Election 2016 - law and justice
Friday, July 1, 2016
Justinian in AAT, DPP, Election16, George Brandis, Greens, Law Council, Legal Aid, Mark Dreyfus, Solicitor General
National corruption commission and same sex marriage enter stage left ... Marriage plebiscite looking shaky ... Greens want a Bill of Rights and tighter gun controls ... Latest smear notes 

Credlin warns that legislation for the plebiscite she and Abbott proposed might fail to pass in parliament

July 1: Final furlong  

We seem a long way from what's really going on in the world: the fallout in the "United Kingdom" from the EU referendum, Trump in the US and ISIS in Turkey.  

Nonetheless, some unexpected morsels have crept into Australia's election campaign. Suddenly the business community is calling for a national corruption commission. The rorts in campaign funding and the control that lobbyists exert on the major political parties have reached a critical level.  

Politicians don't want a bar of an agency with wide powers riffling through their deals with donors and log-rollers, and if public pressure does force them to do something any watchdog would only be one with a very soft bark.  

At the same time the gay marriage issue has burst a seam. Coalition MPs are all over the shop on whether they would vote in accordance with the outcome of the proposed post-election plebiscite. Whether legislation for a plebiscite would pass parliament is another contention.    

Senior Ministers Julie Bishop and Scott Morrison have equivocated on how they would vote in parliament if the plebiscite was passed by the electorate.    

Former Abbott Svengali, Peta Credlin, warns that the legislation for a plebiscite could fail to pass parliament, but in any event it will create a "big schism inside the Liberal Party".    

Abbott himself said that by not focusing more on national security during the campaign Turnbull has allowed "less substantial stuff" to be "front and centre".  

 

Labor's policy is not to have a plebiscite but a parliamentary vote on amendments to the Marriage Act. Everyone thought that was the Greens' policy as well, but parliamentary leader Richard Di Natale has now left open the possibility that his party would support a plebiscite if amendments to the Act fail to pass.   

"We will wait before we see the details of any legislation on a plebiscite before making a final decision," he told the National Press Club. 

PM Turnbull has said there will be equal funding for the YES and NO cases on same sex marriage.   

Leading NO campaigner, Cory Bernardi, concerned about the rise of bestiality should same sex people have the right to marry, has attacked the prime minister for suggesting that he is a homophobe.  

June 30: A Bill of Rights gets a lonely mention   

Greens wants fewer guns

Greens justice spokesman, Senator Nick McKimm, is calling for a Bill of Rights, stricter gun control and a "rethink of counter-terrorism laws".  

It's part of the Green's A Just Australia policy. Not only do the Greens want a Bill of Rights, they want one "enshrined in our Constitution".     

In the next parliament the Greens propose to move to repeal the allegiance to Australia citizenship legislation and to conduct a "high-level Blue Paper to establish a better approach to our counter-terrorism laws".  

Who knows, if the Greens have the balance of power in the Senate, they might be able to extract some concessions along those lines.  

June 29: Dreyfus skewers "wasteful" plebiscite

Shadow attorney issued a statement saying we know what the plebiscite NO campaign will look like.  

"It would include arguments that LGBTI parents have a harmful impact on children and that equal marriage rights will somehow undermine society ... 

The Labor Party is delivering voters honesty and certainty. A bill for marriage equality will be the first piece of legislation introduced into the 45th parliament under a Shorten Labor government.  

You cannot get clearer than that."  

June 25: What is the point?  

Labor's Mark Dreyfus asks what is the point of the $160 million marriage rights plebiscite if Turnbull's own cabinet is not bound by a YES vote.    

The shadow attorney is deep into a volley of media releases and press conferences on the differences between the Coalition and Labor on the same sex marriage issue. 

It's embarrassing that Australian politicians are still playing footsie with this basic human right - as though we're back in 1967 listening to a debate about whether Aboriginal Australian should have the vote.   

The referendum that gave the First Australians the constitutional right to vote as citizens was then, and is now, no less an issue of equality than all Australian adults having the right to marry.  

Dreyfus added:  

"If there's one thing LGBTI Australians - and their children - don't need, it's a long campaign where one side of the debate has public licence to argue that there's something wrong with being gay or lesbian, and that same-sex parents are second rate."  

June 24: Smear central

"Justice" Minister Michael Keenan: smear merchant

Apart from some nasty personal smears directed at Tony Windsor in New England (fed to The Australian by you-know-who) the other distressing smear that crept into the campaign was "Justice" Minister Michael Keenan's attack on Dr Anne Aly, the Labor candidate for the marginal seat of Cowan in WA.  

Aly is at Edith Cowan University and specialises de-radicalisation programmes for young Islamists. She was involved in a Commonwealth funded program called People Against Violent Extremism, and in that capacity wrote a letter to a NSW court that sentenced "hate preacher" Juniad Thorne, who was convicted of flying under a false name.  

