May 24, 2016
Money for mobile blackspots in Geelong as legal help blackspots worsen under Federal cuts
As prime minister Malcolm Turnbull announces money for mobile blackspots in Corangamite, he is neglecting existing blackspots in free legal help and making them worse with more than $34 million in cuts left in place in the Federal Budget amid a broader Federal funding shortfall of $100m over four years.
READ MOREMay 16, 2016
Community lawyers join call for urgently needed boost to all legal assistance services
Community legal centres are set to join tomorrow’s rally in support of increased funding for legal aid, and for broader legal assistance services including community legal centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS), and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services (FVPLS).
READ MOREMay 12, 2016
Family violence legal assistance announcement manifestly inadequate, community lawyers say
Today’s Federal Government announcement of $30 million over three years for family violence legal assistance will fail to reverse cuts to community legal centres and is manifestly inadequate to meet the needs of women seeking protection from family violence, according to the Federation of Community Legal Centres, the Victorian peak body representing more than a quarter of Australia’s 200 community legal centres.
READ MOREMay 03, 2016
Budget fails on urgently needed funding for free legal help for vulnerable people
Tonight’s Federal Budget has seen no new investment in community legal centres, leaving in place a national 30 per cent cut set to commence in July 2017. In failing on free legal help for people who can’t afford a lawyer or get legal aid, the Federal Government has ignored a central recommendation of the Productivity Commission for an urgent annual boost to national funding for combined free legal assistance services of $200 million a year.
READ MOREMay 03, 2016
Community lawyers urge caution over claims of new legal assistance funding not detailed in Budget
Community lawyers have urged caution and called for full funding of all family violence services following claims by Senator Michaelia Cash on ABC radio (from 6.44) that community legal centres can expect a share of broader family violence funding* from the Federal Budget that was not allocated to legal assistance services.
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