Corporate governance is the system by which our organisation is managed, directed and held accountable.
Sound corporate governance means:
-
achieving our strategic objectives
-
being accountable for our decisions and actions
-
fulfilling legal requirements
-
complying with privacy obligations ensuring the Legal Aid Queensland Act’s requirements and philosophy are met
- managing risks
- monitoring, reporting on and evaluating our performance
- meeting government and community expectations.
Our corporate governance structure provides leadership in achieving our strategic and operational objectives (see Figure 1 for more information).
Figure 1. Corporate governance structure
-
Queensland Government
- Item 2 is on same level
- Item 3 reports to this item
-
Australian Government
-
Attorney General
- item 4 reports to this item
-
Legal Aid Queensland Board
- Items 5, 6, 7 and 8 report to this item
-
First Nations Advisory Committee
-
Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
-
Chief Executive Officer
- Item 9 reports to this item
-
Accommodation Committee
-
Executive Managememnt Team
- Items 10, 11, 12 and 13 report to this item
-
Work, Health and Safety Committee
-
Finance Committee
-
People, Culture and Capability Committee
-
Information Communication and Technology Steering Committee
Legal Aid Queensland Board
The Legal Aid Queensland Board (the board) is responsible for governing Legal Aid Queensland and ensuring the organisation achieves its objectives. The board is our organisation’s governing body and is responsible to the Attorney-General.
The board decides the organisation’s priorities and strategies, leads policy direction and ensures sound and prudent financial management.
The board usually has five members. Each member has specific knowledge or experience that helps in the organisation’s management. The areas of expertise include public administration, financial management, and law and legal services provision. The board is headed by a chairperson, who is appointed by the Governor in Council. Board members are appointed by the Governor in Council usually for three-year terms (see Table 1 for more information). The chief executive officer (CEO), senior directors and chief finance officer (CFO) are invited to attend all board meetings. Executive Management Team directors also attend as needed to present papers and discuss issues with the board.
Board members
Margaret McMurdo AC
Board chairperson since May 2017
Margaret McMurdo was appointed President, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland from 1998 until 2017 and was Acting Chief Justice of Queensland in 2015.
Margaret graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland in 1976. She began her legal career as a student volunteer in 1974 with the newly formed Aboriginal Legal Service.
In 1976, she became the first female paralegal in the Public Defender’s Office. She was admitted as a barrister in December 1976 and was an Assistant Public Defender from 1977 to 1989.
She practised at the Bar from 1989 until 1991 when she was appointed to the District Court of Queensland. In 1993, she also held a commission as a Childrens Court judge.
Margaret was appointed a Companion of the Order of Australia in 2007 for services to the law and judicial administration, particularly in legal education and women’s issues. She has been awarded a number of honorary doctorates and is a founding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a member of the American Law Institute. She is patron of Caxton Legal Service and LawRight’s Civil Justice Fund. In 2017, Margaret was appointed chair of the Board of Governors of Queensland Community Foundation, the state’s largest public perpetual charitable trust. Margaret chaired the Victorian Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informants from 2018 to 2020. From March 2021 until June 2022, she was chair of Queensland’s Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce. Margaret is currently chairing the Inspector-General of the Australian Defence Force Inquiry into the death of four aircrew in the MRH-90 helicopter crash off Lindemann Island in July 2023.
Sandra Deane
Board member since September 2014
Sandra Deane is an experienced board member and tribunal member with extensive private and public sector experience. She brings experience from senior positions (including as CEO) in the corporate (publicly listed, large private and government-owned corporations) and professional (legal) sectors. Sandra was admitted as a solicitor in 1988 and has more than 25 years’ experience in legal practice in corporate and private practice and tribunal roles. She also has more than 15 years’ experience in the energy sector. She brings professional expertise in contract management and negotiation, dispute resolution and compliance. She is currently an external Audit and Compliance Committee Member of the Local Government Association of Queensland Limited and is a part-time member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.
Spencer Browne
Board member since September 2021
Cairns-based lawyer Spencer Browne has a wealth of experience in private practice and the not-for-profit sector.
Spencer graduated from James Cook University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws and obtained his Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University in 2010. He was an associate to two District Court judges, before practising in planning and environmental law and commercial litigation. He is the North Queensland Law Association’s longest-serving president and currently sits as the organisation’s treasurer.
Spencer has a keen interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and has spent the past 10 years doing legislative compliance work in the Aboriginal Community Controlled Health Organisation sector. He has organised a major youth-based event in north Queensland for the past 10 years, focusing on reducing youth crime and recidivism.
Avelina Tarrago
Board member since May 2023
Avelina Tarrago was admitted as a legal practitioner in the Supreme Court of Queensland in 2009 before being called to the bar in 2017. She has a general practice with a focus on inquests and Commissions of Inquiry, regulatory and administrative law. Avelina has held senior roles in a range of organisations including senior legal officer for the Office of the Health Ombudsman (Queensland) and counsel assisting in the Coroners Court of Queensland. She has been a federal prosecutor with the Commonwealth Director of Public Prosecutions and has also worked for the Australian Securities and Investment Commission. She also sits as a legal member of the Mental Health Review Tribunal. Avelina was the president of the Indigenous Lawyers Association of Queensland from 2018–22, and in 2014, she was selected as an Indigenous Fellow by the Office of the High Commissioner of Human Rights to undertake a two-month fellowship in Geneva.
