National Legal Aid is seeking urgent government investment in the 2026-27 Budget to address critical funding gaps that threaten access to justice for vulnerable Australians. Key priorities include:
- Reinstating $17.1 million per annum to support victim-survivors of domestic and family violence impacted by Federal Circuit and Family Court reforms
- Preventing the closure of essential migration and disaster legal services facing funding cliffs
- Providing an additional $7 million annually to strengthen the NDIS Appeals Program
Without this funding, thousands of disadvantaged clients risk losing vital legal assistance, undermining reforms and increasing pressure on courts and communities.
You can read our full submission below.
Our ask
1. Supporting victim-survivors of domestic and family violence via reinstatement of FCFCoA case management pathway funding of $17.1 million per annum
Legal Aids are facing a funding shortfall as a result of the 2021 Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) reforms. This will impact service delivery if not addressed in the 2026 Budget. It is recommended that:
1.1 The $17.1 million additional funding (plus indexation) provided nationally to Legal Aids in 2023-24 to address the impact of the 2021 FCFCoA reforms is reinstated and added to the baseline funding of Legal Aids within the National Access to Justice Partnership (NAJP), as a priority in the 2025-26 Budget
1.2 This funding forms part of a broader package that supports the extension of other programs and initiatives established as part of the FCFCoA reforms
Legal Aids are the main providers of family law legal representation to people experiencing disadvantage in Australia. In 2023-24 Legal Aids delivered approximately 31,000 family law representation grants, 15,000 family law duty services and over 7,000 Independent Children’s Lawyer representation grants. Over 86% of all Legal Aid family law matters include a risk of domestic and family violence.
The funding shortfall will impact victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and result in:
- A reduction of the provision of family law legal aid grants nationally by approximately 2,000 matters, including Independent Children’s Lawyer Program matters, general family law and family dispute resolution matters
- More restricted guidelines and longer waitlists to deliver family legal assistance services including private practitioner and in-house services
- Ongoing loss of family law practitioners willing to undertake legal aid matters
This will also impact on the goals of the FCFCoA reforms being achieved, including improving timeliness and reducing the detrimental impact on families and children, including victim survivors within the family law system.
2. Funding cliffs – migration legal services and disaster legal services
National Legal Aid has two programs facing funding cliffs in June 2026, which will cause them to close. To address this, we require:
2.1 Immediate and ongoing investment of $36 million per annum to retain the Permanent Protection Visa Program across Legal Aids and Community Legal Centres
2.2 Immediate and ongoing investment of $20 million per annum for the delivery of disaster response and recovery legal services nationally across Legal Aids, Community Legal Centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services
If this funding were to be cut there would be no available legal assistance service for highly disadvantaged clients - at risk migrants, including victim-survivors of domestic and family violence and communities impacted by disaster.
The Permanent Protection Visa Program was established in early 2024 and provides legal advice and representation to people appealing permanent protection visa decisions at the Administrative Review Tribunal (ART) and the Federal Court. The Program aims to assist at risk, disadvantaged applicants to navigate the process. It also aims to support the ART and the Federal Court processes in terms of providing timely advice and representation that supports the reduction of the current backlog of appeal applications.
New South Wales and Victoria have received temporary funding over the past two years to deliver and co-ordinate disaster response legal services for disaster affected communities. Queensland continues to deliver a minimal service, despite receiving no ongoing funding for this. Each state delivers these services differently based on community need and scale of disaster events, taking a place-based approach.
Investment in an ongoing national disaster legal assistance response would deliver cost-benefits for government – particularly through the legal assistance focus on systemic changes to insurance to benefit disaster affected communities and support for communities to access insurance to re-build their lives following disasters.
There is no ongoing funding for these services from July 2026. Without funding, these services will be shut down.
3. Immediate and ongoing additional investment of $7 million per annum for the NDIS Appeals Program to better meet demand
The NDIS Appeals Program currently assists people with disability to appeal a decision regarding their NDIS supports at the ART, supporting over 300 clients with legal representation and over 2,500 with legal advices per annum. However, the Program is only funded to provide legal representation to 18% of those undertaking appeals. This is in contrast with the National Disability Insurance Agency allocating over $60 million in 2024-25 to lawyers who are engaged to respond to NDIS Appeals.
The NDIS Appeals Program was evaluated in 2025 and was found to not only assist people with disability to help ensure they are accessing the supports they need, but to also support the efficient management of the ART by providing advice about the merit of appeals and supporting people with disability to navigate the Tribunal process.
Additional funding of $7 million per annum would not only support people with disability through the appeals process, but it would also assist in improving the efficiency of the ART and help reduce the current application volume and backlog.
Further information on these asks is provided at Attachment A to the full submission available for download below and to the right.
