While Abbott struts about in Arnhem Land, Aboriginal legal aid funds are cut
Abbott’s Top End trip: Indigenous legal aid agency seeks meeting with PM to discuss funding cuts, ABC News, 12 Sept 14 By political reporter Anna Henderson Tony Abbott will face fresh questions about the federal budget and spending on Indigenous affairs when he touches down in north-east Arnhem Land on Sunday at the start of a week-long trip to the Top End.
Some organisations are already taking action to find savings even before knowing the scope of their potential budget cuts.
For decades the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) has been providing legal aid in the remote town of Nhulunbuy, on the northern tip of Arnhem Land, as well as in the nearby community of Yirrkala and surrounding outstations.
But the agency is set to close its doors in Nhulunbuy at the end of the year, in anticipation of severe budget cuts, and is seeking a meeting with the Prime Minister during his visit…….
Eighty per cent of inmates in Territory jails are Aboriginal. In the juvenile justice system, it is 95 per cent.
The closure of the NAAJA office means those needing to see a lawyer face-to-face will have to fly or make the massive drive to Darwin, or wait for a fly-in fly-out lawyer to come to them.
The agency’s principal lawyer, Jonathon Hunyor, said the other option was a phone consultation with someone in Darwin.
“Often the issues that our clients bring to us are very complicated, they can be very sensitive and they can be very personal,” he said.
“So issues like child protection or issues like a medical complication where bad service was provided by the hospital, or a family law issue where someone is the victim of abuse.
“They are very difficult things to talk about and they don’t want to have to talk about them over the phone.”
He said ultimately Indigenous clients would not get the representation they deserved, “which means that Aboriginal people get second-rate justice”. ………
Ms Yunupingu fears those seeking legal advice may travel to Darwin on their own, without family support……….
May’s federal budget included plans to strip half a billion dollars from Indigenous programs administered by the Prime Minister and Cabinet and Health portfolios. http://www.abc.net.au/news/2014-09-12/pm-to-face-questions-over-legal-aid-funding-during-top-end-trip/5738500
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