Keenan claimed that as a result of her intervention Thorne got a lighter sentence, and that this "shows pretty poor judgment" on her part. Dr Aly said 90 percent of the letter was about Thorne's co-accused Mustafa Shiddiquzzman, who she said was suitable for de-radicalisation.   

Keenan's intervention was a desperate smear against a strong candidate who could capture a Liberal held seat.   

To top it off he said he would not debate the Labor candidate on his claim.  

"It would be unusual for a government minister to debate a Labor candidate."  

June 21: "Boutique controversies" 

Brandis v Dreyfus: professors of the law waiting for the bout to startThe attorney general, Senator George Brandis, did not fare well in Monday evening's much anticipated debate with his Labor party opponent, Mark Dreyfus.

The attorney was variously accused of "lying to the parliament" and "a disaster for the rule of law", whose term of office has been marked by "attacks on independent office holders".

For good measure, Dreyfus added that Brandis had "failed Australia" and was "delusional" if he thought the attorney general's portfolio attracted "little controversy" ...  Read on for remainder of debate report prepared for Guardian Australia by Justinian's editor ...  

 

 

See also Mark Dreyfus' independent and dispassionate assessment of Brandis' disastrous performance at the debate 

Here's the audio of the debate in full 

And for good measure, because they weren't allowed to participate in the debate, here's The Greens' Access to Justice Policy  

Meanwhile, others are anxious to discuss pressing issues ... 

June 20: Family violence 

Unsurprisingly both sides of politics are opposed to domestic violence, however something of a bidding war has broken out over how much money should be allocated to the cause. 

On June 16 Labor's Mark Dreyfus announced $4.5 million ($1.5 million a year for three years) for the Family Violence Prevention Legal Services to assist in Indigenous cases of violence against women and children.  

The Coalition today has upped the ante with $25 million spread over four years for the FVPLSs. That money is drawn from the $100 million already announced in the 2016 Budget as part of the third action plan to reduce violence against women, so in that sense it is not "extra money".  

The Law Council says that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander women are 34 times more likely that non-Indigenous women to be hospitalised as a result of domestic violence and 10 times more likely to be killed as the result of a domestic assault.  

Diana Bryant, the chief justice of the Family Court, and John Pascoe, the chief judge of the Federal Circuit Court, have made an unprecedented entry into the campaign with a call for an immediate injection of $6 million to allow the courts to implement specialist training and other initiatives in response to domestic violence cases.  

Chief Justice Bryant said:  

"There is a glaring omission as to where the funding should be allocated and that is to the courts dealing with family law. 

The Family Court and the Family Circuit Court are at the coal face in dealing with families impacted by family violence, and yet there has not been one extra dollar provided to the courts." 

The Family Violence Committee of the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court support some of the initiatives identified in the five step plan developed by Women's Legal Services Australia and Rosie Batty.  

The two senior federal judges say that if $6 million was injected these initiatives could be implemented promptly. 

George Brandis said last night that he would "consider" Rosie Batty's five point plan, but at this stage he was not committed. 

Brandis: considering the five point planJune 17: Brandis - "not fit to be AG"  

Political meddling by attorney general George Brandis in the advice work of the solicitor general has nudged its way into the campaign as an election issue. 

Following articles in Justinian, Guardian Australia and The Financial Review, the story of the AG's interference in the solicitor general's independence has attracted the attention of Labor spokesman, Mark Dreyfus. 

As Justinian reported, Brandis issued a direction under the Judiciary Act saying that all ministers and agencies seeking advice and opinions from the Commonwealth solicitor general, Justin Gleeson, had to have the attorney general's prior approval in writing.  

This is a direct attempt to control the independent advisory role of the SG and contain advice that is not politically palatable. 

The Financial Review reported that the AG had told the senate, days before the election was called, that he had consulted with the solicitor general about this change. The implication was that Gleeson agreed with this new arrangement. 

However, Gleeson wrote to Brandis' office on May 11 denying he was consulted over the move to corral his independent activities. Indeed, it has emerged that in implementing this change to the briefing policy, Brandis and his office were at pains to instruct the bureaucracy to keep the solicitor general out of the loop. 

Gleeson: contradicted Brandis' spin about consultation

If this is so, then Brandis has misled parliament. 

On Friday (June 17) Dreyfus issued a statement saying that Brandis' claims of consultation "do not hold water" and that he is "not fit to be our country's attorney general".  

"Senator Brandis has treated the office of the solicitor general and its esteemed office-holder Mr Gleeson with contempt." 

We're going to hear more about this as it is one of the few meaty law and justice issues to surface during the campaign. 

Misleading the senate and trying to manipulate the advisory work of the solicitor general will cruel Brandis' bloated notions of taking a place on the High Court.  

June 16: A flurry of pledges 

A Shorten government will give Family Violence Prevention Legal Services $1.5 million a year over three years to assist Indigenous women affected by family violence. 

This is part of Labor's $47.4 million package to boost front-line legal services to tackle family violence and includes $42.9 million in increased funding for community legal centres. 

