Homeless charities, LGBTQIA+ services and the ACT's Legal Aid service are set to benefit from millions of dollars in extra funding in the next territory budget.
The ACT government announced $58.8 million in new and continuing funding for the territory's community sector on Monday, May 25.
Several community law organisations, including the Aboriginal Legal Service, the Women's Legal Centre and Canberra Community Law, will share in $14.8 million of funding, while Legal Aid ACT is set to receive $2.15 million over four years to "boost capacity and assist in responding to rising demand".
However, an ACT council of prominent lawyers has blasted the announcement, saying Legal Aid ACT has been left behind.
Legal Aid ACT told a Legislative Assembly inquiry in March 2026 it was being forced to turn away people living in poverty due to lack of funding.
ACT Bar Association president Prue Bindon said she was concerned the funding was "wholly inadequate" to respond to the rising demand, and unequal compared to investment in the DPP.
"This budget continues a pattern of uneven investment across the justice system. Legal Aid ACT plays a critical role in ensuring fairness, particularly for vulnerable people, yet its funding this budget does not reflect the scale of demand or the level of investment elsewhere in the system," she said.
On Monday, ACT Treasurer Chris Steel said an actuarial study would look at the level of funding required long term for the territory's Legal Aid service.
"There's an injection now to provide a boost of funding immediately whilst we undertake that further work to understand the level of demand that they're seeing," he said
The study was expected to be completed by the 2027-28 budget, the treasurer said.
Legal Aid ACT chief executive John Boersig said he welcomed the additional funding, as well as the announcement more support was on the way.
He said most of the $2.15 million injection would be used to redirect staff towards criminal and domestic violence services.
"We're confident that demand shows that there's an increasing workload on Legal Aid ACT. The data that's put forward by the DPP is the same pressures are on us, in relation to family violence and in relation to the criminal sphere... we're seeing the same kind of increases over the last five years," Dr Boersig said.
"If we don't have the funds to distribute, then we prioritise the most needy and disadvantaged people that we represent... we have to scale back the number of grants of legal aid."
The government announced last week the ACT's prosecution office would be allocated more funding in the territory budget as it also deals with an increased volume of cases.
As part of the Monday budget announcement, ACT homelessness services are set to receive a combined $15.4 million, with $2.3 million for Samaritan House, $1.4 million for Blue Door, and $2.1 million for RoadHouse.
ACT Council of Social Service chief executive Devin Bowles said the investment was a "wise use" of taxpayer resources.
"We know that things like homelessness services, when they're properly funded, absolutely take pressure off, for instance, the hospital system," he said.
"Long-term funding certainty is something that the community sector has been talking with government with for some time... when the community sector can plan over the long term, it means it can retain staff. It means it can have better relationships with clients. It means that the overall amount of money that's invested by government is more efficiently spent."
The budget will also include $688,000 continued funding over four years for a gender navigation service and $118,000 over two years in new funding to support the Supporting and Strengthening LGBTIQIA+ Communities Program.
Sexual Health and Family Planning ACT is set to receive $100,000 to deliver essential sexual and reproductive health services in 2026-27.
The government is also set to strengthen the protection of children and vulnerable people, with investment in worker screening reforms, improved information sharing, and a review of the Working with Vulnerable People scheme to ensure it remains robust and fit for purpose.
