Lionel Murphy legal aid vision blurred by underfunding, says Law Council
Wed Jul 31 2013Law Council of Australia president, Mr Michael Colbran QC, said Australian governments have failed to fulfill the ideals of the legal aid system envisioned at its commencement forty years ago.
"The Hon. Lionel Murphy believed it was imperative for the Commonwealth government to take action to ensure that legal aid be readily and equally available to all Australian citizens. Forty years on, legal aid is a system in crisis...Working families and the working poor are trapped in a paradoxical state where they do not qualify for legal aid and yet cannot afford to pay for legal representation", Mr Colbran said.
31 July 2013