Shadow AG Dreyfus also announced that a Labor government would also seek to reduce the rate of incarceration by reforming the fine recovery process. 

The proposed arrangement would see fines paid through the taxation and social security systems.  

At the moment the imprisonment rate is 196 in every 100,000 adults, a significant proportion of who are fine defaulters. 

Each year Western Australia jails at least 1,100 fine defaulters, approximately half are Aboriginal people. In the last five years the number in prison in WA for unpaid fines has soared 600 percent. 

And Trove is to be rescued by a Shorten government with a funding pledge of $3 million a year over four years.  

Trove is the National Library of Australia's online collections of books, photographs, newspapers, maps and historical material, with 471 million documents available for free access. 

The addition of new content has been at risk because of the government's cuts of $37 million to the National Library, the National Gallery, the National Portrait Gallery, and the National Archives. 

Labor to rescue of the National Library's (Treasure) Trove

The National Library alone had lost $6 million in funding. Dreyfus said: "Labor is the party of arts and culture and we will stand to protect Trove." 

And one more thing happened on June 16 - the peak body for community legal centres in Victoria sent an open letter to Malcolm Turnbull outlining their critical financial plight.  

The Federation of Community Legal Centres called on the PM to reverse the funding cuts, to sustain funding under the Women's Safety Package and boost overall funding in line with Productivity Commission recommendations. 

"Cuts and chronic underfunding of community legal centres contradict the federal government's claimed commitment to end violence against women and their children, and they damage what should be a shared national ambition of a fair society."  

June 15: Money for abused oldies 

The Coalition found its own niche group of deserving citizens and said it would spend $15 million "to protect the rights of older Australians". This was announced by AG Brandis on World Elder Abuse Awareness Day. 

It involves setting-up a national elder abuse hotline, developing training programs for frontline people, a study into who abuses old people and why, and a national awareness campaign. 

All good stuff and al thoroughly approved of by the Law Council of Australia. And the Australian Law Reform Commission was in step with an Elders Abuse issues paper. 

June 14: More terror 

Brandis seized the opportunity of the Orlando shootings to crank-up his terrorism message. It was reported in the AG's favourite mouthpiece, The Australian, that the AG has "nominated a plan to detain recidivist terrorists beyond their the term of their prison sentences as a key area of future reform, if the government were reelected".  

Control orders are another option. 

Mark Dreyfus has come to the aid of the Environmental Defenders Office with an $10.8 million commitment over four years. 

It reminds us of the damage inflicted by the Abbott-Turnbull environmental legacy. 

If elected a Labor government will convene an expert reference group to work with industry and environmental groups to develop the detail of new environmental laws. 

Let's not forget the Greens. Senator Nick McKim, the Greens' justice spokesmodel, says that if he's given a chance he'll restore the Coalition's cuts "and invest $716 million in community legal services and legal aid". 

Senator McKim with a better justice policy

Over the forward estimates the Greens' policy would see $92 million going to CLCs, $250 to Legal Aid Commissions, $183 million to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and $144.36 in Family Violence Prevention Legal Services.  

And the ideological attack on the EDOs would also be undone. To top it off the Greens would return federal court fees to 2010-2011 levels. 

Senator McKim agreed with the Productivity Commission that, "cutting legal assistance is a false economy, because the cost burden is shifted to other parts of the budget, such as health and housing". 

The Greens, as far as we can discover, are the only significant political party to say something about justice reinvestment. The party says it would spend $10 million over four years to establish a National Centre for Justice Reinvestment and $50 million over the same period for a justice reinvestment grants program.  

"The old parties' 'tough on crime' mantra is in reality weak, ineffective and financially unsustainable." 

Of course, but unfortunately we're going to get a lot more of it. 

 

Debate at Barangaroo

June 11: Brandis v Dreyfus 

There's to be an election policy debate between AG George Brandis and shadow AG Mark Dreyfus on Monday, June 20, 4-5pm, hosted by the Gilbert + Tobin Centre of Public Law. 

Registration is essential. 

June 10: ALP's pledge to Aboriginal legal assistance 

With soaring rates of Indigenous imprisonment, the ALP has come to the party with a $20.4 million commitment to fund Aboriginal legal services, over three years.  

Indigenous Australians make up 25 percent of Australia's prison population, while constituting two percent of the general population. 

Of the Opposition's package, $18.2 million is for the member organisations of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and $2.2 million for their peak representative body, the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services. 

This is on top of Labor's commitment of $43 million for community legal centres. 

The Law Council of Australia, which has been campaigning to find ways of reducing the rate of Indigenous incarceration, is ticked pink by the Opposition's funding announcement. 

Within months of the Abbott government coming to office, it slashed $13 million from ATSILS funding, as well as $19 million from CLCs, $6.5 million from Legal Aid Commissions and $3 million from family violence programs. 

From July 1, 2017 ATSILS faces a further eight percent cut to its allocation. 

