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Posted: 2017-04-24 06:22:30

Attorney-General George Brandis will today announce an extra $55.7 million to extend legal aid funding. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

FAMILY violence campaigner Rosie Batty was in tears when she learned the federal government had backed down on funding cuts to community legal centres and indigenous services.

The government will include $39 million in funding for community legal centres and $16.7 million for indigenous legal services over three years in its May 9 budget.

The money takes funding for the services to 2020, when a national partnership agreement with the states and territories ends.

The coalition has come under sustained fire from Labor, minor parties and community groups for not guaranteeing ongoing funding to the legal services, with previous commitments set to end on July 1.

“I’m thrilled,” Ms Batty told AAP in Port Moresby, en route to the city of Lae where she will meet with Papua New Guinean domestic violence survivors receiving support through FemiliPNG.

Former Australian of the year Rosie Batty. Picture: Kim Eiszele

Former Australian of the year Rosie Batty. Picture: Kim EiszeleSource:News Corp Australia

The 2015 Australian of the Year said the money means many lawyers who work for services running on “the smell of an oily rag” will be able to keep their jobs and have a degree of future certainty.

“I know when I’ve visited regional areas in Australia, you’re talking about one lawyer looking after an enormous expanse and that one position going,” she said.

Ms Batty said Australia was just seeing the tip of the iceberg, with family violence survivors gaining the confidence to come forward to get help. “You can’t call out for women to leave (abusive situations) if we’re also cutting the very essential services they need.” She said legal fees were out of reach for average people.

“It puts people into financial hardship, credit debt, borrowing money from family members,” she said.

“If you haven’t got legal representation, you’re disadvantaged from the very beginning.” Ms Batty’s son Luke, 11, was killed by his father at a cricket ground in Victoria in 2014.

BRANDIS EXTENDS LEGAL AID FUNDS

Attorney-General George Brandis has announced an extra $55.7 million to extend legal aid funding which was set to expire on June 30.

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Labor has seized on the reports, calling it a victory for legal aid campaigners and a “humiliating backflip” by the Turnbull Government which was due to effectively slash $35 million in funding from the sector from July 1 under new funding arrangements.

“While the reversal of these cuts is welcome, it is beyond time for the coalition and George Brandis to stop toying with the funding of these vital services,” Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus said.

Attorney-General George Brandis will announce millions to extend legal aid funding. Picture: AAP

Attorney-General George Brandis will announce millions to extend legal aid funding. Picture: AAPSource:AAP

“The uncertainty faced by the centres in recent months and years has been incredibly damaging, with many already losing experienced staff and unable to plan for the future.

“It’s unacceptable.”

But Senator Brandis has blamed the Labor Government for “most of the cuts” as it only funded the program for four years.

He said the sector needed certainty as well as resources.

Senator Brandis said the extra funding was “new money” and was not taken from any other area in the Attorney-General’s budget.

The funds will be targeted to the areas of greatest need with $39 million going to family law and family violence services and $16.7 million going to legal aid for indigenous Australians over the next three years.

The extra funding will reverse earlier cuts to legal aid by the Coalition and extend funding put in place by Labor in 2013, which was to end in June.

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Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the extra funding is a win for legal aid campaigners. Picture: AAP Image/Mick Tsikas

Shadow Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus says the extra funding is a win for legal aid campaigners. Picture: AAP Image/Mick TsikasSource:AAP

Earlier, Senator Brandis told The Australian the announcement would be made ahead of the May budget to prevent legal centres cutting jobs while they planned their own budgets.

“The government has always recognised the essential role of the legal assistance sector in providing access to justice for the most vulnerable Australians,” Senator Brandis told the publication.

“This record funding commitment acknowledges this, and has been achieved despite strong budgetary pressures and, unlike the Labor Party, the available funds are being prioritised and committed to provide frontline services to those who need them most,” he said.

The Law Council of Australia says the decision will stop thousands of Australians from losing access to legal aid and the resulting social and economic fallout.

“This is a tremendous victory for access to justice in Australia,” Law Council president Fiona McLeod said.

“Each year, we know tens of thousands of Australians experience legal problems and cannot access help due to the inadequate funding of legal assistance.

“Without legal intervention, these problems often spiral out of control, creating enormous financial and social costs.

Ms McLeod said while the cancellation of the cuts staved off the immediate ‘funding cliff’ crisis, much more needed to be done to tackle “systemic underfunding” of community legal services.

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