Lawyers have spoken of propping up Legal Aid ACT with unpaid work, as chronic underfunding is set to leave the most vulnerable in the community behind.
Earlier this week, the territory government announced as part of its 2026-27 budget a funding boost of $2.15 million over four years for Legal Aid ACT, which takes on not just criminal cases but domestic and family violence, family law, employment, and discrimination matters, among others.
The announcement came a week after it was revealed the ACT Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions was set to receive a funding boost of $18.9 million over four years as it deals with an increased workload.
ACT Bar Association president Prue Bindon, in the latest issue of the Bar Bulletin, stated that due to lower pay rates for barristers taking on Legal Aid work it was, at best, "regarded as a pro bono exercise".
Speaking to The Canberra Times, Ana Anzani, partner at Nicholls Anzani Family Lawyers, wanted to be clear that the ACT's prosecuting office needed the additional funding, but Legal Aid was equally important.
"Legal Aid is a lifeline for the most vulnerable members of our community, and this very lifeline is at risk because of chronic underfunding," she said.
"What I'm worried about is the rate that it's going, Legal Aid could possibly collapse in a few years which is, in my view, one of the biggest threats to justice."
Ms Anzani said she was concerned family violence victims living below the poverty line would not get access to Legal Aid due to strict eligibility requirements.
"[That] could be the very reason that prevents victim-survivors from leaving violent relationships, because if they don't have access to a lawyer they fear the unknown of 'what will happen to my children? Are my children safe? Am I going to be homeless if I leave this relationship?'," she said.
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.
A territory government actuarial study is set to look at the level of funding required long term, but it is not expected to be completed until the 2027-28 budget.
An ACT government spokesperson said the prosecuting office and Legal Aid have "different roles and funding models so it is not possible to make a straightforward comparison".
"The government recognises that demand for Legal Aid ACT services continues to grow and the pressure that this places on its staff. The justice system depends on both Legal Aid ACT and the ODPP being able to operate effectively, and neither is treated as optional," the spokesperson said.
"Rather than relying on short-term funding measures that can contribute to longer-term pressures, the government has commissioned a review of Legal Aid ACT's operations and funding model.
"This work will inform future funding decisions to ensure they provide a sustainable, long-term solution."
Funding for Legal Aid ACT is split between the territory and Commonwealth government. During the 2025-26 financial year it received a total of $20.519 million with $12.538 million of this coming from the ACT government and $7.981 million from the Commonwealth. The commission received a total of $19.808 million the previous year.
During the 2025-26 financial year the ACT's prosecuting office received $17.393 million in ACT government funding. This was an increase on $16.864 million the previous financial year.
An ACT DPP spokesperson said the additional $18.9 million in funding "follows more than a decade of engagement between the ACT DPP and government, with an increased focus over the past two years supported by improved data that better demonstrates system demand".
"We also support a well-funded Legal Aid Commission in the ACT," the spokesperson said.
"It is necessary to note that increases to ACT DPP funding will not result in more matters before the courts - and therefore with Legal Aid ACT - as this is determined by police charging rates.
"This investment in the ACT DPP will, however, support earlier resolution of matters once charges are laid, reducing pressure across the justice system."
Ms Anzani volunteered at Legal Aid ACT several years ago and as a private solicitor she regularly takes on Legal Aid work but does not bill the government-funded service.
"The commission's understaffed, they're under-resourced. Each lawyer is often taking the work of two to three lawyers. They work exceptionally long hours. There's no overtime, there's no perks of working in private practice, and they all do it with such pride," Ms Anzani said.
"The sad reality is that these practitioners, especially the younger ones, are burning out and they're either leaving the Legal Aid commission or the profession altogether because of the demands of their job, because of chronic understaffing."
She stressed that she is not the only private lawyer in Canberra to donate her time and give back to the community, with solicitors often losing money when taking on Legal Aid work.
Ms Anzani said she started her private practice in order to take on as much pro bono work as she could. But that has not come without having to work 80-hour weeks in order to make ends meet and juggle unpaid work after hours.
The solicitor regularly takes on child representative matters via Legal Aid, representing the interests of a child in care and protection proceedings. She described it as a traumatic and underfunded field of law.
She says she is "going to burn out at some point" and increased Legal Aid funding would enable private practitioners a better balance.
Legal Aid ACT chief executive Dr John Boersig said the commission was looking at cuts to the number of grants of legal assistance, but the exact number had not been determined.
"We can confirm that demand for our services is increasing, and we face all the same pressures that have been identified across the justice sector, including by the DPP," Dr Boersig said.
"We are aiming not to reduce staff levels, and if we can, will rely on transient savings and achieving efficiencies wherever possible."
He said Legal Aid aimed at 65 per cent of legal assistance grants being undertaken in-house, with the remaining handled by private lawyers.
Dr Boersig said Legal Aid staff were not expected to work beyond capacity and there was a range of welfare supports and strategies available to manage burnout.
Last week, a man, who legally cannot be named to protect the identity of the complainant, walked out of the courthouse after rape and indecent assault charges against him were dropped on the second listed day of his ACT Supreme Court trial.
Barrister Katrina Musgrove, representing the man as a Legal Aid client, told The Canberra Times the matter was "reflective of the general inequity in funding for Legal Aid ACT".
"In this matter I spent over five days in preparation completely unfunded," Ms Musgrove said.
"The funding inadequacy creates imbalance that impacts an accused's ability to a fair trial. It is only the sacrifice of practitioners giving their own time effectively for free that evens it out."
The Bar Association president said Legal Aid's current scale of fees "means that it is mostly economically inviable for a barrister to take the work".
Ms Bindon stated the point was "not made as a whinge on behalf of barristers for more money" but meant that there were increasingly "few, if any, barristers willing to accept Legal Aid work".
She said that it was rare for the commission to pay for preparation time ahead of a criminal trial and if a case were to resolve beforehand, it did not pay cancellation fees.
"The reality is that any day doing Legal Aid work will likely be a day when the barrister will not be covering their overheads and attaining the minimum wage needed to pay for food, accommodation and other basic living expenses," Ms Bindon said.