The ALP's $20.4 million election promise over three years will more than reverse the Coalition's cuts of around $6 million a year

More background here

June 10: LCA election manifesto 

The Law Council of Australia has swung into gear and wheeled out its law and justice "to do" list for the incoming government: 

If you want to drill down into the finer details of the manifesto, they are all here. 


June 9: Knock-knock, who's there?  

Citizens in the electorate of Sturt were seen fleeing their homes as local member Poodles Pyne and the Attorney General George Brandis went door-to-door seeking to explain Jobs & Growth. 

The Minister for Innovation through it was a good idea to have as his knock-knock side-kick the attorney general, who is clueless about technology. Here's a memory: 

It's not known if other Coalition MPs in marginal seats have invited Bookshelves Brandis to assist. 

 

 

Anyway, the AG didn't last long in Adelaide - he had to dash to Sydney to inject some terror into the election. 

He was a host of the Indonesian-Australia Ministerial Council on Law & Security, along with Justice Minister Michael Keenan and the Indonesian Coordinating Minister for Legal and Security Affairs, H.E. Luhut B. Panjaitan.  

As you can see by the joint communique this looked like a waste of time - nothing more than a mutual pocket-moistening session. There was, however, one important announcement:  

"The Indonesian side commended the Australian side on the excellent cooperation in the preparations and hosting of the 2016 Australian-Indonesian Ministerial Council on Law and Security." 

Translation: the drinks and canapés were top rate. Next year the same thing happens again in Bali. 

June 7: Street fighting, one community legal centre at a time 

Shadow AG, Mark Dreyfus, has not only been busy sculpting Labor's arts policy, but has been on the stump in different corners of the wide brown land dishing out money for community legal centres in well-targeted electorates. 

In Tanya Plibersek's seat of Sydney, it was announced that a Shorten government would allocate $450,000 over three years to the Redfern Legal Centre.  

Another 10 community legal services within the electorate will receive a total of $1.8 million. This includes the Tenants Union of NSW, Financial Rights Legal Centre, the Inner City Legal Centre, the HIV/AIDS Legal Centre and the Court Support Scheme. 

In the South Australian seat of Kingston, held by Labor's Amanda Rishworth, a further $300,000 over three years was promised to the Southern Community Justice Centre and $450,000 over the same period for the South Australian Women's Legal Service.  

And as we reported on June 2, in the WA seat of Cowan, where Labor's Anne Aly is standing for election, another $450,000 was put on the table for the Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre.  

This money comes from the family violence package that Labor released in March last year. Under that funding arrangement, $42.9 million would go directly to community legal centres, and would immediately address the Coalition's cuts of $34 million amid a broader federal shortfall of $100 million over four years. 

Darren Lewin-Hill from the Federation of Community Legal Centres estimates that what is really needed is a boost in federal funding from current to $61.6 million a year for CLCs nationally.  

He calculates that under the Coalition there is a funding shortfall for legal centres of around $100 million over the next four years. 

Under Labor the equivalent shortfall after its election commitment is around $60 million. It's all set out in this nice table, where NPA refers to the government's National Partnership Agreement on legal assistance services and WSP is the Women's Safety Package. 

CLC Funding

The FCLC has also prepared a Fact Check on Brandis's funding claims. The AG talks about expenditure of $1.6 billion over five years under the National Partnership Scheme, a scheme the Productivity Commission says falls $200 million short per year. 

An interesting comparison is that the Commonwealth pver the same period will spend $3.5 bliiion on its own legal services. 

The $1.6 billion covers a lot of activity, very thinly, including all the CLC, all legal aid commissions, all Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services and all family violence prevention and legal services - over five years all around the nation. 

From the $1.6 billion, CLCs receive around 11 percent, or $174 million over five years. CLC's funding will fall from $42.2 million to $30.1 million in 2017-18, a cut of 30 percent. 

June 2: Policy free zone

Dr Aly: Dreyfus helped her campaign by beefing-up funding for a local CLC

We may as well assume by now that attorney general Brandis has no election policies. There has not been a peep from him on anything noteworthy during the campaign, let alone inspirationally vote winning. Nothing on access to justice, law reform, human rights, family law, marriage inequality, the Queen v the Republic, a national legal profession, judicial selection or flag burning. 

The Liberal Party website gives us nothing about George or what he brings to the table, policy wise.   

Guardian Australia columnist and Justinian editor, R. Ackland, went to town on this very topic in a Behind the Lines podcast here   

However, the arts community is campaigning hard on Brandis' destructive cuts to arts funding during the time he was the responsible minister. 

He took more than $100 million from the Australia Council and gave it to something called the National Program for Excellence in the Arts, whereby the minister could dole out cash to struggling organisations in Liberal electorates.

When Mitch Fifield became minister last year, he reinstated about a third of the Australia Council's funding, and changed the name of the National Program for Excellence in the Arts to Catalyst. 

