The NSW Government has once again failed to properly fund Community Legal Centres, ignoring our modest pre-Budget funding request — variously described by senior legal and parliamentary figures as 'cash behind the couch', 'ashtray money', and ‘a rounding error in the Department of Communities and Justice budget’. These characterisations reveal a deeper truth: providing life-changing legal help to people facing disadvantage is not on the Minns government’s radar.
Community Legal Centres are frontline services supporting people through crises — from family violence, child protection concerns and elder abuse, to support during natural disasters, housing insecurity, discrimination and unfair dismissal. When Community Legal Centres can’t meet demand for our services, it’s people’s safety and wellbeing that suffer.
We are dismayed that the government appears to view legal assistance for the most disadvantaged in times of crisis as an afterthought.
As the climate crisis worsens, Community Legal Centres are constantly bracing and preparing for disaster-related surges in legal need, on top of already stretched services across the state. The Budget papers refer repeatedly to the economic and community impact of more frequent natural disasters, but make no long-term commitment to help people access legal assistance as part of disaster preparedness, response and recovery.
Community Legal Centres are also left out of another Budget’s domestic and family violence funding package. Victim-survivors of domestic, family and sexual violence deserve and require access to social, financial, health, healing and legal support. 80% of Community Legal Centres provide frontline domestic, family and sexual violence legal services, but will see no extra funding from the government's $272m domestic violence package.
While the Budget makes a well-overdue investment in NSW’s failed child protection system, it plans to continue investing in harming children trapped in the criminal legal system. The Budget continues provisioning for draconian youth bail laws, with the insulting claim that keeping kids behind bars represents an ‘investment in regional NSW’. This is despite the Budget’s Performance and Wellbeing Statement noting a significant reduction in youth reoffending over the last seven years, and an overall reduction in property crime attributed in part to reduced youth involvement in crime. Treasury’s own Indigenous Expenditure Report last year suggested that raising the age of criminal responsibility to at least 14 would further reduce recidivism, have clear economic and social benefits, and better enable early intervention with kids at risk. That’s the pathway to community safety.
We call on the NSW Government to:
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Sustainably fund Community Legal Centres to meet need and manage demand surges
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Invest in community-led pathways to safety and justice that support families and kids to thrive, including raising the age of criminal responsibility, and first responders outside the police force
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Support rural, regional and remote legal and social services to respond to the intersecting climate, housing, cost-of-living and family violence crises
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Take action to fund legal support during and after natural disasters and care for the environment with a preventative climate justice strategy
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Fund access to safe, secure and healthy housing by building public housing at scale and expediting maintenance of existing stock
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Reverse the defunding of Community Justice Centres in New South Wales to ensure people can access free mediation.
Attributable to Sarah Marland, Executive Director, Community Legal Centres NSW:
“This Budget was a missed opportunity to fund services that are proven to reduce harm, improve safety and strengthen communities.
The NSW Government is well aware of the wellbeing impacts and budget savings that come from investment in community-led early intervention legal and social services. Despite this, once again we’ve seen a budget that leaves people in legal need out in the cold.
A responsible government would invest in keeping people out of the system — not entrenching them in it. We urge the NSW Government to act now to build a fairer and safer future for all.”
Media contact
Indre McGlinn
Media and Communications Manager
Community Legal Centres NSW
0434 462 229