Community legal sector funding announcements a mixed bag

Initial response from Community Legal Centres NSW, peak organisation for 37 NSW-based community legal centres, to the release of funding agreements from 2019-2022 for NSW Government funding for the Community Legal Service Program:

Positives:

• The shift from one-year to three-year funding agreements offers certainty for service planning and delivery
• increased pool of funding for the sector overall of $1.86 million from 2018-19 to 2019-20, including funding for innovative new legal assistance programs.

Negatives:

• Redistribution of funds results in 13 centres losing a total of $996,396 in general funding from 2018-19 to 2019-20, including 10 centres losing a total of $671,582 in total funding. This will result in reduced services to vulnerable and disadvantaged communities in some areas.
• Uncertainties about mandated targets, particularly for centres receiving less funds or no increase in funds from 2018-19 to 2019-2020.

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Community Legal Centres NSW Executive Director Tim Leach said:

“Our sector welcomes funding security via three-year contracts, increased core funding for a number of centres, as well as the funding of new programs and services to address emerging justice issues across the state. However, aspects of the decisions may unnecessarily compound access to justice issues in crucial areas of need.

“This tender process came off the back of the Cameron Review, which found that our sector was fit for purpose and ready to be funded. The sector engaged in this government process in good faith and through the application process has clearly demonstrated our value to government and the broader community.

“We welcome the increased NSW government funding for sixteen community legal centres in NSW, either in core funding or for specific innovative projects addressing newly emerging legal needs in their communities.

“As independent community-run organisations, community legal centres have long been at the forefront of reacting to emerging legal need and developing innovative approaches which eventually find their way into the mainstream legal practice. We look forward to seeing these new initiatives rolled out across NSW,” he said.

Seven community legal centres will maintain the same state funding levels from 2018-19 to 2019-2020 and so, assuming they receive CPI increases each year, should be able to offer the same levels of service to the people they help.

“From 2018-19 to 2019-20, there is an increase of $1.86m for the community legal sector. That’s good news for access to justice in NSW. Unfortunately, the redistribution of the community legal centre funding pool means that 10 centres will in total will lose $671,582 compared with their 2018-19 income,” Mr Leach said.

“These centres are all running great programs that will now need to be reduced or, in some cases, terminated. Reduced funding for community legal centres means reduced community lawyers and reduced services for people needing legal help.

“There is no shortage of legal need in NSW and community legal centres are a proven method of delivery quality legal services. Our early support work helps people navigate various issues and can stop problems spiralling out of control, keeping people out of the courts and hospitals and preventing homelessness and violence,” he said.

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Particular areas of concern:

• Reduced funding from 2018-19 to 2019-20 for the already under-resourced Wirringa Baiya Aboriginal Women’s Legal Centre, which works with women experiencing violence and helps keep children with their families and communities.
• Extreme funding uncertainty for public interest law organisations the Environmental Defenders Office NSW and Public Interest Advocacy Centre, who are waiting for additional announcements from the Public Purpose Fund. PPF Trustees meet next Monday 6th May and it is critical that these centres receive allocations sufficient to prevent them from experiencing an overall funding cut.
• Reductions in funding from 2018-19 to 2019-20 for the Welfare Rights Centre and Illawarra Legal Centre, both part of the National Social Security Rights Network, which works with people facing social security payment issues such as Robodebt and Newstart.
• National community legal centres which did not receive state government funding despite demonstrating the importance of their work to NSW residents: Justice Connect, the Animal Defenders Office, Arts Law Centre of Australia and Youth Law Australia.
• Funding reductions from 2018-19 to 2019-2020 for the Intellectual Disability Rights Service and Australian Centre for Disability Law, which do crucial work supporting people with disability.
• Reduced funding from 2018-19 to 2019-2020 for generalist centres Marrickville Legal Centre, North and North West Legal Centre, Illawarra Legal Centre, Northern Rivers Community Legal Centre and Western NSW Community Legal Centre.

There are additional concerns that the government is expecting organisations receiving less funding as compared with 2018-19 to deliver the same outcomes with less resources. A number of centres have also been asked to deliver the same services year to year without a guaranteed CPI increase to cover increasing costs.

Both situations are unrealistic. Centres that have been allocated less than they currently receive should be asked to indicate what they can reasonably deliver with the lesser amount offered, and this should form the basis of any subsequent service agreement.

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Community Legal Centres NSW Executive Director Tim Leach said:

“Community legal centres are constantly recognised as being lean, efficient and effective ways to deliver legal assistance services. There is no water to be squeezed from the stone.

“While $671,582 is a drop in the ocean for the robust NSW State Budget, these reductions will have a serious impact on staffing, service delivery, and most crucially the vulnerable people and communities our lawyers help on a daily basis.

“We will be raising all of these concerns with the Attorney General’s Office, and others as they emerge.

“We are calling on the NSW government to immediately find the $671,582 to restore these valuable programs before the end of the financial year to ensure that there is no reduction in community legal service delivery anywhere in NSW, and to consider all the points raised above in its budget deliberations.

Community Legal Centres NSW is in the process of preparing a comprehensive NSW Budget proposal which will address all areas of concern from this announcement, as well as highlighting emerging areas of legal need for residents of NSW,” Mr Leach said.