In artistic circles Brandis is now viewed as a direct descendant of a former cultural attache to the Court of St James, Sir Leslie Colin Patterson ...

The most recent sighting of the AG was this week in Launceston where he attended the farewell ceremony for retiring Federal Circuit Court judge Stuart Roberts. He promptly startled everyone with a speech referencing the sterling job that Andrew Nicolic MP was doing as the Liberal member for Bass. 

Further, he insisted it was terrific that the new local Circuit Court judge, Terry McGuire, was "Launceston born and bred". 

This puzzled the locals, who knew that McGuire was Devonport "born and bred". 

Nice one George. 

Meanwhile, shadow AG, Mark Dreyfus, went to Perth campaigning for ALP candidate Anne Aly and in the process pledged $450,000 to the Northern Suburbs Community Legal Centre.  Dr Aly is an academic at Edith Cowan University and is the Labor candidate for Cowan, currently held by the Liberal's Luke Simkins. 

 

May 24: Where's George?

Dreyfus: getting into the picture

The seat of Bass, based on Launceston, is on a tightrope. It is held by the Liberal's Andrew Nikolic, from the Otto Abetz lonely-planet faction of the party. 

The plight of the Launceston Community Legal Centre was too good an opportunity to miss. 

Opposition AG spokesman, Mark Dreyfus, the local Labor candidate Ross Hart and shadow families minister Jenny Macklin were fast on the draw:  

"Residents of Launceston have woken to the shocking news today that the Launceston Community Legal Centre will have to shed nearly half its staff by December, thanks to harsh funding cuts by the Abbott-Turnbull government." 

It was a golden opportunity to give the government's legal aid policy another kick in the shins, which has seen cuts of $52 million from community legal centres, legal aid commissions and aboriginal legal services. 

From July 1, 2017, community legal centres face a funding cut of 30 percent, "which will see many centres having to close their doors to clients". 

Labor, on the other hand is pledging $43 million as part of a domestic violence package, compared with the Coalition's $30 million over three years for dom-vi. In government, all those years ago, the ALP boosted community legal centre funding by $34 million. 

The announcement from Labor campaign HQ added: 

"Malcolm Turnbull, George Brandis and Andrew Nikolic have questions to answer on how they will address this impending crisis."  

May 20: AFP raids rub up against LGBTI agenda 

Gorgeous George Brandis is eerily quiet, so far. 

It's difficult to locate any election announcements from the attorney general, let alone anything he has said that will swing the election back to the Coalition.  

On Monday, May 23, he expressed his sorrow at the death of Melbourne barrister Ross Ray - hardly an election issue.  

Meanwhile, his opposition counterpart Mark Dreyfus was making hay with Penny Wong over Sgt Plod of the AFP raiding the offices of deputy ALP senate leader Stephen Conroy, looking for information to pin down who's leaking embarrassing information about Malcolm Turnbull's botched NBN. 

Plod's immaculate timing turned the exercise into an election issue and reminded everyone that Turnbull had promised a national broadband network that would be cheaper and faster.  

As the shadow AG put it: 

"[Turnbull's] promise of delivering the NBN cheaper is a nonsense, because the cost ... has doubled and it's going to be done slower and it's going to be done in a mishmash of technologies with other revelations such as the purchase of some 1900 km of copper." 

Dreyfus carried the issue of the AFP's leak-busting activities for at least three days, May 19, 20 and 21 - until everyone got tired and moved on.  

The AFP raid even crept into the Rainbow Labor National Day of Action, designed to get LGBTI people to vote ALP, rather than Green. 

Senator Wong and Mr Dreyfus announced that a Shorten government would appoint an LGBTI commissioner to the Human Rights Commission, and fund the role with an additional $1.4 million.  

"We think it's absolutely appropriate that there be a special commissioner for LGBTI issues to take forward the legislative reform that we put there in 2013, adding the ground of gender identity and orientation to the Commonwealth anti-discrimination, sex discrimination [legislation]." 

At the same time Labor will not adopt the Greens policy of removing discrimination exemptions for churches. Fear of inflaming Godly people will see the ALP persisting with the exemptions whereby churches can implement bigoted policies of exclusion. 

Senator Wong added that the Safe Schools program would be safe under an ALP government. 

May 18: Star power  


Costello - Peake

In the spirit of Silk heroine Martha Costello's appearance at a London legal aid rally in 2014, some smart marketing people have working out that Cleaver Greene from Rake should come to the aid of the cause. 

Here's Cleaver's alter ego, Richard Roxburgh, with a message about legal aid funding. 

May 18: Campaigning with Mark Dreyfus 

Shadow AG Mark Dreyfus made a couple of announcements today. 

The first was about the Liberal member for Fadden, Stuart Robert. Mr Robert is already the subject of an AFP investigation after attempting to pass off a trip to China to help a Liberal Party donor as "personal business". 

PM Turnbull removed him as Human Services Minister. 

