Board and Employees
In the financial year 2023-24 the board was comprised of the following:
- NLA Chair, VLA CEO: Louise Glanville
- LANSW CEO: Monique Hitter
- LANT Director: Annmarie Lumsden
- LAQ CEO: Nicky Davies
- LSCSA CEO: Gabrielle Canny
- TLA Director: Kristen Wylie
- LAACT CEO: Dr John Boersig
- LAWA Director: Helen De Brito
In the financial year 2023-24 NLA employees were:
- NLA Executive Director: Katherine McKernan
- NLA Project Manager: Feiyi Zhang
- NLA Executive Officer: Louise Keenan
- NLA Administration Officer: Lisa Ripper
Key Achievements
Improving the Evidence Base
One of the most significant achievements from last year was the Justice on the Brink Report, published with Impact Economics in November 2023. The report found that Australia’s already strapped legal assistance sector is under severe pressure from growing demand and needs urgent increased funding to continue delivering vital services for the community. The launch of the Report in November 2023 was attended by 140 people and included stakeholders across government and the legal assistance sector. The Report also received a high level of media attention.
In May of 2024 NLA saw the first ever release of national legal assistance data by the ABS. Whilst it does not include all legal assistance service delivery funded by Commonwealth and State governments and is thus an incomplete dataset, it was an important step towards understanding the contribution of legal assistance providers in supporting access to justice. Efforts to improve data collection and reporting that would provide a strong evidence base for strategic planning and funding advocacy remain one of NLAs objectives.
In July NLA published the Funding Legal Aid Options Paper by Impact Economics and Policy. The paper has canvassed several options for increased legal assistance funding and found that an additional $484 million per year is required as a minimum to keep a sclerotic system functioning.
NLA contracted the Social Policy Research Centre at UNSW to develop a national Private Practitioner Census. This census seeks to inform service knowledge on demographics and work as well as NLA’s advocacy for a sustainable Legal Aid system nationally. The resulting report is set to be launched in February 2025.
Advocacy
In partnership with Women’s Legal Services Australia, NLA undertook a significant amount of advocacy to raise awareness of the importance of frontline legal assistance in supporting victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and to advocate for the proposed changes to the Family Law Act introduced by the Government in 2023-2024. This included hosting events at Parliament and undertaking a high level of media activity highlighting the role of frontline legal assistance. This culminated in the Prime Minister announcing an additional $500 million over five years for legal assistance that prioritises victim-survivors of domestic and family violence.
Last November the AG introduced the AHRC costs reform Bill to parliament that sought to implement recommendation 25 of the Respect@Work Report. NLA, as a key member of the Power to Prevent Coalition, submitted to the review of the cost model for Commonwealth anti-discrimination laws. This September, after months of advocacy, we were pleased to celebrate the passing of this Bill. It was a landmark reform that will go a long way in removing the financial barriers that prevent victims of workplace discrimination and sexual harassment from seeking justice.
Also in March, NLA gave evidence to the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) Bill 2023 Inquiry Hearing which passed in May. NLA and Economic Justice Australia advocated extensively to shape the ART Bill and maintain two tiers for social security appeals matters.
In April this year NLA hosted a webinar to mark International Women’s Day alongside Family Violence Prevention Services Forum and Women’s Legal Services Australia. Speeches and discussion highlighted the important role that legal assistance services play in supporting victim/survivors of domestic and family violence, First Nations communities, and resolved that the sector needs to further advocate for gender equality in the legal assistance sector.
In the last financial year NLA made 19 submissions, with some notable examples of the importance of our advocacy being:
- The Inquiry into Migration Amendment (Removals and Other Measures) Bill 2024 which outlined significant concern over empowering the Minister to either return vulnerable asylum seekers or otherwise expose them to disproportionate mandatory imprisonment in Australia;
- The Inquiry into the National Disability Insurance Scheme Amendment (Getting the NDIS Back on Track) Bill 2024 which focused on the need for co-design and person-centered approaches; and
- The Inquiry into the Family Law Amendment Bill 2023, which supported the inclusion of explicit provision that family violence is a factor to be taken into account in determining a property settlement.
Funding
Last October NLA welcomed the Federal Government commitment providing $36 million to legal assistance services to deliver legal assistance for people appealing Permanent Protection Visa decisions in the Administrative Appeals/Review Tribunal and the Federal Court. This was a result of work undertaken by National Legal Aid and the refugee and migration Community Legal Centres in advocating for legal assistance and in outlining a service model design.
Last December NLA welcomed the MYEFO commitment to providing $17.1 million to Legal Aid Commissions across Australia in recognition of the ongoing impact of the FCFCOA reforms. Whilst essential in aiming to provide early resolution of family law matters, these reforms created unforeseen effects on the provision of family law legal assistance including increased workloads and consequently, a reduction of available family law legal aid lawyers.
During 2023-2024 NLA worked alongside the Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership. This included preparing an extensive submission on the funding need across the legal assistance sector, as well as arranging a number of site visits and briefings for the Independent Reviewer. It also involved engaging all levels of government including travelling to Canberra to engage Ministers and relevant departments on priority areas for increased funding including service expansion, raising the means test, and private practitioner fees. In March the Independent Review of the NLAP highlighted the systematic underfunding of the legal assistance sector, broadly aligning with the recommendations in the NLA submission. This culminated in an announcement by the Prime Minister committing $3.9 billion over 5 years towards a National Access to Justice Partnership. This included confirmation of all baseline funding ($3.1 billion) as permanent, ongoing funding.
National Projects
Last November NLA oversaw the launch of the With You trauma-informed, rights-based legal services training program. It is the first national co-design project in the legal assistance sector. The program involves an Organizational Toolkit that teaches best practice of trauma-informed service delivery from 40 services around Australia. With You has a commitment to co-design with an array of stakeholders, most importantly clients with lived experience, carers, and family, as well as leaders across the legal assistance sector nationally, frontline lawyers, allied professionals and legal support staff, decision-makers, and researchers.
In April NLA commissioned an independent review of the Your Story disability legal supports program, which found that it “provided high-quality legal services that were relevant, tailored and accessible for people with disability”. The evaluation further noted that Your Story “delivered consistent service quality across Australia… 6,431 legal services that reached more than 2,800 clients”. Despite the crucial need for an ongoing national disability legal service, the end of Commonwealth funding meant that in June this year the service wrapped up. At the time of closure, the service delivered more than 6,500 services & supported more than 3,000 clients.
In July the Defence and Veterans Legal Service was similarly discontinued owing to inadequate ongoing Commonwealth funding. This is despite the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide highlighting the need for support by advocates when applying for compensation and praising the work of DAVLS in this space. More than a quarter of the submissions made to the Royal Commission were supported by DAVLS and since the closure of the Commission last October, DAVLS handled more than 1,200 enquiries. Most related to complex legislation and demanding processes regarding veteran entitlements such as pensions, compensation, healthcare and rehabilitation.
