assistance Action Plan. Together, these key documents aim to ensure that the legal assistance sector has sufficient capacity and resources to deliver appropriate and timely legal assistance services to priority client groups residing in the metropolitan area as well as the State’s vastly dispersed regional, rural and remote communities.

The Legal Assistance Workforce Planning and Development Strategy and Implementation Plan 2024-2030 has been developed in response to acute workforce pressures that have been reported by the legal assistance sector.

A number of data collection processes were undertaken in 2023 to form a clearer picture of the workforce pressures experienced by the legal assistance sector. Comparisons were also drawn to the legal profession overall, as well as other workforces and other jurisdictions.

The resulting analysis identified two priorities:

• Grow and sustain the regional and remote workforce
• Sustain and support Aboriginal-led legal assistance service providers.

with corresponding outcomes and contributing actions. Additional focus areas have also been identified.

The National Legal Assistance Partnership 2020-2025 (NLAP) is an agreement between the Commonwealth, States and Territories, which sets out the arrangements for the delivery of Commonwealth funded legal assistance services, and otherwise provides for an integrated, efficient, effective and appropriate model of service delivery that is focussed on improving access to justice.

The NLAP is supported by the National Strategic Framework for Legal Assistance 2020-2025, which is the agreed policy framework for government legal assistance funding, guiding service delivery and sector planning.

The National Legal Assistance Data Strategy and National Legal Assistance Data Standards Manual provide guidance to legal assistance service providers to facilitate the collection of consistent and comparable data as the foundation for a strong, reliable evidence base that informs legal assistance policy and supports planning and resource allocation.

The State and Commonwealth Governments are committed to ensuring vulnerable and disadvantaged Australians, who cannot afford the services of a private lawyer, can access justice, wherever they live.

Community Legal Centres receive funding from the State and Commonwealth Government to deliver front-line services to vulnerable people facing disadvantage to engage effectively in the justice system.

In Western Australia, the Department of Justice will distribute more than $132 million to the State’s legal assistance sector in 2023-2024.  This includes approximately $61.6 million from the Commonwealth under the National Legal Assistance Partnership 2020-2025, with approximately $17 million for Aboriginal Legal Service, $31.5 million for Legal Aid WA and $14.97 million for Community Legal Centres.

The State will also provide $4.665 million in 2023-2024 to the community legal sector as part of the State Baseline Funding Boost to maintain the sector’s capacity to respond to the demand for its services. The State Baseline Funding Boost allocations for 2023-2024 have been based on estimated legal need and informed by the Legal Needs Assessment Data Tool (2022), with consideration given to more timely legal need estimate data. Community Legal Centres were allocated funding based on services delivered to clients in high population growth locations and clients in high priority client groups.

Together, these funds allow the sector to deliver a range of essential frontline services, including but not limited to, information, advice, representation, mediation, document drafting, domestic violence supports and community legal education.

A table showing allocations to be distributed by the Department of Justice to Community Legal Centres is shown below.

Community Legal Centre Funding Table 2023-2024

The Commonwealth and State Governments also provide funding to the legal assistance sector to support specific or project-based services to enhance outcomes for vulnerable and disadvantaged West Australians.

This includes increased legal assistance for vulnerable women, supporting people with mental health conditions access the justice system, the delivery of enhanced Domestic Violence Units and Health Justice Partnerships (DVU/HJPs), Workplace Sexual Harassment Funding, the Justice Policy Partnership, Coronial Inquiries and Expensive and Complex Cases, Coronial Inquiries, the Family Advocacy and Support Service and supporting increased child sexual abuse prosecutions.

In 2023-2024, the State will provide the Aboriginal Legal Service WA with $93,000 for the Justice Policy Partnership, $792,000 for Coronial Inquiries and Expensive and Complex Cases and $1,040,000 for Coronial Inquiries. The State will also provide Legal Aid with $1,872,000 for the Family Advocacy and Support Service and $211,000 to support increased child sexual abuse prosecutions.

The State funds Community Legal Centres and Legal Aid to deliver representation services for parties participating in registrar-facilitated shuttle conferencing and if required a supporting duty lawyer service. To run the program, the State Government has allocated roughly $7 million over four years to CLCs and Legal Aid.

The State also provides funding to Community Legal Centres, Legal Aid and the Aboriginal Legal Service WA to represent parents at all court appearances in the therapeutic court list (including mentions and pre-hearing conferences) at the Perth Children’s Court. To run the program, the State Government has allocated approximately $1 million in 2023-24 to service providers.

The Department of Justice also provides funding to Southern Aboriginal Corporation and Aboriginal Family Legal Services to provide family violence prevention legal services for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in Perth. Southern Aboriginal Corporation has been allocated $2,272,575 over three years, including $757,500 in 2023-2024.