Legal Aid NT says it will cut critical legal services in 2025 due to funding shortfall

ABC NEWS (Australia)

A leading Northern Territory legal service’s plan to dramatically cut back critical services from next year has raised concerns vulnerable adult will have no choice but to represent themselves in court.

Transcript

00:00Operating under increasing strain, on a shoestring budget, the NT's Legal Aid Commission has

00:08reached breaking point.

00:10A letter from Legal Aid's former acting director, addressed to key stakeholders last week, says

00:16a lack of funding from the NT government means it will have to cut critical services from

00:21January 1st.

00:23It means all new applications for aid for adult criminal law matters will be refused.

00:29Legal aid for all adult matters listed for trial or hearing after January 1st will be

00:34terminated and all remote court services will cease completely.

00:39With no word from the NT government about the bombshell news, the opposition stepped

00:44up to demand answers.

00:46We do not want to see Territorians unrepresented when they are in touch with the justice system.

00:53What we will see is potentially innocent people being locked up.

00:57So we're here today to call on the country Liberal government to provide that funding.

01:02For years Legal Aid NT has been lobbying governments for more financial help, with the previous

01:08government not making any promises.

01:11There were no funding top-ups after the election, but in the last budget we did put $9m aside.

01:17In a jurisdiction with Australia's highest incarceration rates, the threat of reduced

01:22legal services for vulnerable people has advocates sounding the alarm.

01:27People will end up representing themselves and the challenge of that is that we have

01:31more and more people being added to an overcrowded prison population that we know isn't working.

01:37The Territories Legal Aid Commission is funded by both the NT government and a national funding

01:42package.

01:43But a spokesperson for the Federal Attorney General says there have been no Commonwealth

01:48funding cuts to the service and that the issue lies squarely with the NT government.

01:53Legal Aid NT has been contacted for comment.

01:57For more information visit www.legalaidnt.co.uk

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