Legal Services Commission

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY (14:39): My question is to the Attorney-General.

Members interjecting:

The PRESIDENT: Order! The Hon. Mr Hanson! The Hon. Mr Wortley is to be heard in silence, please.

The Hon. R.P. WORTLEY: My question is to the Attorney-General. Will the minister inform the council about the Legal Services Commission's activities in Port Adelaide?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (14:40): I thank the honourable member for his question and his ongoing and continuing interest in justice in South Australia. The Legal Services Commission's presence in Port Adelaide dates back to 1986. The commission established its presence in Port Adelaide in the mid-eighties because it recognised the needs of the community, and those needs are still driving the commission's delivery of legal advice and representation today.

The Legal Services Commission's Port Adelaide office was set up because, for many people, it can be a long, inconvenient or impossible trip into the commission's Adelaide CBD premises. As was the case in the eighties, there are pockets of disadvantage in the western suburbs areas, and it is crucial that the Legal Services Commission is poised to respond to all those needs.

In response, the assistance that the Legal Services Commission delivers from its Port Adelaide office has been life-changing for many people over a number of decades. That's why I was pleased that, on Friday 29 July, I was invited to open the Legal Services Commission's new Port Adelaide office. The Deputy Premier, the Hon. Dr Susan Close MP, member for Port Adelaide, was in attendance, as was the local Port Adelaide magistrate, Magistrate Pandya.

The Legal Services Commission's new Port Adelaide office is very well situated on St Vincent Street, across the road from the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court. The new position of the office will be able to increase the Legal Services Commission's visibility in the community and remind people to connect with the commission when they need such legal help. Locating suitable premises across the road from the Port Adelaide Magistrates Court was a great find for the commission, and magistrates sitting at Port Adelaide and court staff can very easily direct people just across the road for legal assistance, if needed.

It is also of great benefit to the Legal Services Commission's duty solicitors as they go about their day, assisting unrepresented clients before the local Magistrates Court. The Legal Services Commission's duty solicitor services are vital in all SA courts, and that is true also at Port Adelaide. The Legal Services Commission provides crucial and expert help in criminal law, family matters and a wide range of civil issues. The commission staff are to be commended for their assistance to victims of domestic violence, efforts to protect older South Australians and also the assistance provided to vulnerable children.

While the Port Adelaide office is not the biggest that the commission has, it remains a crucial part of the heavy lifting the organisation undertakes each year in the justice sector. The commission has delivered, I am informed, in excess of four million legal assistance services to South Australians since it began its operations in 1979. I am informed that the commission provides more than 140,000 services per year, and many thousands of them are delivered from Port Adelaide.

The assistance the commission provides makes a significant difference to individuals, to their families, to the justice system and to the wider community. I commend them for the work that they do and congratulate them on the opening of their new office in Port Adelaide.