8 September 2021

Elise Archer, Attorney-General
Minister for Justice

Record support for Tasmania’s legal assistance sector

The Tasmanian Government is delivering a more efficient and effective justice system for all Tasmanians.

That’s why we are delivering record funding to support Tasmania’s vital legal assistance sector with an additional $2.2 million committed for the sector over four years in the 2021-22 Tasmanian Budget. This is in addition to the funding already committed by our Government and under the National Legal Assistance Partnership.

This new funding will allow the sector to continue to provide free or low-cost legal services to Tasmanians who need it, helping more people navigate the justice system throughout the State.

This allocation of the funding includes:

• Tasmania Legal Aid - $523,270;
• Law Society of Tasmania, in partnership with the Hobart Community Legal Service and the Centre for Legal Studies - $498,015, for the Magistrates Court duty lawyer service;
• Launceston Community Legal Centre - $239,610 per year for two years, to provide funding certainty for four years;
• Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions – $220,000, to support victim-survivors and witnesses in the Magistrates Court;
• Refugee Legal Service – $148,015;
• Tenants’ Union of Tasmania – $75,600;
• Women’s Legal Service Tasmania, Hobart Community Legal Service, and the North West Community Legal Centre – $50,000 each;
• Community Legal Centres Tasmania, as the peak representative group for the community legal centres - $50,000, contributing to their important policy work;
• Prisoners’ Legal Service – $26,000; and
• Sentencing Advisory Council – $10,020, for administration costs.

Importantly, this additional support for the Women’s Legal Service will provide them with the full additional funding they recently requested to deliver their vital services for Tasmanian women on top of their other funding.

The Department of Justice will also seek expressions of interest from the legal assistance sector regarding surplus funding under our $2.2 million commitment. We will be writing to the sector regarding the expression of interest process shortly.

We will continue doing all we can to support Tasmanians accessing legal assistance as we implement our plan to secure Tasmania’s future.

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