Justice on the Brink

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Legal Aid is Australia’s way of bridging the gap between affordability of and access to legal assistance; it is social insurance for the justice system. But the system is broken.

Completed with support from National Legal Aid, this report documents the crisis unfolding in Australia’s legal assistance sector.

In 2014, a major report by the Productivity Commission recommended additional Commonwealth funding of $200 million per year for legal assistance services to address unmet need. This funding would have expanded the means test for Legal Aid, giving more people access and increasing the number of grants. However, this was never provided and there is insufficient funding to meet demand, leaving many Australians without access to legal representation and services, and placing unsustainable pressure on legal practitioners.

The report was covered by both The Australian and The Guardian newspapers.