Save Community Legal Centres: End the funding crisis in New South Wales

 

Community legal centres in New South Wales help tens of thousands of people each year, particularly those affected by domestic, family, and sexual violence, or facing housing crises. They assist with a range of everyday legal issues, including relationships, debt, and discrimination.  

But community legal centres are in a critical funding and workforce crisis, preventing them from being able to meet demand in a time of grave cost-of-living pressures and growing demand for free legal assistance.

We call on the NSW Government to contribute more funding to community legal centres to ensure that people in crisis have somewhere to go.

What we need

  1. In addition to the Commonwealth contribution via the National Access to Justice Partnernship (NAJP), a $16m per annum increase to the total core funding contribution from the NSW Government. This equates to a total of $31m per annum in NSW Government funding to CLCs in 2025-26, indexed year on year to reflect real costs.

    This will help to:

    • Ensure more people in need can access legal assistance. Services are currently unable to meet skyrocketing demand – which increased by 24% in the last financial year. 

    • Help address workforce issues by enabling pay increases. Community legal centre staff are seriously underpaid compared to Legal Aid lawyers.

  2. Investment to ensure complete geographic coverage of Community Legal Centres across the state.

  3. Increased support for rural and remote Centres and Centres providing legal assistance to migrants and refugees and LGBTIQ+ people.

  4. Relevant Ministers to make a concerted effort to collaborate on resourcing decisions across portfolios to end the siloing of funding decisions, which disadvantages frontline legal assistance services.

  5. Adequate and reliable funding for Community Legal Centres NSW as the peak body.

What can you do to help?

What community legal centres and other organisations can do to support the campaign

  • Meet with your local MP.

  • Encourage your local MP to write a letter to the NSW Attorney General.

  • Request that your local MP highlight the experience of their local CLC in parliamentary speeches and in their public activities (including their local newsletters and socials).

  • Share CLCNSW campaign posts on social media, or make your own and link to this campaign page. Use the hashtags #SaveCommunityLegalCentres, #CommunityLaw and #FundFrontlineServices, and tag your local MP in your posts. Follow and share us on Facebook, Instagram, LinkedIn and X.

Let CLCNSW know when you are having meetings with MPs so we can share information! Just email clcnsw@clcnsw.org.au.

 

What parliamentarians can do to support community legal centres in New South Wales 

  • Relevant Ministers: Work through budget and Cabinet processes to secure increased, reliable base funding for community legal centres and other legal assistance services.  

  • Government MPs: Make representations to their Ministerial colleagues and in caucus to advocate for community legal centres.  

  • All Parliamentarians: Make speeches and put motions in parliament calling for greater support for community legal centres.  

  • All Parliamentarians: Take a photo with a ‘Save Community Legal Centres’ campaign sign, encouraging the government to adequately fund community legal centres in NSW, and post this on social media with the hashtags #SaveCommunityLegalCentres, #CommunityLaw and #FundFrontlineServices.

 

This is the New South Wales-based community legal centres funding campaign. To learn more about the national Save Community Legal Centres campaign, visit the national campaign website here.