Mike Anstee
Board member since May 2023
Mike Anstee is an experienced procurement and project manager, with more than 25 years’ experience in leadership roles in the construction industry and Queensland public service. A qualified architect, Mike has held senior positions in the Department of Public Works, including Director, Health, Law and Order Portfolio, where he was involved with designing and constructing major projects including correctional facilities at Gatton, Townsville, Lotus Glen and Brisbane, and the development of the new Brisbane higher courts complex and Ipswich courthouse. He was a member of steering committees directing the development of major capital works projects in Queensland, including the Gold Coast University Hospital, Sunshine Coast University Hospital and Royal Children’s Hospital.
Accommodation Committee
The Accommodation Committee is a sub-committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in an advisory capacity to the board. The committee assesses the long- term accommodation needs and options for our offices around the state.
The committee’s primary functions include:
-
assessing and making recommendations to the Legal Aid Queensland Board about the continued ownership of 44 Herschel Street Brisbane and/or future refurbishments
-
assessing sale, purchase and/or leasing options for our central business district occupancy needs
-
engaging with relevant stakeholders about accommodation options available to Legal Aid Queensland
-
providing advice and assessing the valuation impacts potential to Legal Aid Queensland moving forward
-
considering significant issues relating to regional office accommodation (eg major refurbishments or relocations).
The committee comprises:
-
Legal Aid Queensland Board member Mike Anstee (chairperson).
The meeting is also attended by:
-
CEO Nicky Davies
-
Business Support senior director Ian Warren
-
Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
-
CFO Grant Tanham-Kelly
-
Facilities and procurement manager Jeffrey Patterson
-
other stakeholders and staff members to provide specialist advice as needed.
Mike Anstee received remuneration for his attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration he received for attending board meetings.
Legal Aid Queensland Board
Table 1. Legal Aid Queensland Board information 2023–24
|
Act or instrument
|
Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997
|
|
Functions
|
Responsible for governing Legal Aid Queensland and ensuring the organisation achieves its objectives. The board decides the organisation’s priorities and strategies, leads policy direction and ensures sound and prudent financial management.
|
|
Achievements
|
Key achievements included:
|
|
Financial reporting
|
Not exempted from Audit by the Auditor-General and transactions of the entity are accounted for in the financial statements.
|
Remuneration
|
|
Position
|
Name
|
Meetings/sessions a attendance
|
Approved annual, sessional or daily fee $
|
Approved sub-committee fees if applicable $
|
Actual fees received $
|
|
Board Chairperson
|
Margaret McMurdo AC
|
20
(11 board meetings,
5 accommodation committee meetings and 4 sub-committee meetings)
|
8063
|
1790
|
8950
|
|
Board member, Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee chairman
|
Sandra Deane
|
14
(10 board meetings and 4 audit, risk & compliance committee meetings)
|
6257
|
2300
|
9498
|
|
Board member, First Nation Committee chairperson
|
Avelina Tarrago
|
14
(9 board meetings
and 5 sub- committee meetings
|
6257
|
2300
|
10 987
|
|
Board member, Accommodation Committee chairperson
|
Michael Anstee
|
18
(11 board meetings
and 7 accommodation committee meetings)
|
6257
|
2300
|
10 987
|
|
Board member, Audit, Risk & Compliance Committee member
|
Spencer Browne
|
15
(9 board meetings, 4 audit, risk & compliance committee meetings and 2 sub-committee meetings)
|
6257
|
1790
|
9736
|
|
No. scheduled meetings/sessions
|
29(12 board meetings, including 1 special board meeting and 17 sub-committee meetings)
|
|
Total out of pocket expenses
|
$11 012.46
|
Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee
The Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee is a sub- committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in a review and advisory capacity to the board. The committee provides independent assurance and assistance to the board on our financial administration and reporting, audit control and independence, legal compliance, internal controls, and risk oversight and management.
The committee’s key achievements in 2023–24 included:
-
continuing to review the charter annually to ensure ongoing effectiveness of the committee’s authority, objectives and responsibilities
-
continuing to advise on better practice governance trends
-
reviewing the 2022–23 end of financial year statements before signing by the board chairperson and CFO
-
reviewing the external auditor’s recommendations from the 2022–23 audit and 2023–24 interim audit
-
reviewing the organisation’s strategic risks register and overseeing the register’s maintenance
-
reviewing the compliance assurance tools and endorsing the ongoing bi-annual compliance reporting program.
The committee comprises:
-
Legal Aid Queensland Board member Sandra Deane (chairperson)
-
Legal Aid Queensland Board member Spencer Browne
-
a Queensland Treasury representative
-
a Department of Justice and Attorney-General Financial Services representative
-
Jeanette Shanahan, external committee member, independent financial management, regulatory compliance and audit practices specialist.
Sandra Deane and Spencer Browne received remuneration for their attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration they received for attending board meetings. Queensland Treasury and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General representatives are public servants and did not receive remuneration for attending meetings. External committee member Jeanette Shanahan received $2220 (including superannuation) remuneration in 2023–24.
The meeting is also attended by:
-
CEO Nicky Davies
-
Business Support senior director Ian Warren
-
CFO Grant Tanham-Kelly
-
Chief governance officer (CGO) Stephen Shirvington
-
other stakeholders and staff members to provide specialist advice as needed.
