2. Whilst inequality is a complex issue, most people
would, I think, agree that equality before the law
is an essential structural provision in promoting
an egalitarian society. Yet, legal advice is needed
to truly make use of the structural provision of
equality, and legal advice and advocacy are
costly. Can Australia claim to be egalitarian if not
all citizens are financially capable of paying for
access to legal advice or advocacy?
Image2 - who should beaccorded equality and how?
2
3. Provisionsfor mitigating
disadvantage: phase1
One of the measures that attempts to
redress the issue of financial
inequality translating into legal
inequality is the Legal Aid program.
Tracing its earliest roots to the Poor
Person’s Legal Remedies Act 1918,
Legal Aid NSW (and its counterpart
State bodies) provides “legal
services to disadvantaged
people” (Legal Aid NSW, Our
history page) and receives State and
Federal funding to do so.
Image3 - Legal Aid NSW
Funding and Expenditure
2012-2013
3
4. Whilst legal advice from
Legal Aid NSW is free,
ongoing legal advocacy is
means tested, and
consequently some people
with little financial
capacity, such as
pensioners who own their
own home or the abused
spouse of a wealthy person,
may still not be eligible. Image4
(Onceyou havelost your househowever….)
… phase1 continued
4
5. However, there are vast numbers of non-
means tested community based
organisations with various specialities
which aim to address and mitigate a
plethora of ‘reasons for disadvantage’.
Community legal centres (CLCs) are one
such sub group and do not for the most
part means test clients. Centres identified
as ‘general’ such as Caxton Legal Centre
in Brisbane provide general (broad
ranging) legal advice as well as running
more specialised programs such as
family law advice clinics. However,
ongoing advocacy (legal representation)
and “casework is resource intensive and
is therefore available only in limited
circumstances” (Caxton Legal Centre,
Casework).
Unfortunately thesetypesof stereotypespersist
Provisionsfor mitigating
disadvantage: phase2
Image5
6. The national body for CLCs, the National Association of Community Legal Centres
(NACLC), recorded a total number of 51,773 cases opened in 2013, which is increased
from the 37,750 in 2008 (NACLC, 2008, p. 11).
Evidently, through organisations such as CLCs and governmental agencies
such as Legal Aid, there is some mitigation of the legal inequality experienced
by disadvantaged people in Australia.
Image6 from NACLC
6
7. However, disadvantaged groups are overrepresented in the
criminal justice system, and the extensive literature linking
crime and disadvantage (Walsh, 2008, p. 164) would
indicate that true equality is still far from a reality.
7
8. Contextualisefor Australia…
Indeed, this problem has been well
recognized for decades. Tamara Walsh
(2008) compares the 1976
Commission of Inquiry into Poverty -
Second Main Report: Law and
Poverty with more recent research and
concludes that little has changed:
disadvantaged individuals have been,
and continue to be, over represented
in the criminal justice system (p. 161).
Moreover, reforms to police powers in
recent years “have impacted adversely
on those experiencing disadvantage;
in particular, Indigenous people,
young people and those experiencing
homelessness” (Walsh, 2008, p.160)
which is only likely to increase the
already notable inequity.
… or young, or homeless, or Indigenous
Image7
8
9. So what is the government doing?
Reducing funding for legal assistance programs. As noted on the Law Council of Australia’s
(LCA) website – “government cut-backs mean very few of us will ever qualify for legal aid
[…] the net result is that many Australians don’t have ready access to the legal assistance they
deserve” (LCA).
Image8
Australia: the land of equality and the fair go since 1788.
10. References
Caxton Legal Centre. (2 May 2014). Casework. Retrieved 28 May, 2014, Retrieved from https://caxton.org.au/casework.html
Law Council of Australia (LCA).Why is this an important issue Retrieved 5/28/2014, 2014, Retrieved from http://
www.lawcouncil.asn.au/lawcouncil/index.php/why-is-this-an-important-issue.
Legal Aid NSW.Our history. Retrieved 5/28/2014, 2014, Retrieved from http://www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/about-us/who-we-
are/our-history
Nation Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC). (2008). Annual report 07/08. (Annual Report No. 2014). Sydney:
Retrieved from http://www.naclc.org.au/resources/NACLC0708AnnualReport.pdf
Nation Association of Community Legal Centres (NACLC). (28 May 2014). Community Legal Centres. Retrieved 28 May,
2014, Retrieved from http://www.naclc.org.au/cb_pages/clcs.php
Walsh, T. (2008). Policing Disadvantage: Giving voice to those affected by the politics of law and order. (Queensland).
Alternative Law Journal, 33(3), 160.
10
11. Notes& URLs
• Image1. Unknown. http:/ / 3.bp.blogspot.com/ -bfg4lsUoER0/ UODR2dL6aYI/ AAAAAAAACb4/
j8pEADfp1iU/ s400/ Prison+and+the+mentally+ill+and+poor.jpg. Accessed 28 May 2014
• Image2. First Dog on theMoon. TheGuardian. http:/ / static.guim.co.uk/ sysimages/ Guardian/ Pix/ pictures/
2014/ 5/ 2/ 1398997461869/ dogaudit.jpg. Accessed 27 May 2014.
• Image3. Legal Aid NSW. NSW Government. http:/ / www.legalaid.nsw.gov.au/ about-us/ who-we-are/ funding.
Last updated 26 November 2013. Accessed 28 May 2014.
• Image4. Peter Braig. Sydney Morning Herald. http:/ / www.smh.com.au/ federal-politics/ political-opinion/
homelessness-has-many-faces-20110803-1ib20.html. Accessed 28 May 2014.
• Image5. Compiled for or by Margaret Simons. TheGuardian. http:/ / www.theguardian.com/ commentisfree/
2014/ may/ 28/ has-sydneys-daily-telegraph-lost-touch-with-its-readers?CMP=soc_567. Accessed 28 May 2014.
• Image6. Section of Screen Shot from NACLC. http:/ / www.naclc.org.au/ cb_pages/ clcs.php. Accessed 27
May 2014.
• Image7. Bill Dietrich. Billdietrich. http:/ / www.billdietrich.me/ Reason/ StayOutOfJail.jpg. Accessed 28 May
2014.
• Image8. Unknown. CreativeSpirit. http:/ / www.creativespirits.info/ aboriginalculture/ land/ native-title-issues-
problems. Accessed 28 May 2014
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