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Estimates: funding for community legal centres

During Estimates hearings on Friday 26 July 2024, I asked the Attorney-General about funding for community legal centres. 

You can read my question and her full response below, or in the official Parliamentary record of proceedings (Hansard) here

Mr BERKMAN: Okay; thank you. Attorney-General, the work done by CLCs Queensland around the workforce survey is a really valuable starting point, obviously. The additional funding that is offered in the budget for the 2024-25 financial year is obviously welcome, but I am wondering about any longer increases to CLC funding specifically so that they can work on that issue of staff retention and wage growth. 

Mrs D’ATH: I thank the member for the question. I am very proud of the uplift that we have been able to provide in this year’s budget that goes directly to increasing salaries and wages in the CLC sector and also for ATSILS, because we recognise that it is a challenge. There are challenges across the whole legal profession as well as so many other occupations at the moment, but that increase is actually to lift them up to have the same salaries as Legal Aid Queensland. We know that still will never compete with the private sector, but we are just never going to be able to meet private sector wages and conditions. 

On the broader issue of future needs and demands in funding for our CLCs, the National Legal Assistance Partnership is due to be replaced mid next year. There are negotiations going on currently, across all of the states and territories, with the Commonwealth about what that will look like. We of course had the Dr Warren Mundy report and recommendations out of that. I think the key thing is we need to give stability to CLCs. We need to—and we have talked about this at the Commonwealth level— provide them with some certainty as far as next year as soon as possible, because there is nothing worse than organisations that rely on government funding being told at the last minute when they have already lost staff. I am very aware of that. It is a conversation I have had with the Commonwealth. I have raised that, but the Commonwealth is also very aware and we all want to see a replacement agreement negotiated as quickly as possible and the outcome of that to inform the sector. If we cannot then we should be agreeing to extend the existing partnership to give that certainty so we have time to get this right.

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