ACCESS TO JUSTICE
ACCESS TO JUSTICE: AN INVESTMENT WITH A GOOD RATE OF RETURN ZOE LEWIS
W
hat does access to justice even mean? It doesn’t just mean being able to afford a lawyer and court filing fees (although financial barriers can obviously be very significant). It is also about access to information early on to help avoid the need for lawyers and court applications in the first place. It is about legal services that are physically accessible, culturally appropriate, delivered by someone who understands trauma and mental illness if those are challenges faced by the person needing the services. It is also about being able to access the legal help at the right time – needing to wait two weeks for a free appointment somewhere might mean the person misses out on the information when they could have best utilised it. Many services strive to provide access to justice but this system can be difficult to navigate. As services gain and lose funding, they necessarily change the scope of the services they offer, and their capacity to take on new clients fluctuates. The legal aid scheme provides invaluable assistance to many people facing criminal or family law matters in particular.1 But many people won’t qualify.2 For example, if someone isn’t facing a period of imprisonment for their criminal charges, they may be facing other lifechanging consequences, such as loss of driver’s license and employment, but will still not qualify. They might be able to access assistance through a Community
24 THE BULLETIN February 2022
Legal Centre (CLC) but this will depend on factors such as where they live and the capacity of their local centre. JusticeNet, where I work, fills many gaps in the legal assistance sector. The model is heavily reliant on the generosity of members of the private profession agreeing to undergo pro bono work. This is a highly economical and successful model which has proven to be sustainable for well over a decade. However, demand for our assistance continues to exceed the available resources. This means people often face a long journey from, perhaps, an initial conversation with the legal helpline, a consultation with their local CLC, and an application to JusticeNet as their last resort. And many matters can still fall through the cracks. This has consequences for individuals, families, the Courts, and the community at large. Imagine you received a speeding fine in the mail. The camera detected your car at a location at which you never drive. You know straight away that something is wrong. You consult your electronic diary on your reliable and fully charged smartphone and check who was actually driving the car that day. Plus you know you have the option of requesting photos if you think they have mistaken the vehicle altogether. Although you’re not happy about the $400 fine, if you end up having to pay it, it probably isn’t really going to impact your life too much. And if it really
all goes pear-shaped, you probably know a traffic lawyer you can ask for help. Now imagine you don’t have a fixed address so didn’t receive the fine until it was too late to submit a statutory declaration or consider electing to be prosecuted. Instead, enforcement action has commenced and additional fees added. You don’t have a job because you don’t have enough housing stability to maintain one. You will therefore have to repay this fine from your Centrelink benefits and will definitely notice the reduction in your fortnightly income for the duration of your repayment arrangement. You don’t know where to go for help and certainly can’t afford to pay a lawyer to sort it out. You hear about the free legal helpline, and you do have a mobile, but because you live out of your car it is frequently without power or credit. That makes it harder to call them. Your phone is also regularly lost or stolen and so you don’t have records to help you figure out if you were even the driver on the relevant day. The unfortunate reality is that people who are facing disadvantage are significantly more likely to be experiencing legal problems and are also more likely to be facing multiple legal problems.3 Services like the Legal Services Commission, Community Legal Centres, Aboriginal Legal Rights Movement and JusticeNet are well-placed to improve access to justice. They have legal expertise at their disposal as well as a commitment
