Independent Senator Lidia Thorpe has called for urgent funding for community legal centres as some are reportedly having to turn away 1,000 people a day.
Ahead of a group of frontline community legal centre workers visiting Federal Parliament on Wednesday to raise their concerns about the impact the lack of funding is having on the workforce and communities in crisis, the Gunnai, Gunditjmara and Djab Wurring senator said that without urgent funding from the federal governments, thousands more vulnerable people will be turned away from receiving legal assistance.
"Labor has been talking a big game about helping women and children experiencing family violence, but their failure to fund these services show they're not taking the crisis seriously," Senator Thorpe said.
"Right now, over 50,000 women are being turned away from these life-saving services each year and are being put in danger."
The Daily Telegraph reported on Tuesday community legal centres across Australia are being forced to turn away more than 1000 vulnerable people a day — including about 370 domestic and family violence cases.
"First Peoples across the country are being denied access to legal services – this is leaving families vulnerable to violence and child removal, and leading to further criminalisation of our people, risking further deaths in custody," Senator Thorpe said.
It comes after an independent review into the funding of legal services by Dr Warren Mundy found the current levels are drastically insufficient to meet the needs of Australia's population, especially for marginalised groups like Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders, with legal groups arguing they have been raising these concerns for years.
The report, handed to the Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus in March, called for $215 million of urgent funding of the National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) for the 2024-25 financial year.
NATSILS, the peak body representing the seven state and territory-based Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, said at the time Dr Mundy's findings vindicated their long-held concerns.
"Our government resourcing is totally inadequate and doesn't come close to meeting the legal needs of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, which is an affront to justice and an obstacle to Closing the Gap," Chair Karly Warner said.
The latest federal budget committed $44 million for the sector ahead of a new agreement to begin in July next year.
Last month, ahead of a meeting of the Standing Council of Attorneys general (SCAG), a group of crossbench MPs wrote to Minister Dreyfus, along with his state and territory counterparts, urging them to commit an additional $174 million to support the struggling community legal services.
"Over 52,000 women facing domestic violence were turned away from legal services last year due to capacity shortages in the sector. To provide safe pathways away from violence for women and children, governments must provide adequate funding for legal assistance services," the letter stated.
First Nations women are 45 times more likely to experience family violence than non-First Nations women, and at least 25 times more likely to be killed or injured by a former or intimate partner.
Senator Thorpe said Closing the Gap statements by the government contrasted with a failure to further fund the community legal services, labelling it "shameful time-wasting and neglect" that is "costing lives".
"The government must act now. Every day they delay, more people are being denied justice and put in danger," she said.
"The government has had this report for six months, and they still haven't discussed it properly with the states, responded to its recommendations, or given any clarity to the sector. All while more women, children and First Peoples are being turned away from help."