First Nations Advisory Committee
The First Nations Advisory Committee is a sub-committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in an advisory capacity to the board. The committee works to improve services for First Nations clients and contribute towards reducing the over-representation and disadvantage of First Nations peoples in the justice system. It also guides the ongoing development of the organisation’s cultural capability and a strong First Nations workforce.
The committee’s responsibilities include:
-
monitoring the First Nations Strategic Plan 2023–25
-
reporting to the board about the progress of activities under the First Nations Action Plan 2023–24
-
providing advice to the board about issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander strategies and policies.
The committee comprises:
-
Legal Aid Queensland Board member Avelina Tarrago (chairperson)
-
representatives from two external organisations that provide general help to First Nations people
-
an Indigenous Lawyers Association of Queensland representative
-
two First Nations employee representatives—one lawyer and one administrative officer
-
Legal Aid Queensland CEO Nicky Davies (ex officio capacity)
-
Legal Aid Queensland Board chair Margaret McMurdo AC (ex officio capacity).
Other stakeholders and staff members attend meetings to provide specialist advice on matters as needed.
Avelina Tarrago and Margaret McMurdo AC are board members appointed to the committee and Avelina received remuneration for her attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration she received for attending board meetings. External committee member Wyatt Cook-Revell received $1987 (including superannuation) remuneration in 2023–24. Legal Aid Queensland employee representatives do not receive remuneration.
Executive Management Team
Under the Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997, the CEO has responsibility, under the board, for managing Legal Aid Queensland’s day-to-day administration, providing legal services to legally assisted people, and arranging and supervising the legal services provided by Legal Aid Queensland lawyers.
The CEO is supported in this role by the Executive Management Team. The team’s functions are:
The team meets monthly and comprises:
The meeting is also attended by:
-
CGO Stephen Shirvington
-
Chief people officer (CPO) Kelly Camden
-
First Nations strategic policy and planning manager Margaret Hornagold.
Finance Committee
The Finance Committee monitors and reviews our financial, budget and performance processes.
The committee’s responsibilities include:
-
overseeing the annual budget preparation and recommending its endorsement by the CEO and approval by the board
-
ensuring our budget is framed to maximise achieving objectives outlined in our strategic plan and government priorities
-
ensuring the budget is effectively managed so we achieve budget targets and comply with government requirements
-
monitoring and reporting on our financial performance and position, identifying key financial performance drivers and establishing measures for determining success
-
monitoring compliance with external financial reporting requirements.
The committee comprises:
The meeting is also attended by:
-
Grants systems and process development director Louise Martin
-
Information and Advice Services director Katrina Smith
-
CPO Kelly Camden
-
Chief information officer (CIO) Paul Ninnes
-
Financial Services manager Miriam Lee.
Information Communication and Technology Steering Committee
The Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Steering Committee ensures information technology (IT), and communication operations, investments and initiatives are aligned with Legal Aid Queensland’s strategic objective of building on our business capability, sustainability and workplace culture.
The committee’s responsibilities include:
The committee comprises:
-
CEO Nicky Davies (chairperson)
-
Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
-
Business Support senior director Ian Warren
-
Acting Grants director Amber Buckland
-
Information and Advice Services director Katrina Smith
-
CIO Paul Ninnes
-
Records and Information manager Michael Johnston
-
a Department of Justice and Attorney- General representative.
The meeting is also attended by:
-
CFO Grant Tanham-Kelly
-
CPO Kelly Camden
-
Communication and Community Legal Education manager Miranda Greer
-
Technical operations manager Darren Ehrlich
-
Business engagement manager Rae Fletcher
-
Facilities and procurement manager Jeffrey Patterson
-
CGO Stephen Shirvington.
People, Culture and Capability Committee
The People, Culture and Capability (PCC) Committee helps determine Legal Aid Queensland’s approach to support the strategic objective of building on our business capability, sustainability and workforce culture. The committee considers organisational issues relating to resourcing, performance, structure, culture and skills development, and aims to meet organisational needs while engaging employees.
The committee’s responsibilities include:
The committee comprises:
-
CEO Nicky Davies (chairperson)
-
Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
-
Business Support senior director Ian Warren
-
Criminal Law Services director Kerry Bichel
-
Acting Grants director Amber Buckland
-
Information and Advice Services director Katrina Smith
-
Family Law and Civil Justice Services director Toni Bell
-
Acting Public Defender Jakub Lodziak
-
CPO Kelly Camden
-
First Nations strategic policy and planning manager Margaret Hornagold.
Work, Health and Safety Committee
The Work, Health and Safety Committee provides a consultative forum (with particular reference to the requirements of the Work, Health and Safety Act 2011) that provides direction on managing risk arising from health and safety matters as well as recommends proactive initiatives to promote health and safety in Legal Aid Queensland.
The committee’s responsibilities include:
-
enabling consultation and cooperation between employer and employees on health and safety matters
-
helping to develop, monitor and review health and safety policies and procedures
-
consulting on proposals for, or changes to, the workplace, policies, work practices or procedures, which may impact the health and safety of employees
-
identifying opportunities for training and educating employees on health and safety policies, procedures and initiatives
-
promoting health, safety and wellbeing across Legal Aid Queensland through staff consultation processes
-
monitoring and advising on the organisation’s health and safety performance
-
reviewing and advising on complex workplace incidents and hazards that have been referred to the committee for consultation on risk mitigation strategies
-
helping to identify workplace hazards and developing risk mitigation controls for those hazards.
