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TONY Abbott says it “infuriates†him that legal aid resources are being used to challenge laws, amid concern over funding for Man Haron Monis’ High Court challenge over offensive letters he wrote to the families of Australian soldiers killed overseas.
Lawyers for the Martin Place gunman and his partner, Amirah Droudis, last year told the High Court they should not stand trial for menacing the families because the charges infringed their constitutional right to free political communication.
The court, then constituted by only six judges, was evenly split three-to-three on the issue, so the NSW Court of Criminal Appeal’s decision to sustain the charges was upheld.
Monis and Ms Droudis brought a fresh application to the High Court, but it was refused last week.
The Prime Minister, when asked about the case, said it was “not right†that taxpayer funds be used to challenge laws in the High Court.
“We have any number of cases going through the courts which appear to be one way or another publicly funded cases and it’s almost like taxpayers are funding attacks on taxpayers and this is not right,†Mr Abbott told Sydney radio 2GB.
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“Obviously people are entitled to go to the law but why they are entitled to go to the law with taxpayer-funding when they are essentially attacking public policy — when they are essentially attacking the policy of the elected government — I think is something which again exasperates and sometimes infuriates the public and frankly sometimes infuriates me.â€
Comment is being sought from Legal Aid NSW, which reportedly funded Monis’s High Court actions.
The government in March scrapped legal aid funding for asylum-seekers who challenge the Department of Immigration’s refusal to grant them protection, prompting fears that some genuine refugees might be returned to face persecution.
Mr Abbott, when asked about the $25,000 fine handed down to convicted former Labor MP Craig Thomson for stealing $5650 from the Health Services Union, said he understood the public’s “bewilderment and perplexityâ€.
“I really do respect the judiciary and maybe if I were sitting on the bench listening to everything I would make exactly the same decisions, but I do often think that a little bit more real world involvement would be beneficial for some of these people,†he said.
Legal Aid NSW declined to comment on Mr Abbott’s remarks.