Community
31 May, 2024
Uncertain future for legal program
THE future of the legal program at Warrnambool’s Emma House remains uncertain following calls for urgent, ongoing government funding.
With demand for the service more than doubling in the past six months, the SAFV (Sexual Assault and Family Violence) Centre – known locally as Emma House – may be forced to cut back staff and services if a commitment of ongoing funding is not received.
The centre is calling on federal MPs to commit to urgent, ongoing financial support.
The local campaign follows a national push by Community Legal Centres (CLCs) to address an issue of indexation not keeping pace with real wage growth.
The legal program at Emma House provides an integrated service to women in the south west, providing advice, assistance and representation for family violence related legal issues.
The program provides a duty lawyer service at Portland, Hamilton and Warrnambool Magistrates’ Courts each week, where affected family members are assisted with their family violence intervention order matters.
The legal program also provides legal services alongside crisis, short term and longer-term support for women and children impacted by family violence and other forms of gender-based violence including sexual assault.
Since the start of the new financial year, the legal program has seen 759 services provided to 283 clients (to date), 58 clients supported each month (a 32 per cent increase on the previous year), 96 services provided each month (48 per cent increase on the previous year) and 113 ongoing representation services (290 per cent increase on the previous year).
The current waitlist for support is between two and three weeks, however, priority is given to urgent cases.
To address the increasing demand, the legal program has matched the need with a number of new team members joining the organisation.
The team has grown to nine, including a principal solicitor, senior lawyers, lawyers, and a paralegal, supported by two corporate roles.
Funding has also been received through The Women’s Legal Service for a graduate lawyer to join the team in the coming months.
According to staff at Emma House, CLCs have only had their federal government funding increased by 1.5 per cent year-on-year, but wages have increased by up to 5.75 per cent each year, creating a significant, cumulative shortfall.
Amy Lane, principal solicitor, said Emma House had accrued funding from previous years when there was difficulty employing lawyers, but has now used the funding to recruit a team of staff to ensure the current team could meet demand.
However, this money will not last forever.
“We have seen a significant increase in people seeking support over the past few months, with demand for services more than doubling,” Ms Lane said.
“With a full team, we are fortunate to support so many people in our community with legal services, however, without ongoing funding from June 2025, we will have to re-evaluate our services.
“As the only Community Legal Centre in the region, with our nearest colleagues in Geelong and Ballarat, we need a commitment from the government that women and children in the region impacted by family violence have access to legal representation and the support that they need, in their local community.”
Ms Lane said the team at Emma House works incredibly hard, with challenging and, at times, distressing work.
Ongoing, adequate funding that acknowledges the specialised work staff do is pivotal to stability and a continuation of services to make sure community needs are met.
“We are asking for the government to commit to long term funding, with the current Commonwealth Government’s National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) with the states and territories, funding due to expire on June 30, 2025,” Ms Lane said.
“We are calling on the government to commit to several currently unmet needs.”
This includes an urgent cash injection to CLC’s to compensate for inadequate indexation, and additional funding to regional services such as Emma House Legal Program.
“We also need non-recurrent funding to become recurrent to provide solicitors with job security, to keep trained lawyers in roles (so we don’t waste further resources training up staff) and so that we can continue to meet the needs of the community.
“Women and children need our help.”
She also called for an increase in funding to cover wage increases and to fund another lawyer so the service can provide outreach in rural areas where there are no existing legal supports.
This includes areas such as Casterton, Coleraine, Terang, Camperdown and Heywood).
Ms Lane said the program at Emma House also needed funds to ensure its emerging lawyer could stay on after their 18-month training period.
“The government has a duty to ensure those in our community who are navigating often complex legal matters, have equal access to justice and support,” she said.
The in-house legal program at Emma House is currently funded by Victoria Legal Aid.
The program assists women and children who are experiencing, or have experienced, family violence and who live in the south west.
Referrals to the legal program can be made by phoning 5561 1934.
