Victoria Police Association secretary Greg Davies has called on state and federal governments to increase funding for legal aid at a lawyers' rally outside the Melbourne County Court.
Subscribe now for unlimited access.
$0/
(min cost $0)
or signup to continue reading
Mr Davies joined tens of criminal lawyers on Tuesday morning in their protest against proposed changes to legal aid guidelines, which could mean cuts to legal aid grants for youth crime matters, and fees for lawyers limited to two half days per trial.
Victoria Legal Aid managing director Bevan Warner has not confirmed any of the changes but has flagged changes to guidelines as it heads towards what is expected to be a budget blowout of more than $3.1 million in the next financial year.
Mr Davies acknowledged that police and criminal lawyers made "strange bedfellows" but encouraged the lawyers and advocates to talk "as long and as hard as it takes [to advocate for more funding] because Victoria deserves a better system than the one it looks like we're heading towards."
The Victoria Law Institute has said the Baillieu government's increased funding for a number of police initiatives, particularly in the area of family violence, while positive, had led to growing numbers of criminal charges, putting greater pressure on legal services without increasing funding to legal aid.
A spokesman for state Attorney-General Robert Clark said: "Rather than complaining about the state government's contribution, the Law Institute should be joining with the state government to call on the Commonwealth to provide its fair share of legal aid funding for Victoria."
Mr Davies said that while Victoria Police applauded the state government's funding for additional law and order within policing, including increased police numbers and salaries "there needs to be a balanced system".
Since 1997, the federal government's contribution to legal aid nationally has dropped from 50 per cent to about a third of all funding this year.
"Clearly the federal government need to step up to the plate and reaffirm a commitment to legal aid," he said
"The law of unintended consequences in Victoria has been that while there has been a boost to law and order in the policing arm, law and order is the responsibility of the Parliament of Victoria, of its police and of its judicial system and those who work within it.
"It's a tripartite game ... that needs a fair and reasonable system put in place so that people can have representation."
Spokesmen for Mr Clark and Commonwealth Attorney-General Nicola Roxon have both said queries on increases to funding should be directed to the other level of government.
A spokesman for Mr Clark said the state government preferred to fund increases to legal aid from the budget.
He said the state was providing record levels of funding to legal aid, including more than $26 million in the most recent state budget and more than $400 million for legal assistance over the next four years.
Mr Davies said that unrepresented litigants put pressure on all people who worked within the court system.
"We don't want to see our [police] prosecutors work any harder than they already are [or] our informants spending weeks trying to deal with a matter before a magistrates court where they are juggling witnesses and trying to inevitably look after an accused person as well, which is what will happen," he said.
Mr Davies said that there were thousands of inexperienced law graduates who were representing alleged offenders in court.
"They are not the sort of people that should be representing Australian citizens. This is Australia after all and everyone who is charged by police should be able to access competent legal representation. That should not be solely within the province of the wealthy."
Last week Victorian Chief Justice Marilyn Warren said the right to a fair trial could be threatened if legal aid's resources were stretched any further.
A Victoria Legal Aid spokesman said the organisation would have more information "about how we are managing our financial situation later today".