The committee comprises:
-
Principal consultant (Work Health and Safety) Dallas Miller (chairperson)
-
Business Support senior director Ian Warren
(management representative)
-
Senior family lawyer Darren Lewis
(southern regional offices representative)
-
Criminal lawyer Craig Ryan
(northern regional offices representative)
-
Principal lawyer Jason Czinki
(Basement/Ground – 44 Herschel St Brisbane)
-
Litigation support officer Christopher Pell
(420 George St Brisbane)
-
Conference organiser Kayla Hatchman
(193 North Quay)
-
Procurement and contracts officer Kaitlyn Stanton
-
Principal procurement and facilities officer Delina Smail
-
Protective Services representative
-
Senior consultant (payroll and recruitment)
Emma Rava (Brisbane representative).
External scrutiny
We are subject to all of the external accountability mechanisms that apply to a statutory body in Queensland, including regular budget and performance updates with Queensland Treasury and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.
Accountability mechanisms that complement the internal corporate governance framework include:
-
external audit and certification
-
judicial review of administrative decisions
-
the Queensland Ombudsman
-
the Crime and Corruption Commission
-
Parliamentary Estimates Committee Hearings
-
the Community Safety and Legal Affairs Committee
-
the Legal Services Commission
-
public performance reporting, for example, through this annual report and the annual Service Delivery Statement.
Human Rights Act
The Human Rights Act 2019’s main objects are to:
-
protect and promote human rights
-
help build a culture in the Queensland public sector that respects and promotes human rights
-
help promote a dialogue about the nature, meaning and scope of human rights.
Legal Aid Queensland is committed to human rights principles. To fulfil this commitment, and further the objects of and ensure compliance with the Act, we have adopted the following measures:
-
implementing a Human Rights Policy
-
reviewing policies for compliance, including our case management and client service standards
-
updating internal procedures to improve alignment with the Act’s principles and requirements
-
implementing staff awareness measures and compulsory staff training.
Our complaints management system and processes ensure we can capture and effectively address any human rights complaints received. We received six human rights complaints in 2023–24.
Community legal education
CLE is an integral service offered by Legal Aid Queensland. Our CLE activities are coordinated through a strategy that responds to priority client groups and legal problems and aims to:
-
improve community understanding of the law
-
reduce litigation and costs to the justice system
-
help community members to understand their legal rights and responsibilities and how to access legal help if they need it
-
help key stakeholders to understand our services and how to access them.
Our CLE Strategy’s focus on prevention, early intervention and collaborative service planning aligns with the NLAP’s priorities and is delivered through:
-
CLE activities and engagement with priority groups including Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities
-
legal information sessions for community members and frontline workers supporting people involved in the justice system
-
webinars for community lawyers, financial counsellors and community, health and education workers
-
collaborative projects and co-designed resources that focus on increasing awareness of the law and our services with priority community groups
-
connecting with existing networks and establishing new networks through strong relationships
-
participation in community events across Queensland such as Homeless Connect and NAIDOC Week events
-
web-based legal information and digital resources
-
online and printed materials including factsheets and legal information guides.
During the year, we:
-
worked with First Nations service providers and networks to improve access to our general and specialist services, like consumer protection and child protection, and to create CLE opportunities through relationship building
-
produced two Blurred Borders Queensland tool kits focusing on domestic and family violence and bail and criminal process (including youth justice); the tool kits are a set of resources to help lawyers and frontline support workers talk about the law with clients and community members so they better understand their legal rights and obligations and participate in their legal process; each kit contains story cards, process maps, wallet cards and stickers to help the user break down complex legal concepts, and a user manual; we distributed 250 tool kits to stakeholders and delivered 21 training sessions to more than 400 people in Brisbane, Southport, Mackay, Mount Isa, Cairns, Townsville, Rockhampton, Maroochydore, Bundaberg, Ipswich and Woodridge
-
participated in community engagement meetings with interagency networks, individual services and service delivery hubs and co-located services in regional areas to provide information about our services and delivering CLE
- reviewed and updated our legal information publications including our Family Advocacy Support Services brochure
produced new legal information publications including our Answering your questions about child support and proving paternity factsheet and Disaster legal help – tips to help you before, during and after a disaster brochure
- distributed the ‘CLE update’ enewsletter to our CLE program subscribers sharing news about upcoming webinars, new Legal Aid Queensland services, upcoming community events we will be attending, highlighting new CLE resources developed by Legal Aid Queensland and other organisations, CLE project updates and
other initiatives
- contributed specialist legal information to the Financial Counselling Australia newsletter
- increased our social media presence and reach across the legal assistance sector to promote our resources and key legal information
- produced and promoted animated videos in response to specific legal needs like the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund (Youpla) funeral fund collapse, financial hardship, and the Blurred Borders Queensland tool kits and training sessions
- participated in community events across Queensland, including Homeless Connect, NAIDOC Week events, disaster recovery forums and disaster preparedness expos, a disability awareness expo, Child Protection Week community expos, and various community events for domestic and family violence survivors, First Nations people, people with mental illness, seniors, young people in care and the general community
- coordinated our CLE webinar program for community lawyers, financial counsellors and community, health and education workers; we planned and delivered 10 webinars and published the webinar video recordings on topics like the Blurred Borders Queensland tool kits, engaging with young people to change their attitudes and behaviours towards violence against women, the Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court and Court Link, cost of living pressures and people’s legal rights, disaster legal help, supporting people appearing before the Mental Health Court or the Mental Health Review Tribunal, an overview of Legal Aid Queensland’s child protection service, key agencies in the child protection system, and applying for a grant of aid and navigating our application process; our CLE webinars are Auslan interpreted to meet accessibility requirements
