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Enhancing Access to Justice: the History of Legal Aid Queensland 1979 – 2004 of Legal to Justice: the History Enhancing Access

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Enhancing Access to Justice: the History of Legal Aid Queensland 1979 – 2004 of Legal to Justice: the History Enhancing Access Enhancing AccessHistoryJustice: the to Legal of – 2004 1979 Queensland Aid Enhancing Access to Justice – the History of Legal Aid Queensland – 1979–2004 K. T. Cohen K. T. K. T. Cohen Enhancing Access to Justice Enhancing Access to Justice – The History of Legal Aid Queensland – 1979 – 2004 K. T. Cohen © Legal Aid Queensland 2004. While all care is taken in the preparation of this publication, no responsibility is accepted by either the author or by Legal Aid Queensland or its officers and staff for any errors, omissions or inaccuracies whatsoever. Apart from any fair dealing for the purpose of private study, research, criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright Act, no part may be reproduced by any process without written permission from Legal Aid Queensland. First published 2004 by: Legal Aid Queensland 44 Herschel Street Brisbane, QLD 4000 Enhancing Access to Justice: The History of Legal Aid Queensland 1979 – 2004 Cohen, K. T. ISBN 0-9588652-5-6 Printed in Australia by Cranbrook Press, Toowoomba. CONTENTS INTRODUCTION The Beginning of Legal Aid in Queensland ................................................................................................ 1 The Legal Assistance Committee .................................................................................................................. 3 The Australian Legal Aid Office ................................................................................................................... 8 THE 1980s: A DECADE OF EXPANSION The Queensland Legal Aid Commission ....................................................................................................13 The Legal Aid Office (Queensland): Testing the Water ............................................................................18 Innovation and Expansion ..........................................................................................................................20 Legal Advice ..................................................................................................................................................27 A New Administrative Structure and other Changes ...............................................................................29 Research, Education and Communications ...............................................................................................33 Issues of Funding and Control ....................................................................................................................36 Assessing Performance ................................................................................................................................42 Paralegals and Grants of Aid ......................................................................................................................44 A New Scenario ............................................................................................................................................ 51 THE 1990s: TOWARDS ECONOMY, EFFICIENCY AND EFFECTIVENESS A Change of Government and Changes for Legal Aid ............................................................................53 New Headquarters and New Appointments ..............................................................................................58 The Merger ....................................................................................................................................................60 Initiatives for Expansion .............................................................................................................................63 Planning Strategic Management ................................................................................................................66 Living with Evaluations and Reviews ........................................................................................................69 A Crisis of Funding ...................................................................................................................................... 70 The Solution-Oriented Approach and Total Quality Service ...................................................................73 A New President, Organisational Changes and New Programs ..............................................................78 Client Services and Professionalism in Planning .....................................................................................80 Applications for Computer Technology .....................................................................................................82 The Project Approach ..................................................................................................................................84 Access to Services on the Rise ....................................................................................................................87 The 1997 Commonwealth/State Legal Aid Funding Agreement ............................................................87 The History of Legal Aid Queensland v SPECIALISTS AND PARTNERS IN A CHANGING ENVIRONMENT A Regime of Change ....................................................................................................................................90 The Preferred Supplier .................................................................................................................................93 Community Legal Centres ...........................................................................................................................94 Staff – the Best Resource .............................................................................................................................96 A Strategic Plan .......................................................................................................................................... 101 New Faces, New Challenges ...................................................................................................................... 105 Access Strategies ........................................................................................................................................ 107 Core Legal Services .................................................................................................................................... 117 Patterns and Trends ....................................................................................................................................124 ACKNOWLEDGMENTS .................................................................................................................................128 BIBLIOGRAPHY .............................................................................................................................................129 INDEX OF NAMES ......................................................................................................................................... 131 vi Enhancing Access to Justice INTRODUCTION The beginning of Legal Aid in Queensland n Australia, access to the justice system for disadvantaged people Iwas traditionally provided on a voluntary basis by the legal profession. The exception was in respect of people charged with serious indictable offences where the state paid private practition- ers appointed by the court to represent them. Very limited assist- ance was available for committals proceedings. In Queensland, the Ryan Labor government had, for this purpose, instituted the Public Defender’s Office as part of the Public Curator’s Office established within the Department of Justice in 1916. Otherwise, the availability of free legal assistance for those unable to pay for it depended on the continuing goodwill of the private profession. From the late 1950s, a number of factors came to influence this situation and heralded changes which were to shape the provision of legal aid services for the future. At base was an increasing recog- nition on the part of both the government and the legal profession that the concept of legal aid, if it was to continue to be effective in practice, needed to operate within a formal structure backed by an adequate funding system. There had been informal discussions from time to time about possible courses to be pursued but the catalyst for serious debate proved to be the post-war social welfare program planned by the British Labor government. Legal aid was one aspect under consideration and a comprehensive study was made of the options for the delivery of an achievable, effective service. The “Report of the Committee on Legal Aid and Legal Advice in England and Wales”, published in May 1945 and known as the Rushcliffe Report, set out the basis for its recommendations, the most significant of which were that legal aid should be provided and administered by the legal profession, and wholly funded by the state. The story of Legal Aid Queensland 1 With its other recommendations which reflected the ted to the Lord Chancellor. There were also annual general philosophy shaping the administration of reporting requirements. public services in this period, the committee delivered what was to be an influential model for the provi- The issue of who should have administrative control sion of legal aid. It proposed a countrywide system of a formal, statutory-based, legal aid scheme has of area committees and local committees comprised tended to be the critical point of dissention, and of solicitors and “the occasional Bar representative”. often an obstacle to its realisation, whenever the The local committees were to decide
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