Victorians will welcome the cost of living relief contained in the Victorian Budget 2026/7, which purports to make life easier, safer and more affordable for Victorians. Yet this budget does little to enhance the crucial services community legal centres provide to help Victorians understand their rights and responsibilities - and access justice - which speak to this year's budget aims whilst also making our State fairer and stronger.
Despite limited investment in community legal centres' core work and programs, there were some bright spots.
Investment in programs that work
WestJustice received funding to expand its Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Program to three new regions, which will enable other community legal centres to roll out this highly successful program in their communities. The Youth Crime Prevention and Early Intervention Program is evidence that community-based early intervention is effective in preventing crime and improving community safety, and we are pleased that its value has been formally acknowledged.
The budget included continued funding for Q+ Law, a dedicated legal service for LGBTIQA+SB Victorians operated by Fitzroy Legal Service which has become a lifeline for many people in the LGBTIQA+SB community.
Ten community legal centres deliver the Victims Legal Service in partnership with Victoria Legal Aid. The service will also continue, thanks to a $6.4 million funding commitment over a two-year period. The Victims Legal Service provides a critical service enabling victims of crime to access the financial assistance they are entitled to, and whilst the investment is welcome, the funding falls short of meeting the true needs of Victorians who have been harmed by crime. With no indexation provided, the real value of the investment in this program has shrunk.
Barwon Community Legal Service received funding to continue and expand its school lawyer program for two more years, which provides community legal education and legal assistance to school students. This is just one example of impactful early intervention school lawyer programs that Victorian community legal centres operate around the State. We hope that additional funding in the future will allow more schools and their students to benefit from the initiative.
Missed opportunities
We were disheartened by the lack of new investment in community legal centres and Aboriginal legal services to expand supports to meet growing legal need in Victoria. For every client a community legal centre takes on, two are turned away, illustrating the chasm that exists between need for the holistic legal and community support that 50 community legal centres provide across the state, and the limited resourcing these centres have to meet it.
This budget allocates millions of dollars to prisons, policing, prosecution, and other heavy-handed responses to crime that, time and time again, have proven ineffective in preventing and reducing crime. The community legal sector has long advocated for early intervention and prevention programs to keep communities safe and will continue to implement and evaluate activities which are transformational for individuals and communities.
Coming off a summer providing services in the complex context of bushfires and floods, community legal centres were not included in the long term bushfire relief and recovery measures of the budget. Community legal centres play a pivotal role in supporting people in disaster-affected communities to navigate the breadth of legal issues that arise in the wake of a disaster, from housing and employment issues, issues accessing government payments, insurance issues and family violence response.
Our sector has four specialist community legal centres for people with disabilities, and across all services, 36.86 percent of our clients live with disability. Whilst we celebrate a significant investment in the disability sector, no additional funding will be provided to community legal centres for our work with people with disability, including those experiencing legal issues such as discrimination, family violence, housing injustice and challenges with the NDIS.
The path ahead
The review of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic) presents a welcome opportunity to apply an evidence-based approach to sentencing. Community legal centres look forward to sharing their expertise and knowledge with the Sentencing Advisory Council as part of this process.
Likewise, the Violence Reduction Unit has the potential to make a positive impact, with the input of individuals and organisations on the ground, including community legal centres.
Community legal centres are a movement for justice, providing more than 170,000 services every year through quality, people-centred, evidence-based programming. We are deeply embedded in our communities and will continue to work with government partners to make Victoria an easier, safer and more affordable place to live.
Louisa Gibbs, CEO at the Federation said:
"Innovation and evidence have driven the community legal centre programs that have been funded through this budget. They are just some of the incredibly successful prevention, early intervention and crisis response programs that community legal centres operate every day. In a cost of living crisis, the services community legal centres provide can be the key to Victorians enjoying full, healthy and safe lives."
