Queensland community legal centres make a significant impact on their communities, including the lives of their clients, their community partners, the justice system and their volunteers. Late last year we launched the 2021 Impact Report that tells these important stories.
The recent flood events in South East Queensland have highlighted how important community based responses are to recovery. Increased baseline funding for the community legal centres will ensure they are more agile in the face of the changes to legal needs that emerge out of events like these.
The budget proposal for 2022-2025 seeks a further $18 million per annum. The additional investment would fund access to justice to meet increase in demand for CLCs in Queensland by investing:
- $5 million per annum to help meet increased demand for general CLC services
- $3 million per annum to support Queenslander pursue their human rights
- $3 million per annum to support the provision of domestic and family violence assistance
- $1 million per annum for Family Violence Prevention Legal to provide specialist legal assistance to First Nations Queenslanders
- $5 million per annum to prevent and address service delivery gaps Fund research and analysis by investing:
- $1.5 million one-off for analysis of the economic impact of CLCs to assist future government planning and investment
- $500,000 per annum to enhance capacity to effectively support the CLC sector
For more details: State Budget Proposal 2021-22