- delivered 216 CLE activities to 9033 people and produced 44 resources in response to community group and agency requests and identified need; topics included Legal Aid’s domestic and family violence referral pathways for legal advice, Counselling Notes Protect, Love Bites healthy relationships program, the Blurred Borders Queensland training sessions, disaster insurance and other legal issues, debt recovery, child protection, National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS) trends and systemic issues, and accessing Legal Aid Queensland’s services
- coordinated and administered the CLE Collaboration Fund’s 14th round to resource collaborative initiatives and partnerships to extend the reach of our CLE work. The fund allows us to resource community legal centres (CLCs), the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS) and regional legal assistance forums (RLAFs) and specialist legal assistance forums to educate priority communities across Queensland. One hundred projects have been funded to date including four projects in 2023–24. The four funded projects will develop and deliver:
-
an interactive website and a tool kit of videos, templates and instructions to help people with negative Blue Card notices who are engaged in or about to start a QCAT proceeding
-
a Child Protection Kit for Parents: A Self-Help Guide—an illustrated, culturally appropriate and accessible guide for parents involved in child protection matters
-
tailored, culturally appropriate CLE sessions and resources for First Nations people in Logan, Beaudesert, Scenic Rim and surrounding areas in collaboration with local Elders and other First Nations community groups
-
a Demystifying discrimination resource pack—a suite of client focused videos, factsheets and other resources to help in navigating the often-complex legislative framework around discrimination.
Discrete assistance
Information and referral
Legal Aid Queensland provides comprehensive statewide free legal information and referral services to disadvantaged Queenslanders. Our legal information and referral services can be accessed online via the Legal Aid Queensland website (legalaid.qld.gov.au), by phone through our client contact centre or in person at one of our 14 offices throughout metropolitan and regional Queensland.
Website
To support Queenslanders with their legal issues, we provide legal information, resources and information about our
services across three websites:
-
Legal Aid Queensland website
-
Legal information covering family, criminal and civil law written in plain language making it easy to use and understand.
-
A ‘For Lawyers’ section that includes updates, key policies and procedures for our preferred supplier law firms.
-
During the year, people visited the website 1,519,550 times with 3,646,920 pages being viewed.
-
Your Story Disability Legal Support website
-
Provides information and resources to empower people with disability to safely share their story with the Disability Royal Commission and connect with local support services.
-
During the year, people visited the website 6993 times.
-
Defence and Veterans Legal Service website
-
Provides information and resources to support people engaging with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
-
During the year, people visited the website 12,164 times.
We are committed to working towards digital accessibility for all Queenslanders by continually improving the user experience and applying the relevant accessibility standards.
Client contact centre
Our client contact centre is based in Brisbane and operates Monday to Friday during business hours.
The client contact centre answered 125,449 calls in 2023–24 and provided 70,944 legal information and referral services to clients
The team also provided 1686 legal information and referral services via email.
We continued to give prisoners in correctional centres priority access to our client contact centre to reduce their waiting time. Prisoners are considered highly vulnerable clients as they have extremely limited access to legal services and support and are at a high risk of social exclusion and financial disadvantage.
In 2023–24, we continued to participate in the Queensland Police Service Police Referrals Service. The service helps people who come into contact with police and other community organisations to obtain support for legal issues.
Client Assistance Service
During the year, our Client Assistance Service continued to help some of our particularly vulnerable clients by providing a holistic service. The service is targeted to clients with multiple legal issues, or those who need help to access Legal Aid Queensland services. The Client Assistance Service triages the client’s legal problems and provides the holistic support they need to ensure they can access timely and appropriate legal services. This year, the service supported 166 clients.
Your Story Disability Legal Support
In late 2019, National Legal Aid established Your Story Disability Legal Support to provide legal advice and assistance to people wanting to share their experiences with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. Your Story was the first National Legal Aid inclusive, person-centered and trauma informed legal service and Legal Aid Queensland proudly hosted the national information line. After almost five years of assisting people with disability, their families, friends and supporters, the Your Story service ended on 30 June 2024. The work of the royal commission and Your Story has highlighted the multitude of legal, structural, physical and societal barriers that impede people with disability’s access to a fair justice system and having their rights protected. People with disability face higher rates of domestic and family violence, abuse, neglect and discrimination. They are overrepresented in the child protection system and at all levels of the criminal justice system. Since it began, the service has provided:
-
1127 information and referral services via email and web chat and answered 12,713 calls
-
5451 legal advices, including 2159 advices to people in closed environments such as prisons, youth detention, mental health facilities, immigration and group homes
-
2293 instances of legal task assistance.
Defence and Veterans Legal Service
The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established in July 2021 and began hearings in December 2021. The Defence and Veterans Legal Service is a free and independent national legal service that was set up to support people who want to engage with the Royal Commission.
Legal Aid Queensland hosts the national information line and provides information and advice services to serving defence members, veterans and their families, carers and supporters to safely share their experiences with the Royal Commission.
