Dear Mr Attorney

Until the 31 st December 1990 the responsibility for the delivery of legal assistance in Tasmania was shared between the Federal government which was responsible for the Australian Legal Aid Office and The Law Society of Tasmania which conducted the Legal Assistance Scheme. By then it had long been recognised by State and Federal governments and by the legal profession that it was desirable that there be one entity responsible for the delivery of legal assistance in Tasmania. Accordingly in 1990 the respective governments entered into an agreement to provide for the delivery of legal assistance through a statutory body to be known as The Legal Aid Commission of Tasmania. To facilitate this agreement the Legal Aid Commission Act 1990 was passed. That Act received the Royal Assent on the 20th December 1990. Less than two weeks later on the 1st January 1991 The Legal Aid Commission commenced the delivery of legal assistance in Tasmania from offices in Hobart, Launceston and Burnie.

This year the Commission celebrated its 10th anniversary of service to the people of Tasmania. In that decade the Commission has become a significant professional organisation that has played, and will continue to play, a major role in the delivery of legal services in Tasmania.

The Commission presently employs 30 legal practitioners and 23 support staff. In 1994 the Commission opened an office in Devonport. In 1995 the Commission commenced a telephone legal advice service and community advice service in Hobart. The telephone advice service ensures that all Tasmanians are able to obtain legal advice by telephone for the cost of a local telephone call. The telephone advice service receives approximately 25,000 calls each year from Tasmanian citizens who are seeking legal advice for myriad legal problems.

Between 1991 and 2001 the Commission approved nearly 100,000 grants of legal assistance. Approvals for legal assistance during that period were

(i) Criminal Law - 40,455 approved applications;

(ii) Family Law - 43,590 approved applications;

(iii) Civil Law - 13,976 approved applications.

In the same period the Commission paid over $35 million to the private legal profession for professional services in legally assisted matters.

In my last annual report I commented that the Commission was then in a difficult financial situation for the funding of state criminal matters. The financial position of the Commission deteriorated further during the financial year and were it not for the injection of $280,000.00 by the State Government, the Commission would not have been able to grant legal assistance in a considerable number of criminal matters in the latter part of the financial year. The additional funding grant was immediately made available for criminal trials that were then pending. Had that additional funding not been made available legal assistance would not have been available for many matters and a number of trials almost certainly would have had to be delayed or alternatively defendants would have had to represent themselves. This would have had an impact not only on the Court system but the Director of Public Prosecutions' Office and other organisations directly involved in the administration of justice.

In the same report I noted that because of a deficiency in Federal funding in Family Law matters that the Commissioner had had to implement a system of prioritising grants of legal assistance in Family Law matters. I observed in my report that this decision meant that many persons would be refused aid and therefore there would be more unrepresented parties appearing before the Federal Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates Court in Family Law matters. This unsatisfactory position has continued and the Commission has had to refuse aid in a significant number of Family Law cases because of inadequate Federal funding. The Federal Government, whilst no doubt recognising that insufficient funds are made available for Family Law matters, nonetheless has steadfastly refused to increase funding. It is estimated by the Commission that additional funding of approximately $500,000.00 per annum would overcome the Commission's significant current difficulties in this area.

It must also be noted that the legal profession in Tasmania has not had an increase in fees in Family Law matters for many years and practitioners are continuing to be paid at the rate of $86.00 per hour for the provision of Family Law services to the Commission. That this is the lowest hourly fee paid throughout the Commonwealth in Family Law matters. Even if the Federal government was to make additional funding available to enable the Commission to avoid having to prioritise grants of aid, this would not be sufficient to enable the Commission to increase the hourly rate paid to legal practitioners for Family Law matters. It is inappropriate that legal practitioners have to continue to subsidise legal assistance by being paid hourly rates that have remained unchanged for so long.

There is a crisis in funding in Family Law matters in this State and the situation is going to continue as it is until such time as the Federal Government is prepared to increase its funding to the State. It is a completely unsatisfactory position that persons who are eligible for legal assistance are denied aid because of a lack of funds. As I previously commented a denial of aid can only create injustice for it means that litigants are unrepresented before the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Magistrates Court.

The need for a contingency legal aid fund for the funding of out of pocket expenses in civil litigation remains. During the year the Commission has actively assisted the Attorney-General's standing committee that was convened to explore avenues for contingency legal aid funding. However, in the current economic climate there is significant difficulty in seed funding being made available for the establishment of a such a fund. It is to be hoped that this difficulty may be able to be overcome in the next financial year.

I would like to thank the legal profession for its very considerable assistance to the Commission throughout the year and its understanding of the difficult financial position in which the Commission has found itself during the year particularly in Family Law matters. It is to the great credit of the legal profession that very many practitioners are still prepared to act for legally aided clients notwithstanding that the fees paid for their professional services are well below the market rate and knowing that there is little if any prospect of the Commission being able to increase fees in the foreseeable future.

I would also like to thank the Director, his staff and my fellow Commissioners for their co-operation throughout the past twelve months.


DAVID GUNSON
Chairman