The Australian Legal Aid Review Report: An Appraisal
| Author | Terence Purcell |
| Published date | 01 March 1974 |
| Date | 01 March 1974 |
| DOI | 10.1177/0067205X7400600108 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
THE
AUSTRALIAN
LEGAL
AID
REVIEW
REPORT:
AN APPRAISAL
BY TERENCE PURCELL*
Amidst the turmoil of the recent Gair controversy in the Senate the
Attorney-General tabled the first report of the Legal Aid Review Com-
mittee. Somewhat in keeping with the real political significance of the
subject under review, the report was tabled very late one evening. Little
or no publicity was given to its tabling, any notice taken being washed
away by the turmoil of the times. Some might say
that
the modest size
of the report deserved no greater recognition, but such a view is un-
generous and most certainly naive.
The document tabled
is
quite bulky, the greater
part
being taken
up by the appendices. The almost clinical dissection of the existing
legal aid facilities throughout Australia will give the role of this Com-
mittee real impetus.
For
too long lawyers and politicians in Australia
have been smugly satisfied with the existing legal aid services. A close
examination of the Report's appendices will reveal that local legal aid
is
very much like a badly moth-eaten patch work quilt.
The fact that it took the Committee from page 15 of the document
table to page 172 to detail all the existing legal aid services confirms
that what
we
have
is
a bureaucratic jungle. Some might argue that such
an extensive list must surely mean that we have a comprehensive set
of provisions. This
is
not so. Vast areas of legal practice have no legal
aid for those who cannot afford a lawyer. Perhaps the most glaring
example of this
is
in Magistrates' Courts. The Committee has noted this
and in fact recommends forthwith that remedial action
be
taken in
this area.
Before proceeding to consider the content of the Report we ought
to refer to the Committee's terms of reference. The Report (page
8)
says that the Committee was asked by the Australian Attorney-General
to examine:-
* the areas of need for the provision of legal assistance and advice
and, in particular, the areas of need not covered by existing
schemes;
* the means by which legal assistance and advice should
be
provided
and in what areas should they be provided by a salaried legal
service; and
* the means by which finance for schemes of legal assistance and
advice should be provided.
According to the opening paragraph of the report its purpose
is
"to
stimulate thought and discussion about the provision of better legal
aid and to seek responses from bodies with interest and expertise in
* Solicitor and 1972 Churchill Fellow.
189
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