Legal advice and legal task services
Financially disadvantaged Queenslanders can access our free legal advice and legal task services by telephone, including through the National Relay Service, by videoconference or face-to-face at Legal Aid Queensland offices and at designated outreach services.
Figure 7. Legal advice and legal tasks services 2023–24
Legal advice and legal tasks services 2023-24
- Criminal law 14,960
- Family lay 11,075
- Civil law 9,599
We provide free legal advice to eligible clients in:
Criminal law
-
Criminal charges in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts
-
Youth justice
-
Traffic matters
-
Mental health law
Family law
-
Parenting issues (eg arrangements about children)
-
Relationship issues (eg divorce, property settlement)
-
Domestic and family violence
-
Child support and maintenance
-
Child protection
-
Family dispute resolution
Civil law
-
Anti-discrimination and human rights
-
Farm and rural debt issues
-
Social security appeals
-
Peace and good behaviour
-
Victim Assist
-
Motor vehicle property damage
-
Consumer and debt disputes
-
Employment
-
Disasters
-
NDIS.
In 2023–24, we provided legal advice and legal task services to 35,634 people.
The legal advice service is primarily delivered by our Brisbane-based First Advice Contact Team (FACT), specialist legal teams and regional offices.
First Advice Contact Team (FACT)
FACT provides face-to-face advice to eligible clients at our Brisbane office and remote legal advice via a statewide telephone service, and via videoconference where needed. Our highly skilled lawyers provide advice across a range of legal issues each weekday, and respond to clients in custody or those needing urgent family law advice. FACT also provides legal task services for people who might need help with preparing letters and other documents following initial legal advice.
Prison Advice Service
Our Prison Advice Service primarily uses videoconferencing to provide legal advice services to people in Queensland’s prisons. Videoconferencing reduces travel time and provides cost savings. The Prison Advice Service and some regional advice lawyers also provide face-to-face advice services at designated prisons.
In 2023–24, the Prison Advice Service provided 1963 advice services to Queensland prisoners.
Refugee and Immigration Legal Service advice referrals
We continue to work with the Brisbane-based Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (RAILS) to provide a warm referral pathway for clients who have family law, domestic and family violence, or child protection issues. The lawyers provide advice through these referrals pathways and help clients apply for legal aid (if appropriate).
Consumer advice clinic
During 2023–24, we continued to provide telephone consumer advice clinics five days a week. We provided advice about:
-
mortgage stress and housing repossession
-
debt and debt collection practices
-
credit cards and personal loans
-
car loans
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small amount (payday) loans and consumer leases
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telephone and other utilities contracts
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insurance including home and contents, car insurance and funeral insurance
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Australian consumer law including faulty cars, unsolicited consumer agreements and training colleges and courses
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bankruptcy and part IX agreements.
Anti-discrimination and Human Rights advice clinic
During the year, we provided specialist advice clinics about state and federal anti-discrimination laws and state human rights protections two days a week. We also helped clients apply for legal aid if needed.
We operate a specialist advice clinic one afternoon a week through an arrangement with the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC). The clinic is available to clients whose complaints have been accepted by the commission. Clients receive advice via telephone about their complaint, the complaint process, the conciliation process and how to proceed to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). During these clinics, we also provide task assistance to clients to help facilitate their access to justice.
Employment law advice clinic
We deliver specialist legal advice and task assistance to federal system employees about federal employment law matters under the Fair Work Act 2009, including unfair dismissal, general protections, bullying, discrimination, sexual harassment, disciplinary processes and flexibility arrangements. We also help clients apply for legal aid if needed. We provide telephone advice clinics five days a week.
During the year, we started a specialist sexual harassment advice clinic. The clinic provides holistic, trauma-informed legal advice and task assistance to clients who have experienced sexual harassment and/or discrimination in the workplace.
We provide a specialist advice clinic through an arrangement with the Fair Work Commission’s (FWC) Workplace Advice Service. The clinic is available to clients who have contacted the commission about employment law issues and complaints. We provide clients with advice via telephone about their legal issues, how to apply to the FWC, the conciliation process and how to proceed with their matter if it does not resolve at conciliation. We also provide task assistance to clients to help facilitate their access to justice.
Social security appeals advice clinic
We deliver specialist legal advice and task assistance that focusses on providing advice to clients about how to deal with Centrelink decisions, including advice about overpayments. We provide an in-house clinic two days a week for clients who have not lodged an appeal before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), including those who need help to lodge an appeal with the AAT. This allows clients to achieve an early resolution rather than having to wait until their appeal reaches the AAT. The clinic also supports clients whose appeal was unsuccessful and who are unsure how to progress their matter.
We also provided specialist advice clinics through an arrangement with the AAT. During 2023–24, we provided telephone advice clinics through the AAT’s Social Services and Child Support Division and General Division four days a week. For clients who are representing themselves through the Social Services and Child Support Division, our clinics provide advice and task assistance, and many appeals are resolved at this level. We provide advice and task assistance to clients whose appeals have progressed to the General Division. We also help clients apply for legal aid if needed.
NDIS advice clinic
We deliver specialist legal advice and task assistance that focusses on providing advice to clients about how to deal with reviewable decisions made by the National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA). Our in-house NDIS clinic operates two days a week and provides advice on legal issues including access to the NDIS, reasonable and necessary supports, reimbursements, how to apply for an internal review to the NDIA and how to lodge an external review application with the AAT.
