Page 1793 - Week 06 - Thursday, 30 July 2020

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a. $944,287 across 2019-20 and 2020-21 to support increased frontline service delivery by Legal Aid Commissions, Community Legal Centres, and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services; and

b. $447,238 in 2019-20 to support Legal Aid ACT ($270,439) and the community legal centres ($176,799) to ensure they have the ICT capacity to support virtual service delivery.

(2)

Frontline service delivery funding ($944,287):

It is intended that the Commonwealth frontline funding will be used to deliver the following:

1 x family law lawyer to support women experiencing domestic and family violence (Women’s Legal Centre);

1 x employment and discrimination lawyer to support women who have been impacted by the economic impacts of COVID-19 (Women’s Legal Centre);

1 x lawyer to increase the capacity of the Family Violence Unit at Legal Aid ACT

1 x housing lawyer to support Canberrans experiencing housing vulnerabilities as a result of the economic impacts of COVID-19 (Canberra Community Law)

1 x lawyer to increase the capacity of the Older Persons ACT Legal Service, which plays a critical role in the ACT’s response to elder abuse (Legal Aid ACT);

12 months extension of the Reach Out Program which combines legal assistance services and financial counselling to support Canberrans impacted by economic abuse (CARE Inc.); and

1 x trial lawyer to support Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients to access the justice system in a culturally supported way (Aboriginal Legal Service).

Collectively, these roles will assist the ACT’s legal assistance sector to respond to:

family law matters, including child contact and parenting arrangement issues during COVID-19 (CLCs);

family violence matters, including family law, elder abuse and economic abuse, as well as housing vulnerabilities caused by family violence;

employment law issues; and

criminal justice issues affecting Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in the ACT.

ICT Funding ($447,238)

It is intended that the Commonwealth ICT funding will be used to deliver the following

providing infrastructure (e.g. computers/telephones) to enable remote working;

commencing the set-up of a document management system to support a CLC practicing in family law

the costs of software to support virtual board meetings; and

providing the ICT infrastructure to support online delivery of community legal education.


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