Now, Dreyfus said, the MP is "potentially mired in a Queensland Crime and Corruption Commission investigation, for secretly bankrolling two former staffers to run as 'independent' candidates for the Gold Coast City Council". 

The Australian Electoral Commission is also examine whether former Abbott staffer, now lobbyist, Simone Holzapfel, channelled large donations to those candidates.  

"Enough is enough. Mr Turnbull must say today whether he continues to support Mr Robert." 

Next up, the shadow AG had his name on an announcement that Labor would introduce a Domestic Gas National Interest Test for new LNG facilities. 

Australian  will soon overtake Qatar as the world's biggest exporter of LNG, and Labor wants to ensure that prices are not pushed up in such a way as to disadvantage households. 

The national interest test will be administered by a new Domestic Gas Review Board. Details here. 

May 16, 17: Rally ... rally 

The masses have heard the call and have assembled to demonstrate displeasure at the way the government is treating lawyers and their legal aid clients. 

Law Council coordinated rallies have been taking place - but will the cry for funding be heard in chilly Canberra?

The figures, as rolled out by the LCA, look dire: 

LCA prez Stuart Clark said $350 million is needed to fix the hole, otherwise, "whoever wins the election in July will inherit a system on the brink of complete failure". 

The truth is legally aided clients and their lawyers are a soft targets. Politically there is not much downside in shredding funding for the poor in whatever form it takes. 

State by state the protest events look like this: 

The website with all the information is legalaidmatters.org.au 

Even national pro bono day was nailed to the masthead as a legal aid issue.   

Clark claimed: 

"There is no other profession on earth with such a concerted and collaborative culture of helping others for free." 

David Neal SC from VicBar, who is the co-chair of the national legal aid campaign, said that only eight percent of Australians qualify for legal aid under current means tests, while 14 percent of Australians live below the poverty line.  

"Can you imagine a medicare system that covered only eight percent of the population?" 

On a per capita basis, Australia spends half of what the UK spends on legal aid. 

More here  

And here's the graph from PriceWaterhouse Coopers that spells out the financial problem. 

Legal Aid Funding Graph

 

And here's what the campaign says needs to be done by the Commonwealth. 

Over to (Gorgeous) George Brandis.  

May 16: Dreyfus points to Brandis cheating on court appointment 

We've reported attorney general Brandis' "so there" announcement about Judge Terence McGuire's appointment to the Launceston branch of the FCC. 

As we said, McGuide is being shifted from Melbourne to northern Tasmania (in the marginal Liberal seat of Bass). 

Dreyfus was out of the blocks with a statement saying it's taken the AG three months to address the vacancy and the transfer now leaves a further gap in the Melbourne registry (see May 15). 

Obviously, moving McGuire around like this was a political patch-up job, because it wasn't announced earlier this month when a raft of pre-caretaker federal court appointments were pinned to the wall. 

Dreyfus said: "Our justice system is too important to leave to Senator Brandis." 

Brandis: tinnie terror threatMay 15: Tinnie terror

Attorney General George Brandis got himself before the TV cameras today to gravely intone about five men charged with trying to travel in a tinnie from north Queensland to Indonesia, then onwards to Islamic State hotspots in the Middle East. 

They have been charged with preparing for incursions into foreign countries to engage in hostile activities. 

"I know ... elements of the media have ridiculed it, but of course it's not to be taken lightly," Brandis informed a spellbound clutch of Brisbane journalists.

"It's a crime carrying a penalty of life imprisonment after all ..."

That's about as scary as it gets on the terror front. Most Australians are thinking why not let them go and experience the delights of Islamic State. 

The attorney general also opened up a small hornets nest by insisting that Peta Murphy, the Labor candidate for the seat of Dunkley, be disendorsed for having the temerity to support a 2009 submission from Liberty Victoria opposing expanded powers for ASIO and the AFP. 

The Labor leader, Bill Shorten, promptly mentioned Freedom Boy, Tim Wilson, who had criticised aspects of the security and intelligence laws and Jason Falinski, the Liberal candidate in Bronwyn Bishop's former seat of Mackellar, who said asylum seekers on boats should be welcomed. 

PM Malcolm Turnbull wisely distanced himself from Brandis' call for disendorsement. 

In an attempt to save the day, Brandis announced that Federal Circuit Court judge Terence McGuire would take up his position at the Launceston registry of the court. 

Extraordinarily, he said: 

"The decision to assign Judge McGuire to Launceston was made by the Chief Judge of the Federal Circuit Court, Judge John Pascoe, on my recommendation, following strong representations by the Tasmanian Liberal team." 

In other words, this was an appointment pushed by the hard-line, God-bothering, Eric Abetz faction that runs the Tasmanian Liberal Party. 

On May 11, shadow AG Mark Dreyfus had reminded everyone that Brandis had promised a circuit judge in northern Tasmania to replace Judge Stuart Roberts, but nothing had happened (see below). 

What was not mentioned in Brandis' announcement is that McGuire will be moved from the court's Melbourne registry to Launceston. The court is now one down in Melbourne. 