We also operate a specialist advice clinic through an arrangement with the AAT. This clinic operates two days a week to help clients who have lodged external review applications with the AAT. At these clinics we give specialist NDIS advice to participants in the NDIS, prospective participants, and nominees in relation to their appointments and, if appropriate, help them apply for legal aid.
Legal Advice Referral Pathways Program
We continued to deliver our Legal Advice Referral Pathways Program, which helps vulnerable clients, particularly women who have experienced domestic and family violence, to receive priority legal advice. The program operates in 10 locations around the state—Brisbane, Caboolture, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Woodridge, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Mackay and Townsville.
Domestic and family violence advice
During the year, we delivered specialist domestic and family violence advice services five days a week to help those affected by domestic and family violence and those who are responding to an application for a domestic and family violence order.
The Application Assistance Program helps people applying for domestic and family violence protection orders in the Brisbane Magistrates Court by:
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helping victim/survivors prepare and lodge applications for domestic and family violence protection orders
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providing support for victim/survivors in court
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helping victim/survivors with risk assessments and safety planning
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referring people to legal and support services.
The Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service provides free and confidential help to all victim/survivors who attend the Brisbane Magistrates Court for domestic and family violence matters. The service is available to anyone applying for, or responding to, a domestic and family violence protection order, and helps them:
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access the court’s safety facilities
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understand what protection orders are, including their conditions and what to do if an order is breached
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understand the court process, including support and information
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talk to the police prosecutor and court staff
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make a safety plan
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access relevant legal and community services for crisis counselling and emotional support
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complete applications for legal aid.
Child Protection Early Legal Service
The Child Protection Early Legal Service focuses on providing legal advice and advocacy for vulnerable parents early in child protection interventions. Lawyers work collaboratively with community-based support agencies to make sure the program reaches vulnerable parents involved, or at risk of becoming involved, with the child protection system. We have continued to develop our referral pathway partnership with the Office of the Public Guardian to expand and strengthen services provided to clients who are particularly vulnerable due to mental health and/or intellectual disability issues. We have also established partnerships with various community support agencies in the Brisbane region.
We have employed a social worker to help with this work and to prepare social assessment reports for matters involving mental health and/or intellectual disability issues.
Early legal support involves advocating for parents to receive support and guidance to keep their children safe so statutory child protection intervention occurs only as a last resort. This support may involve legal advice and help before the start of court proceedings.
Child Protection Outreach Legal Service
The Child Protection Outreach Legal Service provides legal advice services to clients statewide via a telephone advice clinic. The service also provides regular Child Protection Duty Lawyer Services in Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Kingaroy, Gympie, Beenleigh, Richlands and Cleveland. The service is delivered by Brisbane-based lawyers who regularly travel to regional Queensland.
We have established referral pathway partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the Director of Child Protection Litigation, the Office of the Child and Family Official Solicitor and the Office of the Public Guardian to help clients in regional areas to get legal advice. During the year, we focused on our outreach services in Gympie, Kingaroy and Richlands, including providing in-person advice clinics to ensure our vulnerable regional clients have access to services in line with those available in Brisbane.
Child support advice clinic
We continued to deliver child support advice each week. The clinic provides people with legal advice about reviewing child support decisions, child support agreements, paternity and enforcing outstanding child support payments. Lawyers provide advice to clients on the child support process, their prospects of success and/or evidence, and if appropriate, help them apply for legal aid.
Family law advice clinic
We provided legal advice each week to people experiencing complex family law issues (including parenting and property matters). Lawyers provide advice to clients on their prospects of success and/or evidence, and if appropriate, help them apply for legal aid refer them to the Family Advocacy Support Services.
Youth Legal Advice Hotline
Our Youth Legal Advice Hotline continued to give legal advice and support to young people, and assistance to youth justice stakeholders and Queensland Police. The hotline was established in 2017 to help young people with improved access to early legal advice with the aim of increasing the likelihood of their issues reaching an early resolution and promoting diversionary options for young people suspected by police of having committed an offence. Following the introduction of laws requiring Queensland Police to notify a legal aid organisation that a child is in custody for questioning, the hotline operating hours were expanded in 2019 to provide services on a 24-hour basis from Friday until Sunday afternoon. The hotline now operates Monday to Thursday from 8am to 9pm and from Friday 8am to Sunday 5pm. During the year, staff provided early legal advice and help for 1235 matters.
Drug Diversion Legal Advice Line
We established the Drug Diversion Legal Advice Line in May 2024 to help divert people charged with minor drug offences from the court system. The service operates from 8am to 9pm Monday to Thursday and from 8am on Friday until 5pm on Sunday. When a person calls the advice line, the call is answered by an advice lawyer. Callers outside of operating hours are directed to information on the Legal Aid Queensland website. We can provide confidential advice on eligibility for warnings and drug diversion assessment programs and liaise with police to help with diversionary options.
Duty lawyer services
Criminal Law Duty Lawyer Service
Our Criminal Law Duty Lawyer Service operates in 81 Queensland Magistrates and Childrens Courts and plays a crucial role in our youth and adult justice systems. The service offers free initial legal advice and representation to people charged with criminal and serious traffic offences who are on bail or in custody in Queensland. Duty lawyers represent people on guilty pleas, make bail applications and request remands for clients.
Duty lawyer services are provided by our in-house lawyers, the ATSILS and authorised private lawyers who deliver services under roster or tender arrangements.
