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House of Assembly - Fifty-Fourth Parliament, Second Session (54-2)
2020-06-17 Daily Xml
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Legal Assistance Funding

Mr TEAGUE (Heysen) (14:44): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney outline to the house how South Australians will benefit from a significant boost in funding for legal assistance organisations?

The Hon. V.A. CHAPMAN (Bragg—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General) (14:44): It's with pleasure that I do update the house. I have been pleased to commend the legal profession, including the Legal Services Commission and the Law Society, for their work post-bushfires. COVID-19 brought further challenges, and so negotiations with the Hon. Christian Porter (federal Attorney-General) and other attorneys-general around the country have resulted in some extra legal assistance being provided to supplement legal assistance organisations, particularly their ICT needs.

I also have the pleasure to inform the house of the important ICT and AVL upgrades in our court systems. This is really another important aspect, with $1.2 million going to be allocated to the Legal Services Commission, the Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement, South Australian Community Legal Centres, JusticeNet and Youth Law Australia for upgrades to their ICT equipment.

There is a further $3.6 million over the coming two financial years to help employ people to actually provide the service that is going to be in anticipated demand. Members might appreciate the spike in inquiries, particularly during the COVID-19 period—people who lose their jobs or people who are struggling with rent or experiencing other areas in which they require advice—so there has been a high demand and an expected further high demand. There have already been inquiries on domestic violence matters, elder abuse, social security issues, employment matters and tenancy disputes.

Obviously, new laptops, videoconferencing facilities and other technology are really what is required, and we have to fund the implementation and installation of this equipment and the training for people to operate it. There is all of this, together with upgrades in the courts and the support of the legal profession and their support in providing pro bono support, particularly post-bushfires. But this has been traversed during the time of COVID-19 and has brought about a sort of triage in identifying how we best address it, capitalising on the opportunity that we have to upgrade AVL and of course is supported by law reforms to enable that to be accessed.

I am very pleased by those advances. I have already had a letter of response from one community centre thanking both commonwealth and state governments for this initiative, and I am very pleased to inform the house on the same.

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