Brandis is notoriously slow appointing replacements for retiring federal judges and basically his oversight of the courts has been chaotic. 

It seems the AG got around the caretaker convention by getting Pascoe to make the appointment. Brandis said: 

"Mr Dreyfus' erroneous claim that the appointment would not be made because of the caretaker conventions was made in ignorance of the fact that the decision had already been made by the Chief Judge, on my recommendation."

So there.  

May 12: Legal aid, take and give 

Family Violence moves to centre stage, for now. 

George Brandis' announcement of $30 million over three years for domestic violence related legal issues didn't win him many plaudits. 

The money will go to a group of legal aid commissions, community legal centres and family relationship centres and is part of the $100 family violence package announced in the May 3 budget, which built on an earlier $100 million announced in September 2015. 

Brandis said the money would focus on, "family violence matters at the coalface ..." 

Who gets the money will be clear after the consultations with states, territories and legal assistance organisations.  

National Association of Community Legal Centres spokesman Daniel Stubbs said: 

"It is difficult to understand why the government would provide CLCs with some share of $10 million per year as part of this funding, but during the same period cut CLCs by 30 per cent nationally.  

Ten million dollars per year over three years is a totally inadequate amount for legal assistance services in the face of rising demand and funding cuts. 

CLCs alone are facing funding cuts of $34.83 million over three years from the first of July next year." 

Shadow AG, Mark Dreyfus, confirmed Labor's pledge of almost $43 million in extra funding for frontline legal services. He added:

"Community legal centres will fall off a cliff from July 1, 2017 unless the government reverses its earlier cuts in full."  

May 11: Time's not up 

It's also been reported that Brandis has directed federal agencies not to use the time-barred defence for claims of child abuse or to oppose applications for an extension of time in these cases.  

This will directly affect Navy cadets at HMAS Leewin and HMAS Nerimba who were badly mistreated when they were 15 years old and younger. 

Meanwhile, Mark Dreyfus came out of left field with an announcement saying Brandis had failed to appoint a Federal Circuit Court judge in Northern Tasmania to replace Judge Stuart Roberts, who retired next month. 

"This could create a massive backlog in cases, similar to what we have already seen in NSW where George Brandis left judge positions vacant for months," said Dreyfus.  

May 10: Lawyers are revolting

THE Law Council is urging the public to join lawyers in mass rallies in support of more legal aid funding. 

The idea is for demos to be held in "major cities during Law Week" (May 16-20 - a pretty short week). 

Ultimately, Law Week had to be useful for something and falling during an election campaign its moment has arrived. 

UK lawyers held colourful rallies last year and there was a boycott of appearances in new Crown court cases, which resulted in some minor concessions from the government. 

This will not the first time there have been legal aid rallies in Australia. There was a turnout in December 2012 when Victorian community lawyers protested the erosion of access to justice.  

LCA prez Stuart Clark said that most Australians would be shocked at the neglect of legal aid funding by the Commonwealth. 

One result is too many self-represented litigants making life hell for real lawyers in court. The announcement added: 

"Mr Clark urged all Australians who believe in the principle of access to justice to turn out and show their support at the May rallies." 

It will an exciting moment to see citizens protesting in support of lawyers. 

May 6: Brandis hands out the plums 

Just days before the government went into caretaker mode Attorney General Brandis announced a swathe of appointments. 

In the process he made sure a number of Liberal Party hacks secured plum posts and would be safe whatever the election outcome. 

On May 6 he announced 76 reappointments and appointments (and in some cases disappointments) to the Administrative Appeals Tribunal. 

Here are some of the party favourites:  

Also, on the list was John Rosso, the director general of the Queensland AG's department in the Campbell Newman government who was sacked by Labor.  

The AG also attended to same badly overdue appointments to the federal courts.  

Stephen Burley SC commences in the Sydney registry of the Federal Court of Australia, filling the vacancy created by Annabelle Bennett. 

ACT barrister Shane Gill is off to the Family Court where two more vacancies are soon to emerge with the imminent retirement of Mary Finn and the deputy chief justice, John Faulks. 

Alister McNab goes to the Federal Circuit Court's Melbourne registry and Brana Obradovic heads to the Parramatta registry of the FCC. 

May 5: New Commonwealth DPP ... Fresh-old faces at the HRC

Sarah McNaughton: "senior council"

The attorney also unveiled a new Commonwealth DPP, Sarah McNaughton from the Sydney bar. 

She's an experienced criminal lawyer, with expertise in taxation, corporate crime, drug importation and terrorism. She gets a five year term and replaces Robert Bromwich, who was appointed a Federal Court judge last February. 

McNaughton was also one of the counsel assisting Dicey Heydon's trade union royal commission, although there was such a rush to get the announcement out that Brandis called her a "senior council". 

