Queensland Law Society Media Release

Funding for access to justice

The Queensland Government should plan to use public rather than “private” money to fund access to justice, Queensland Law Society President Mr Ian Berry said today.

Mr Berry was commenting on a report in The Courier-Mail warning of a significant shortfall of funding for Legal Aid Queensland (LAQ), which provides financially disadvantaged Queenslanders with legal assistance and representation.

He said the role of the trust fund which provided the bulk of legal aid funding, the Legal Practitioner Interest on Trust Accounts Fund (LPITAF) administered by the Department of Justice, needed to be reviewed.

“LPITAF is a fund which receives the interest paid by banks on money held by solicitors in their trust accounts, such as conveyancing deposits, estates awaiting distribution or compensation payments, etc,” he said. “Its funds are legally defined as ‘non-public moneys’, so it is an odd concept that this ‘private’ money should be used to fund access to justice, which is a public expense, at the discretion of politicians.”

Mr Berry said that today’s consumers were far more financially savvy, and were entitled to insist that the money being held on their behalf by solicitors be used to earn interest for themselves rather than the State Government.

“Given the financial acumen of today’s consumers, we are seeing more and more clients insist on a proper return on their money,” he said. “The result is that LPITAF will continue to diminish, so now is the time for the Government to look at viable funding alternatives.

“No other profession allows funds for which it is responsible to be used for the provision of government services. And Queensland relies on LPITAF funding more than any other state.”

“While we do not object to funding legal aid from this source at this time, it is vital that plans be put in place to ensure adequate future funding.”

In 2009-10, Legal Aid Queensland is to receive $32.8 million from LPITAF compared to only $26.4 million from the State Government. The LPITAF funding has decreased $2.5 million over the previous financial year, but the Government funding has only increased by $0.97 million. These figures do not take into account some extra non-budget amounts which were required for specific purposes.

According to National Legal Aid, the body which represents state and territory legal aid organisations, Legal Aid Queensland will face a $4 million budget shortfall in the current financial year.

“Victoria has faced an identical problem this year, and the Victorian Government has made up the whole of the shortfall,” Mr Berry said. “The Queensland Government should do the same.”