- Published:
- Tuesday, 27 June 2023 at 9:53 am
The International Legal Aid Group conference was recently held at Harvard University to discuss the challenges of access to justice across the world. At the conference, our CEO Louise Glanville presented a significant paper on the cost benefits of funding legal assistance for the Australian community.
'This was a great opportunity to share the Australian experience of avoided costs to the justice and other systems, to individuals, and to wider government and societal outcomes that come from funding legal assistance', said Louise Glanville.
The paper was based on a recent report commissioned by Australia’s National Legal Aid on the value of providing access to justice.
'This report shows that the provision of legal aid delivers more than $600 million in savings to the community, government, and the justice system every year.'
'For every dollar spent by the federal Australian government on legal assistance, legal aid commissions deliver $2.25 in quantitative benefits', said Louise.
We know that legal problems are widespread and there is undoubtedly unmet legal need. Socioeconomic factors, demographic and systemic issues contribute to the legal need and the legal problems people face. Individual legal issues often come from social contexts such as housing, health, education or employment security.
'Investing in supports and services focused on early intervention and prevention can assist in how people deal with their legal and non-legal issues.'
'To ensure that the justice and related systems operate effectively, policy makers should consider them holistically. Legal assistance services and legal aid are core to a systemic approach. Neglecting to allocate appropriate resources means that "the whole" cannot function as intended.'
'The cost of not funding legal assistance appropriately is a cost for us all', said Louise.
Updated