HRC 

Brandis with new HRC commissioners: Patterson, Santow & McEwin

After years of vilifying the AHRC, then appointing a Liberal crony in the form of Tim Wilson to use the platform of Human Rights Commissioner to lift his profile so he could hand safely on the parliamentary leather, then refusing to replace the disability commissioner Graeme Innes with a full time appointment, Brandis finally got around to appointing three new HRC commissioners. 

Wilson's appointment was all the more extraordinary because while working at the Institute for Public Affairs he had advocated the abolition of the HRC. 

The AG had to do something because Susan Ryan who was the age discrimination commissioner also carried the job of disability discrimination commissioner after Graeme Innes was not replaced. The cost saving enabled Brandis to appoint Tim Wilson as HR commissioner on $320,000. 

Even so, he couldn't resist giving one of the gigs to Kay Patterson, a Liberal senator for 21 years who was one of the "Lying Rodent's" health ministers. 

She's to be the new age discrimination commissioner. Alistair McEwin, the former manager of the Centre for Disability Law takes over as disability discrim commissioner, and Ed Santow from PIAC is the new Tim Wilson  (Human Rights Commissioner). 

Brandis said Santow will "successfully prosecute the case for our fundamental political freedoms in Australia", even though he was opposed to one of the AG's favourite political freedoms, the "bigots" amendment to section 18C". 

The attorney also looked forward to the commission becoming, "a strong voice for all Australians, not just a select minority". 

The IPA is mightily displeased with Santow's appointment, which probably means he's an excellent choice. 

The new appointments each have five year terms and the selection panel comprised: 

Shadow AG Mark Dreyfus points to evidence by Gillian Triggs to the a senate estimates committee on May 5 that there has been no extra funding for the additional commissioner. 

This effectively delivers the commission a funding cut of $700,000. The HRC is already struggling to cope with 23,000 complaints or inquiries a year and the conciliation processes that follow. 

This is what election mode looks like in the law & justice corner. 

May 3: Budget backtracking on FOI structure 

Important wrinkles emerged from the May 3 budget. 

The decision to execute the office of the Australian Information Commissioner has been reversed (thanks senate). 

The original plan to slice and dice the OAIC was part of the Abbott-Hockey horror 2014 budget. 

The Privacy Commissioner was to move to the Human Rights Commission and the FOI complaints functions were to be absorbed into the Commonwealth Ombudsman's office, while the commissioner's merits review and appeals were to be dispatched to the AAT. 

It all got stymied in the senate, so now on election eve the OAIC will receive $37 million over four years to keep the shop open. Brandis said: 

"FOI funding is provided on the basis of the streamlined approach to FOI reviews adopted by the OAIC since the 2014-2015 budget." I.E. less opportunity to overturn adverse FOI rulings. 

Also, there's a $160 million provision in the contingency reserve for the referendum on Constitutional Recognition of Indigenous Australians. 

Another reserve provision of $160 million has been squirrelled away for the plebiscite on same sex marriage. 

April 29: Unproductive response to Productivity Commission's report on access of justice 

Eighteen months after the Productivity Commission released its report on access to justice, attorney general Brandis announced the government's response to its recommendations. 

The commission examined the the use of alternative forms of dispute resolution, the regulation of the legal profession and the structure and operations of ombudsmen, tribunals and courts.

In volume 2 of its report private funding of litigation, the provision of legal aid, both broadly, and specifically to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people, were discussed. 

Brandis' announcement of April 29 did not address these issues. He merely insisted that the government was doing a great job funding community legal centres and legal aid commissions through the National Partnership Agreement. 

As the Greens legal affairs spokesperson Senator Nick McKimm points out Brandis did not announce anything at all and has failed to address the Productivity Commission's findings and recommendations - probably because the legal profession and the judges didn't like much of it.  

Labor's Mark Dreyfus asks: 

"When was the last time Senator Brandis set foot inside a CLC and spoke to those who are working so hard to keep them going?" 

April 28: Coalition: we know how to look after human rights 

AG Brandis kicks off the government's law and justice agenda - distressed that Labor won't appoint more Freedom Boys to the Human Rights Commission. He says the government is to appoint new commissioners for disability discrimination and age discrimination - two jobs that are currently done by Susan Ryan, plus "an eminently qualified Australian" to replace Tim Wilson as Human Right Commissioner.  

Brandis had spent the first part of his time as attorney general relentless attacking the HRC for not sufficiently looking after "individual freedoms". 

There has not been a full-time disability discrimination commissioner since the Graeme Innes was sacked in 2014. His removal allowed the government to appoint Liberal Party member Tim Wilson as a commissioner and "freedom advocate". 

Wilson successfully used the job as a platform to lift his profile and secure Liberal preselection for the safe seat of Goldstein. 

Shadow attorney general Mark Dreyfus said that Brandis' announcement that the Coalition would restore a full-time commissioner for disability discrimination came shortly after Labor announced the same thing. 

Article originally appeared on Justinian: Australian legal magazine. News on lawyers and the law (https://justinian.com.au/).
See website for complete article licensing information.