One of the major Aboriginal legal services in the Northern Territory says it will soon have to stop taking new clients amid uncertainty over its funding next financial year.www.abc.nt.au/news/2015-03-09/naaja-flags-refusing-new-clients-amid-legal-funding-cut/6290160

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA), based in Darwin, is one of the frontline organisations that will be affected by millions of dollars in funding cuts to legal aid and community legal centres around Australia.

Chief executive Priscilla Collins said the impact of the cuts would be revealed mid-May, but the organisation would have to scale back before then.

“We can’t be taking on civil and criminal matters and then six weeks before the end of the financial year saying to clients, ‘Well, sorry, we can’t continue, we don’t have enough staff to continue your matters’.”

“We haven’t publicly announced it yet but coming up in the future we will be announcing we will be reducing the types of workload we will be taking on.”

She said potential clients would have to be referred to the Northern Territory Legal Aid Commission, which would not have the capacity to take on the sudden influx of work.

“They’re flat out keeping up with the workload they’ve currently got,” she said.

“If they don’t have the capacity to do it, those people are going to court unrepresented.”

“That’s then going to clog up the whole system. It’ll cause a huge halt to the whole system in the Northern Territory.”

Attorneys-General warn Brandis against legal services cuts –
Last week, all state and territory attorneys-general wrote to federal Attorney-General George Brandis, (www.abc.net.au/news/2015-03-07/states-territories-unite-in-fight-against-legal-aid-funding-cuts/6287604)warning the Commonwealth’s current funding plan for legal assistance would set the fight against domestic violence and Indigenous disadvantage back decades.

Last year’s budget cut $15 million from legal aid commissions and $6 million from community legal centres as well as $43 million from legal advocacy services.

NT Attorney-General John Elferink said courts would be reluctant to hear serious cases such as murder charges without proper legal representation, and this would cause delays.

Ms Collins described the attorneys-generals’ action as “fantastic”.

“We really do appreciate that,” she said. “It’s a huge thing for all the attorneys-general to come together and write to Brandis and say you can’t cut legal services and in particular Aboriginal legal services.

“They know what that impact is going to be.

“What Aboriginal legal services do is not a luxury service.

“We deliver essential services. When you cut funding from us that doesn’t stop the stop the number of people going to court every day requiring access to justice.

“People still need access to justice. Just because they cut it doesn’t meant people don’t need to go to court the next day.”

The current national partnership agreement for legal assistance services expires at the end of June, and the state and territories have asked Senator Brandis to set out their proposed future funding no later than the end of March.

Following the attorneys-general’s letter, a spokesman for Mr Brandis said the Government was committed to protecting the most vulnerable members of the community and would continue to provide a “very substantial” amount of funding for legal assistance.

The spokesman said funding to states and territories would be considered as part of this year’s budget process.

The Federal Government also announced this week it would fund half of a $30 million national family violence awareness campaign, along with the states and territories.