National Legal Aid (NLA) welcomes the Federal Government announcement of a $21.4 million funding package to expand support to victim-survivors of sexual violence.
This funding package has been announced in response to the Australian Law Reform Commission (ALRC) report Safe, Informed, Supported: Reforming Justice Responses to Sexual Violence.
The Government will invest $21.4 million over three years from 2025-26 to address barriers to access to justice for victim-survivors of sexual violence, including $19.6 million over three years for specialist trauma-informed sexual assault legal services.
This includes extending and enhancing the pilots in Victoria, Western Australia and the Australian Capital Territory, and nationally expanding the pilots to include one in each jurisdiction. This will include trialling new non-legal services recommended by the ALRC including culturally safe Justice System Navigators and supporting access to restorative justice pathways.
NLA is excited that these important programs will be expanded, including the Victims Legal Service (VLS) of which Victoria Legal Aid (VLA) is a partner.
The VLS is Victoria’s first dedicated, statewide, specialist legal service for victims of crime. Service partners include Victoria Legal Aid, Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Djirra, Women’s Legal Service Victoria and seven local community legal centres (CLCs) across the state.
The current Federal funding supports three VLS partners, Victoria Legal Aid, Women’s Legal Service Victoria and Djirra, to provide legal information, advice and representation to victim-survivors of sexual offences seeking to protect their confidential communications and health information, such as medical or counselling records, in court. And, through Djirra to provide culturally safe, holistic support to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander victim-survivors seeking to report sexual assault.
We look forward to working with and supporting our legal assistance partners Women’s Legal Services Australia and First Nations Advocates Against Family Violence, to expand this work and to collaboratively deliver the best possible services to victim-survivors.
We acknowledge that the announcement is a first step in implementing the ALRC recommendations and supporting victim-survivors and look forward to working with the Federal Government on implementing other much needed reform and investment.