New details on breakdown of $4.7 billion DV funding as stretched frontline services plead for more

A hyped $3.9 billion package to bolster legal assistance services for fleeing domestic violence will only contain $800m of new funding, Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus has confirmed. On Saturday, he was spruiking a new $4.7 billion package, which includes the $3.9 billion National Access to Justice Partnership, as “the biggest single Commonwealth investment in legal assistance ever”. “There is $800 million in additional funding, which is going to be delivered, as I’ve said, through a new National Access To Justice Partnership,” he told reporters in Melbourne. “Every part of the legal assistance sector will benefit from this funding. The legal assistance sector, of course, includes the Legal Aid Commissions, Women’s Legal Services, Community Legal Services, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services. “All parts of the legal assistance sector are going to benefit from this biggest ever investment by the Commonwealth in legal assistance services.” However, when questioned on the specifics, he confirmed only $800m of the funding was new, and confirmed it had been folded in to the total $3.9 billion investment. “There is $800 million of new Commonwealth funding that’s going to be going into the legal assistance sector to give the total of $3.9 billion and it includes money for pay parity. It includes money for indexation,” he said. “And one of the things that’s going to be under discussion over the balance of this year with State and Territory Attorneys-General is the precise split, if you like, as to where that $800 million of new money is going.” While the investment has been lauded as a “crucial step forward”, multiple community and advocacy groups have said the new funding will barely scrape the sides of what is needed. Community Legal Centres Australia Chairperson Arlia Fleming said on Friday that the money was not enough to fix the embattled sector. A statement from the Aboriginal Legal Service urged the federal government, as well as states and territories, to commit to increasing the funding over the coming years. “Ongoing funding is welcomed, but this must be the first funding commitment to the National Access to Justice Partnership – otherwise, the National Access to Justice Partnership will guarantee that thousands of Aboriginal people will go without legal assistance over the coming years,” the statement read. “The ALS welcomes investment to urgently address violence against women and children, but we are still scraping the bottom of the barrel for funding to maintain current services to all clients, including victim-survivors. “Today’s announcement suggests that we won’t be able to reverse current service freezes at 13 courts in NSW, and that the ALS will remain locked into this funding and workload crisis for at least the next five years.” Nick Tebbey, National Executive Officer of Relationships Australia, said the government’s focus on developing national, evidence-based standards for men’s behaviour change programs in a separate partnership included in the $4.7 billion package would provide a “significant evidence base from which best practice in perpetrator interventions can be ensured”. “For this to succeed, however, requires significant additional investment. Effective interventions aimed at changing behaviours and breaking cycles of violence must be a priority for future funding allocations under the National Partnership Agreement on Family, Domestic and Sexual Violence Responses between the federal government and the states and territories.” Mr Dreyfus, when quizzed on Saturday if the money was enough and what else was being done to address the national crisis, said law reform in this space would also remain a priority for the government. “There’s a lot of work that’s already been done,” he said. “There’s other work that’s ahead of us. But of course, we have to look not just at funding. “We’ve got to look at the laws that are applicable to family, domestic and sexual violence, and make sure that the laws that our police are enforcing and the laws that our judges and magistrates are applying, are as good as they can be.” The new funding will come into effect from July 1, 2025. Domestic violence: Where to get help