The director of the Northern Territory’s Legal Aid Commission (NTLAC) says she may have "no choice" but to further cut legal services if acute budget issues are not rectified.
Since April this year, the commission has refused to grant legal aid to new clients outside of the major centres of Darwin, Katherine, Tennant Creek, and Alice Springs.
Director Annmarie Lumsden told the ABC the decision to suspend circuit court services was "unfortunate".
"We were advised by the Department of Attorney-General and Justice in January this year that reimbursement for our expenditure on bush court costs was going to be capped at an amount less than we had already spent," Ms Lumsden said.
"The department asked us to consider whether we should continue with bush court services for that financial year and into the future."
The suspension meant residents in remote communities and outstations who cannot be represented by the North Australia Aboriginal Justice Agency (NAAJA) due to conflict-of-interest issues have been forced to represent themselves, or travel hundreds of kilometres to attend court in a major centre.
Ms Lumsden said the decision was "not fair" to the people who would miss out on legal representation.
But she said she "can't spend money [she does] not have".
"Almost 100 per cent of people who appear before bush court are First Nations people who are economically and socially disadvantaged and many of them speak an Aboriginal language as their first language," she said.
"If they're not properly represented, they don't have a proper understanding of the charges they're facing.
According to its annual report, in the 2020-21 financial year the Legal Aid commission received 619 conflict referrals from NAAJA and almost half of its clients were Indigenous.
NTLAC suspended bush court services for around six months in 2019, leading to an ad hoc funding arrangement with the Northern Territory government that Ms Lumsden said had been working — until now.
"We entered into an arrangement [in 2019] with the department whereby they would reimburse the NTLAC on an invoice-only basis," Ms Lumsden said.
"So, the idea was that we would spend the money and then submit an invoice every quarter and be reimbursed for those services."
In April, a department spokesperson told the ABC: "The NTLAC receives funding from the Northern Territory government through appropriation to the Department and to the Commonwealth Government, under the National Legal Assistance Partnership. The NTLAC sets its priorities in accordance with its establishing legislation."
Cutting services the 'only way' to save
Ms Lumsden said a similar reimbursement arrangement had been in place for expensive cases — such as long running Supreme Court trials — but that the criteria for an expensive case had "tightened".
"Unfortunately, this is the first year where we have been completely unsuccessful in being reimbursed for Northern Territory expensive cases under a Treasurer's advance," Ms Lumsden said.
Ms Lumsden said NTLAC's budget allocation for 2022-23 was also "significantly less" than in previous years.
According to the Northern Territory government's 2022-23 budget, the money allocated to the NTLAC and community legal centres increased by almost $490,000.
The budget papers did not specify how much of the money was allocated to each service.
Ms Lumsden said the NTLAC board was now considering further cuts to services.
"We have very few options … do we cut duty lawyer services at Alice Springs, Katherine and Tennant Creek?" she said
"One option would be to cut Supreme Court trials. Obviously, we would not want to do that, but we may not have a choice."
Attorney-General 'committed' to funding legal sector
Northern Territory Attorney-General Chansey Paech visited bush court in Maningrida earlier this month, where some defendants were forced to represent themselves due to a lack of Legal Aid services.
Mr Paech said he has since requested "urgent" funding for Legal Aid to restore bush court duties.
"I'm absolutely committed to working with the Northern Territory legal Aid Commission and the entire justice community to make sure that we have a fair and equitable system that is appropriately funded to the demands," Mr Paech said.
"My job now is to work with my colleagues to look at how we can respond and how we can adequately fund the NTLAC, the Director of Public Prosecutions and to make sure that all justice services are funded adequately.
"We can’t afford to have any delays in the justice system … a delay in justice is justice denied."
