Community Legal Centres

The Hon. S.W. KEY (Ashford) (14:48): My question is directed to the Attorney-General. Attorney, can you inform the house about the government's response to the commonwealth cuts to community legal centres in South Australia?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Justice Reform, Minister for Planning, Minister for Housing and Urban Development, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Child Protection Reform) (14:48): I thank the honourable member for her question. Community legal centres are an important part of our state's justice system. They provide support to financially disadvantaged people, to people with disabilities and to people, importantly, in regional parts of our state.

As I previously informed the house, the commonwealth delivered in its budget a 20 per cent cut to the funding of community legal centres in South Australia. The vast bulk of the funding cuts were pinned upon two of the eight centres, namely, WestSide Community Lawyers and the Central Community Legal Service. These two centres provide legal assistance to those in the central and westerns suburbs of Adelaide. WestSide Community Lawyers also maintains an office in Port Pirie, which I believe does very important work in that community. The Central Community Legal Service specialises in providing assistance to those with disabilities, and the centre also runs a valuable children's and youth legal service.

Recently, there has been further development in this area. On 9 June this year, Senator Brandis signed a letter offering a one-off payment of $1.7 million to South Australia if the government agreed to the long-term funding cuts to the sector. Senator Brandis required the government to respond by 11 June. On 16 June, Senator Brandis's letter was actually sent. For those whose fingers are a bit slow, that is five days after the time had expired for responding to it.

Senator Brandis then graciously decided to provide by email an extension to 18 June. These time lines are clearly ridiculous. I am further advised that during the 48-hour time frame for a response my departmental staff attempted to contact the commonwealth and were told that there was nobody available to talk about it. The commonwealth will not be able to push us into making a rushed decision on whether to accept this offer.

These cuts have a real impact that hurt the most vulnerable in our community. I have today written to Senator Brandis to advise that this government will not be bullied into agreeing to these cuts within this ridiculous time frame. I have said that I will be consulting with the sector and my colleagues before responding.