Budget fixing measures recently announced by the Federal government, since the Mid-Year Economic Financial outlook, resulted in 90% cuts across the board for Community and Aboriginal legal services.
The announced cuts are forcing organizations to find efficiencies and cutting services.
Wayne Muir, co-chair of National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, says Aboriginal Legal Services are faced with a terrible dilemma.
Organizations are agonizing over which services they are going to cut
They are agonizing over which services to cut and which ones to keep: "do you stop legal services to remote communities? Do you stop activities in child protection? Do you cut family law or criminal law? Do you stop servicing metropolitan courts and only service regional and remote communities?"
The co-chair of NATSIL recalls the importance of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Island Legal Services: "they provide culturally safe, culturally appropriate wraparound services to clients, that cant be replicated by any other entities. And the community vote with their feet… The majority of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders who need legal assistance will always gravitate to an Aboriginal community controlled organization for that service delivery."
Every aboriginal and Torres Strait islander legal service across the county will now look at these aspects and decide how they absorb the funding cuts.
Implementing the recommendations of the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Deaths in Custody would alleviate some of the burden
The deaths in custody scourge are also another issue that not only increases, unnecessarily, the workload of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services they also add more financial strain to the already underfunded organizations.
According to Wayne Muir, if State and Federal Governments could implement the recommendations of the Royal Commission into Aboriginal Deaths in Custody that could in alleviate some of the burden.
Wayne Muir further stresses that in the wake of the funding cuts not only services to clients will be affected but the well-being of staff will deteriorate as well.
He adds that Aboriginal Community and Legal Services are already striving to do more with less; now they are being stretched to a limit approaching breaking point.