High rate of family violence yet service faces cut over funding shortfall

The legal program at the Sexual Assault & Family Violence Centre, locally known as Emma House, is calling on federal MPs to commit to urgent ongoing funding.

The local campaign follows a national push by Community Legal Centres (CLCs) to address an issue of indexation not keeping pace with real wage growth.

There's currently a two to three-week wait for support at the Warrnambool-based legal service, however priority is given to urgent cases.

The program provides advice, assistance and representation for family violence-related legal issues, as well as crisis, short-term and long-term support for women and children.

Duty lawyers assist clients with intervention order matters at Portland, Hamilton and Warrnambool magistrates' courts each week.

There have been 759 services provided to 283 clients in the current financial year, with the centre recording a 290 per cent increase in ongoing legal representation from the year before.

New staff have been employed to match the increased demand with the team growing to nine, including a principal solicitor, senior lawyers, lawyers and a paralegal, supported by two corporate roles.

Funding has also been received through The Women's Legal Service for a graduate lawyer to join the team in coming months.

But CLCs have only had their federal government funding increased by 1.5 per cent year-on-year, despite wages increasing by up to 5.75 per cent each year, creating a significant, cumulative shortfall.

Emma House principal solicitor Amy Lane said the service had accrued funding from previous years when there was difficulty employing lawyers, which was used to recruit a team of staff to meet the increasing demand.

But the money will not last forever, she said.

"We have seen a significant increase in people seeking support over the past few months with demand for services more than doubling," Ms Lane said.

"With a full team, we are fortunate to support so many people in our community with legal services, however without ongoing funding from June 2025, we will have to re-evaluate our services."

Ms Lane said the program was the only CLC in the region - the closest being in Geelong and Ballarat, at least two hours away.

"We need a commitment from the government that women and children in the region impacted by family violence have access to legal representation and the support that they need, in their local community," she said.

"Our team works incredibly hard, with challenging and, at times, distressing work.

"Ongoing adequate funding that acknowledges the specialised work that we do is pivotal to stability and a continuation of services to make sure that community needs are met."

Ms Lane said with the current Commonwealth Government's National Legal Assistance Partnership (NLAP) funding due to expire on June 30, 2025, Emma House needed a long-term funding commitment.

She called on the federal government to commit to the following "unmet needs":

Ms Lane said the government had a duty to ensure those in the community who were navigating often complex legal matters had equal access to justice and support.

In Warrnambool, the incident rate of family violence is well above that of Victoria.

Police data shows reported incidents in the city jumped 18.5 per cent in the past 12 months - equating to more than two family violence acts committed every day.

A spokesperson for the Attorney-General said an independent review of the NLAP was now being considered by federal, state and territory attorneys-general.

"The Albanese Government recognises the pressures Community Legal Centres are under, and the importance of strengthening the legal assistance sector. Legal assistance is essential to ensuring access to justice and equality before the law," they said.

The NLAP review is expected to be made publicly available within three months of the government receiving it.

Information on the status of the review, including its terms of reference and issues paper, can be found at nlapreview.com.au.