Access to justice isn’t a luxury; it’s the very infrastructure of our democracy. The Law Council of Australia has long made the case that legal assistance must be treated with the same seriousness as roads, schools and hospitals – as an essential element of our social fabric and economy. And yet, in the law and justice space, we increasingly find decision-makers treating access to services as optional or contingent.
This year’s National Access to Justice and Pro Bono Conference crystallised the message with fresh urgency: lawyers working in the legal assistance sector are under immense strain and, without proper resourcing, the entire system is teetering toward collapse. Private practitioners remain the backbone of legal aid in Australia. According to the 2024 Justice on the Brink report commissioned by National Legal Aid, around 72 per cent of legal aid approved matters are briefed out to private lawyers. That same report warned that the system needs an additional $484 million annually just to keep up with unmet legal demand.
Part of the funding shortfall relates to the rates paid to private practitioners undertaking legal aid work. Many private practitioners receive grants that are only 25 to 30 per cent of what they would charge at market rates for comparable matters. The professional commitment of these lawyers is unquestionable, but goodwill has its limits; legal work must be financially viable or it will quickly become unsustainable. Goodwill alone cannot be expected to prop up the system. It’s time for governments and institutions to move from knowing the problem to owning it. Access to justice must not be the privilege of those who can afford it, but the foundation of civil society. So, what must change? In my view, there are three immediate priorities.
First, we must stop treating access to justice as charitable or optional. Infrastructure is planned, funded and maintained. We need fair funding for Legal Aid Commissions (and private practitioners doing legal aid work), Community Legal Centres, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and Family Violence Prevention Legal Services. That includes closing the funding gap identified in the 2024 Independent Review of the National Legal Assistance Partnership report and paying private practitioners rates that reflect the increasing complexity of their work as well as the social benefit they generate. Without that, we are building on sand.
Second, we must provide on-the-ground support for private legal aid practitioners. These are not wealthy law firms: they are sole practitioners, community-based firms, rural lawyers. To keep them in the system, we need more than praise. We need sustainable infrastructure and technology, travel assistance, and realistic grant structures. If we’re serious about access for all, we must back those who deliver it on the front lines.
Third is broadening access across geography and background. Infrastructure isn’t just for cities. People in rural, remote, and disadvantaged communities deserve high-quality legal assistance. By investing in real pathways for RRR lawyers, we not only expand access geographically but also empower a broader cross-section of legal professionals to serve their communities.
In sum, if we accept that access to justice is infrastructure, not privilege, then we must treat it like infrastructure. That means predictable investment, intelligent design for the long-term, and distributed capacity so that vulnerabilities at one point don’t threaten the whole system.
In November, the Standing Council of Attorneys-General (SCAG) met to consider various matters of national importance. In advance of that meeting, the Law Council of Australia – along with its constituent bodies, including the Law Society of Western Australia – wrote to the Attorneys-General to ensure that legal assistance funding was front and centre of the discussion.
I welcome the progress made during the meeting, particularly around fees for private practitioners undertaking legal aid work. We learned that SCAG discussed equitable access to justice, particularly in RRR areas, and agreed to explore possible solutions through a review of the funding model.
I can’t emphasise enough that timing is critical here. There is an access to justice workforce crisis right now, and it needs to be addressed urgently. The discussion at SCAG must be translated into immediate action.
This emergency was spotlighted just days before this article was published when reports emerged that a funding deficit had forced Legal Aid Northern Territory to take the “drastic action” of ceasing to provide legal representation to people charged with a crime unless they are in custody.
Time will tell whether our leaders can turn the ship before it’s too late.
This opinion article originally appeared in Issue 52, December 2025, of the Brief magazine, produced by the Law Society.
Issue 53 is due to be published and posted to Law Society members in late June 2026.
