Collaborating across the sector – our 2022–23 annual report

We saw growth in demand for legal assistance services in 2022–23 in the context of increasing cost-of-living pressures and the housing crisis.

Working with our partners, we engaged clients early to address their civil and family law matters, helping alleviate socio-economic difficulty and keep people out of the criminal justice system.

‘Throughout 2022–23, our focus was to ensure clients were supported through continued improvement of our service delivery,’ said Chief Executive Officer Louise Glanville.

‘Everyone has a right to fair and equitable justice, particularly those who are disadvantaged.’

Our clients

We provided services to over 86,300 unique clients – a seven per cent increase on the previous financial year. We reduced the pandemic-related backlog of cases with our practice partners, providing more grants for panel practitioners to achieve this.

Our Legal Help phoneline and webchat remained our key entry points for Victorians seeking legal assistance. We answered 67 per cent of phone calls and 99 per cent of webchats.

Many clients face complex legal problems and experienced discrimination due to disability, cultural background, mental health issues, or social and geographic isolation. We know that many of their legal issues often intersect with non-legal issues they may face – a trend that’s consistent with findings of the Public Understanding of the Law Survey.

In 2022–23:

• 37 per cent were women, 62 per cent men, fewer than one per cent gender self-described, and fewer than one per cent gender diverse
• eight per cent identified as First Nations people
• 30 per cent were living in regional Victoria
• 34 per cent disclosed having a disability or mental illness
• 13 per cent were in custody, detention or psychiatric care
• 28 per cent were from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds
• three per cent required the assistance of an interpreter
• 32 per cent had no income
• 53 per cent were receiving some form of government benefit
• eight per cent were at risk of homelessness
• 12 per cent were younger than 19 years of age.

Improving access to justice

In 2022–23, we expanded our Family Advocacy and Support Services outside of greater Melbourne, helping more people in rural Victoria with family law and family violence issues. We also expanded our services for people experiencing sexual harassment in the workplace.

New online tools were developed with clients and lived experience consultants to support people as they need it. This includes tools for people experiencing family or sexual violence, and for people with experience of the mental health system to advocate for themselves under the National Disability Insurance Scheme.

We’re pleased to be supporting the new Children’s Court Weekend Online Remand Court, which benefits our child clients by providing after-hours bail hearings. This complements our ongoing work with partners to support children’s wellbeing by reducing the numbers of children held in custody, particularly on remand.

The new Victims Legal Service provides victims of crime with free legal advice and support to obtain financial assistance or compensation. It was developed with contributions from people with lived experience and is a collaborative service delivered with our partners.

We also worked with partners on legal assistance projects for communities in Melbourne’s west. This included a project with WEstjustice and community partners to provide free legal and non-legal assistance to young people to apply for Australian citizenship.

Advocating for change

We remain committed to reconciliation and self-determination and follow the leadership of the Victorian Aboriginal Legal Service, Djirra and other First Nations-led organisations in advocating for justice for First Nations people.

In our evidence to the Yoorrook Justice Commission, we highlighted the need for urgent change in Victoria’s criminal justice and child protection systems to address the profound harms they cause First Nations people. Following coronial findings into a death in custody, we reiterated the need for significant bail reform.

We appeared at the Royal Commission into the Robodebt Scheme with our former clients, Madeleine Masterton and Deanna Amato. Our submission included stories of seven clients, identifying four key areas for reform to ensure the unlawful practice of Robodebt is never repeated.

We also welcomed the Mental Health and Wellbeing Act 2022 (Vic), which introduced an opt-out non-legal advocacy model to be delivered by Independent Mental Health Advocacy. This will ensure that all consumers subject to, or at risk of, compulsory treatment have access to non-legal advocacy.

We worked with other legal aid commissions through National Legal Aid on a submission to the Disability Royal Commission. Informed by clients’ lived experience, the report included recommendations to promote the rights of people with disability to live free from violence, abuse, neglect and exploitation.

Read the report