The $50,000 cut could see the centre’s legal team shrink from four lawyers to three, or a cut for “most staff”, CHCC co-ordinator Lisa Buckland said.

The 30 per cent funding cut has been mooted for community legal centres across the country.

For CHCC the cut would mean three-quarters of the centre’s caseload, including children’s matters, property and divorce, would be underfunded, Ms Buckland said.

A quarter of cases – over 500 a year – are related to family violence, which is funded by the state government. 

“Even if you take the family violence out it still has an effect on families,” Ms Buckland said.

“You just don’t want to tell someone you can’t see a lawyer or month when your spouse hasn’t returned your children after the weekend.

“The longer it draws out is when your family violence comes into play. A lot of family violence starts out of arguments over children and property.”

Community legal centres offer free legal assistance for people who do not qualify for Legal Aid. 

Each of the centre’s lawyers sees about 20 clients a week. There are also two family violence court days a week.

Ms Buckland said the government still hadn’t made it clear whether the cuts were still going ahead.

Ballarat MP Catherine King lashed Attorney-General George Brandis for being “incompetent” and called on the government to reverse the cuts. 

Mr Brandis said the funding cut was the fault of his predecessor, Mark Dreyfus, who had allocated funding to expire on June 30, 2017. He said the government “supported the important work of the legal assistance sector” and that funding to CHCC had increased by 50 per cent since 2010.