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Regional and remote justice crisis: New evidence from the frontlines published today at Federal Parliament

Community Legal Centres Australia

At 8:30am today, Marion Scrymgour MP, Member for Lingiari and Special Envoy for Remote Communities, and Dr Helen Haines MP, Member for Indi, will host the parliamentary launch Justice Where We Live, a new project highlighting the realities of seeking justice in the bush. 

Members of parliament will gather to hear from frontline community legal centre workers and former clients from regional and remote communities and get a first look at the brand-new project. 

Justice Where We Live 

Justice Where We Live is a digital storytelling tool that takes you on the journeys of community legal workers and clients in regional and remote communities, to paint a picture of what it can look like to seek justice and safety in the bush. 

With the project, Community Legal Centres Australia is calling on the Federal Government to:

  • Map legal needs across the continent and develop funding models that mean people can get help where and when they need it
  • Implement a HECS waiver for community legal workers in regional and remote areas
  • Add regional loading payments for regional and remote community legal centres in response to the higher costs of delivering services and to address the workforce crisis
  • Invest in family law help for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence in regional and remote areas. 

Explore the tool here: https://clcs.org.au/justice-where-we-live/  

Key facts

  • People in regional and remote communities face barriers to justice driven by unfair policy decisions, high cost of living, and a national domestic and family violence crisis.  

  • The biggest area of work for community legal centres is frontline support for victim-survivors of domestic and family violence. This makes up between 40-50% of the sector’s work nationally, rising to 75% for community legal centres in rural and remote areas. 

  • Many clients in remote communities don’t have access to cars or mobile phones. The only way they can get help to access safety and justice is by community legal workers travelling to them. 

  • Community legal centres travel a combined 1.26 million kilometres a year to reach people in regional and remote communities. That’s far enough to travel between Earth and the moon 3.3 times over. 

  • Funding models for legal assistance don’t account for the higher costs of delivering services, and higher legal need, in regional and remote areas. This leaves regional and remote community legal centres forced to turn away people in crisis. 

  • Some regional and remote community legal centres have 8-week waiting lists for domestic violence crisis support. 

Quotes attributable to...

Marion Scrymgour MP, Member for Lingiari, Special Envoy for Remote Communities: 

"Community legal centres across the country do vital work in making sure that all Australians can access legal support when they need it most.

In remote areas, community legal centres are a lifeline for vulnerable people who are already facing enormous barriers in accessing the justice system.

I’m proud of our Government’s continued support for community legal centres and grateful to Community Legal Centres Australia for the launch of Justice Where We Live."

Dr Helen Haines MP, Member for Indi: 

“Access to justice should not depend on where you live. We know there’s a significant gap between the legal services regional communities need and what they can access. We see it in healthcare and aged care, and legal services are no exception. 

“Community legal centres are working at the heart of that gap, helping people overcome barriers created by financial hardship, distance and disadvantage. This storytelling project will put a human face to those gaps and, I hope, spur governments to act. Regional, rural and remote Australians deserve the same opportunity to access justice as anyone else - close to home." 

Arlia Fleming – Chair, Community Legal Centres Australia and CEO, Central Tablelands and Blue Mountains Community Legal Centre: 

“People in regional and remote communities face barriers to justice driven by unfair policy decisions, high cost of living, and a national domestic and family violence crisis. At the same time, the costs for community legal centres supporting regional and remote communities are significantly higher. We regularly need to travel hundreds of kilometres to get people the help they need. Centres need to budget for things like four-wheel drive cars, petrol, off-road driving and bush first aid training, accommodation in remote communities, staff time for full days of driving, satellite phones, and more.  

“Funding models don’t recognise what our work in the bush truly looks like, and it means regional and remote centres are being forced to turn away people in crisis. The work to address legal assistance sector funding is not complete. Governments must do the work to map legal need and develop funding models that mean people can get help where and when they need it.” 

Penney Ferguson – CEO, First Nations Women’s Legal Service QLD 

“From the city our ways of working may look different. We rely on relationships and networks to get outcomes for our clients. When we show up for a community in person it is valuable regardless of how many clients we see. We learn the unique elements of a community, which is something a duty lawyer thousands of kilometres away may not consider in their phone advice that could be detrimental to the client's safety. Access is being a trusted service in communities and technology is unlikely to replace face-to-face engagement for our clients.  

“Our centre does incredible work holding systems accountable, particularly when it comes to First Nations women, children, and families. When families have autonomy and support to create safety for themselves, we see better outcomes across family law, child safety, and domestic violence.” 

Akira Boardman – Systems Change Advocate, Kimberley Community Legal Services 

“People living in regional and remote communities deserve community legal centres that are properly staffed to provide the support they need, but the regional and remote community legal workforce crisis is causing too many people to miss out.  

“Wages in our highly feminised sector fall far behind those of workers in the public and private legal sectors. In regional and remote communities, this disparity combines with the housing and cost-of-living crises to make it impossible for many workers to stay in jobs and communities they truly love.  

“Over half our workforce holds a graduate degree, master’s degree or higher – but university is expensive. People are graduating with huge and growing debts. A 2024 independent review of legal assistance funding recommended a HECS-HELP Forgiveness Scheme to improve access to justice for people in the bush, but the Federal Government hasn’t followed through.” 

Emily* (pseudonym), former client of a regional/remote community legal centre 

“I have always considered myself an intelligent and capable woman, but at the time I needed support, I did not have the capacity for even the simplest administration tasks. I was traumatised due to the severity of the family violence my family experienced, and the mere thought of entering a court room would trigger flashbacks. My mind would shut down.  

“The community lawyer that I met with made me feel not only heard but truly understood. She listened to every one of the barriers I was facing and worked with me to overcome them and get the job done. I knew from early on she was going to do everything in her power to help my family. Without help from a community legal centre, my children would have continued to face harm.” 


About us:
 
 

Community Legal Centres Australia is the national representative voice for the community legal sector. Our members are the eight state and territory community legal sector peak bodies. Together, we represent over 150 community legal centres (including 13 Women’s Legal Services), 11 Family Violence Prevention and Legal Services, and two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services.


Contact details:

Community Legal Centres Australia: 0458 066 054 or [email protected]