While the Women’s Legal Service has welcomed the federal government’s commitment to additional funding for family violence, it says there is no detail on how the funding will be allocated.
Regional, rural and remote lawyer for the Women’s Legal Service based in Brisbane, Phoebe Kahlo, said $15 million would be directed to free legal services over three years.
“That’s $5 million a year across all Australia over a three-year period, so that’s not a lot,” she said.
Despite the funding, the federal government advised previously that there would be cuts by $12 million a year to community legal services around the country.
That funding is received under a national funding partnership agreement between the federal and state government about how financial assistance is provided to community legal centres.
“We don’t know whether this additional $15 million is just going to be a reallocation of resources,” Ms Kahlo said.
“There is no indication that they will reverse this.”
A productivity commission through the Department of Justice found that a $200 million investment was needed now to address legal needs.
Ms Kahlo said the current funding announcement was being directed with a very targeted approach, such as providing advice to victims in hospital, and that was welcomed.
“We know the provision of legal advice is integral to an emergency response to domestic violence, so having free legal advice is an important issue.”
The Women’s Legal Service, which provides free legal service and has a dedicated phone line for women in rural, regional and remote Queensland, had the expertise to provide a specialist, gendered service.
“But it is unclear about where that funding will be allocated. That won’t address our legal need at the moment, because it is a targeted approach,” Ms Kahlo said.
The Women’s Legal Service has struggled for funding and has a significant unmet demand for its service.
There has been a 40 per cent increase in demand for its service since the Not Now, Not Ever Task Force report last year, and staff have been unable to answer the more than 2000 calls for help each month.
“We can only provide service to one in every 10 women who seek help from us,” Ms Kahlo said.
The state government announced earlier this month it would provide an additional $500,000 to meet that demand, and indicated the organisation was in line for some of that funding.
“We are yet to see how much that is and when that will be committed.”
Ms Kahlo said her organisation was absolutely essential as it provided information on what women needed with a protection order, how they could put their case forward, what they could ask for to protect themselves and what they could expect from the legal system.
“We see women struggling to put their evidence together in court, where a high level of clarity and detail is needed, yet women are presenting in highly traumatised states.”
Ms Kahlo said there was under-reporting when it came to family violence, and when it was reported it was without as much detail as there could be.
