Funding Legal Aid Options Paper

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Australia’s legal assistance sector is under severe pressure from greater demand for services and chronic underfunding. This report analyses the possible funding sources.

The need for increased Commonwealth funding for legal assistance was identified a decade ago by the Productivity Commission. Instead, funding has shrunk by 3 per cent in this time. Without action now, the gap between legal assistance need and funding will widen, and the costs of a dysfunctional system will grow.