Access to Justice in Australian Courts - Inquiry Launched
Thursday 24 October 2013 @ 11.06 a.m. | Judiciary, Legal Profession & Procedure | Legal Research
The Australian Government’s Productivity Commission has released a new issues paper titled “Access to Justice Arrangements”, which is the result of a 15-month inquiry into Australia’s system of civil dispute resolution, with a focus on constraining costs and promoting access to justice and equality before the law.
The paper looks at the following issues:
- the current costs of accessing justice services and securing legal representation;
- recommendations on the best way to improve access to the justice system and equity of representation including, but not limited to, the funding of legal assistance services;
- alternative mechanisms to improve equity and access to justice and achieve lower cost civil dispute resolution, in both metropolitan areas and regional and remote communities, and the costs and benefits of these;
- reforms in Australian jurisdictions and overseas which have been effective at lowering the costs of accessing justice services, securing legal representation and promoting equality in the justice system; and
- data collection across the justice system that would enable better measurement and evaluation of cost drivers and the effectiveness of measures to contain these.
Currently, submissions have been made by 11 people including National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services, National Legal Aid and the Law Council of Australia. Final submissions are due by 4 November 2013.
As stated in the terms of reference:
"The cost of accessing justice services and securing legal representation can prevent many Australians from gaining effective access to the justice system. For a well-functioning justice system, access to the system should not be dependent on capacity to pay and vulnerable litigants should not be disadvantaged.
A well-functioning justice system should provide timely and affordable justice. This means delivering fair and equitable outcomes as efficiently as possible and resolving disputes early, expeditiously and at the most appropriate level. A justice system which effectively excludes a sizable portion of society from adequate redress risks considerable economic and social costs."
This is especially interesting as South Australia posts its review of legal representation in the State for criminal court proceedings with Chief Justice Kourakis warning that the inability of some people to afford lawyers is a "grave concern'' for the justice system.
In the last financial year, 458 people appeared at a criminal District Court hearing without a lawyer, up from 414 last year and 261 two years ago. Overall, there were 46,032 court appearances by people without a lawyer last year, up from 42,423 in 2011/12. In the state's highest court, the Supreme Court, there were 44 criminal appearances in the last financial year, up from 23 in the year prior and 24 the year before that.
"Some people are not using lawyers because they simply cannot afford to. Our system of justice has become unaffordable for those who do not qualify for legal aid in many cases and this is a real problem that must be addressed."
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