We are committed to case conferencing and mediating matters with the prosecution to ensure our clients have their legal issues resolved as soon as possible. This can have significant sentencing benefits for clients and can also result in savings to the criminal justice system by avoiding court time being wasted. It also means witnesses and victims do not have to go through the stress of attending court.
Family Law Duty Lawyer Service
Our Family Law Duty Lawyer Service provides help to self- represented litigants in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia throughout Queensland for family law matters. We provide services in Brisbane, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.
The duty lawyer service provides information, legal advice, referrals and in some cases, representation for clients with matters in court that day. We also help people complete their own forms and documents, negotiate and settle consent orders, and seek adjournments. We help people complete applications for legal aid or access our review process if they have previously been unsuccessful with applications for aid.
Family Advocacy and Support Services
The Family Advocacy and Support Services operate in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia in Brisbane, Townsville, Rockhampton and Cairns, and in circuit locations across Queensland.
This is a federal government funded service focusing on giving more and earlier help to clients impacted by family violence.
The service recognises people coming to the family law courts need more than just legal help—it involves lawyers, social support workers and mental health workers who can work together to address the client’s legal and non-legal needs.
The service provides legal advice and help for unrepresented people on their court date, complementing the Family Law Duty Lawyer Service. Legal help is also provided for clients who are not in court but have a very urgent family law issue, such as seeking recovery, or airport watch list orders for children.
Lawyers give people information and legal advice, negotiate with other parties, prepare simple court documents and represent people in court (in some situations). Support workers and mental health workers can help clients with safety planning and referrals for their social and mental health support needs. The service continues to provide a wrap-around legal and social support service to clients who need urgent help.
During the year, we expanded the service to help people at all Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia registries and circuit locations in Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg and Mackay, and to provide mental health supports to complement legal and social support to clients. We continue to be the primary service provider, and engage external services to provide complementary legal, social and mental health supports in Brisbane and regional areas.
Our Family Law Duty Lawyer Service and Family Advocacy and Support Services also helped clients in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia’s Critical Incident list—a case management list that helps non-parents to secure parental responsibility and parenting orders for family members where there is no parent available to care for the children as a result of the death or incarceration of a parent, including as a result of family violence.
Domestic and Family Violence Duty Lawyer Service
We continued our role as a key partner involved in the Specialist Domestic and Family Violence Courts at Southport, Beenleigh, Townsville, Mount Isa, Palm Island, Brisbane and Cairns. We operate duty lawyer services to support clients and the court. The service gives people access to free legal help before their court appearance.
The service’s clients include those affected by domestic and family violence and those who are responding to an application for a domestic and family violence order. In Southport, the service also provides legal help to defendants charged with breaching domestic and family violence orders and related criminal cases. The duty lawyers provide legal advice, representation and referrals to other legal and support services for people appearing before the specialist courts.
This year, the duty lawyers in the Specialist Domestic and Family Violence Courts helped 17,383 people appearing before the court for civil domestic and family violence matters.
We also operated domestic and family violence duty lawyer services in 23 other court locations around Queensland.
The duty lawyers give free legal information and advice, help clients fill out forms and documents needed for that day in court, discuss the clients’ eligibility for ongoing support from Legal Aid Queensland in the domestic and family violence matter and other related legal problems, and provide referrals to appropriate support services. In some circumstances, the duty lawyer may also appear in court on the client’s behalf for their domestic and family violence matter.
The duty lawyer services are provided in the 30 courts by in- house lawyers and lawyers from preferred supplier law firms and CLCs. Providing legal help and referrals early in the court process helps applicants and respondents to better understand their options and the legal implications of these options. It also helps people to connect with support services early to keep them and their children safe.
Child Protection Duty Lawyer Service
We operated the Child Protection Duty Lawyer Service in Brisbane, Ipswich, Southport, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Caboolture, Pine Rivers, Townsville and Cairns Childrens Courts.
The Child Protection Outreach Legal Service provided duty lawyer services in Mackay, Rockhampton, Gladstone, Kingaroy, Gympie, Beenleigh, Richlands and Cleveland.
The duty lawyers provide free legal help to parents and young people before they appear in court for their child protection matter.
The service is a court-based advice model where lawyers give free legal information and advice, help people fill out forms and documents needed for that day in court and also talk to the clients about their eligibility for ongoing legal representation from Legal Aid Queensland. In some circumstances, the duty lawyer may also appear in court on the client’s behalf for their child protection matter.
The duty lawyer services are delivered by in-house lawyers and lawyers from preferred supplier law firms and CLCs. Lawyers being available to provide advice to people about their child protection issues help the clients to be properly informed before going into court, to feel more confident negotiating the legal process and more accepting of the outcomes.
Facilitated resolution processes
Resolving family law problems through dispute resolution processes
Legal Aid Queensland is a national leader in providing lawyer-assisted family law dispute resolution and arbitration. We operate a statewide lawyer-assisted family dispute resolution program. We aim to resolve family law disputes before matters go to court or before a final hearing if court proceedings have started. The program achieved a good result in 2023–24, with 68.7 percent of matters achieving an early resolution.
We have dispute resolution conference organisers in Brisbane and regional centres around the state to help families. Family law dispute resolution conferences are primarily held by videoconference and telephone—the videoconferencing format was introduced in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic and has become the preferred format for conferences. An important part of our family law dispute resolution program is our property arbitration program, which allows parties to settle property disputes.
Our lawyer-assisted property program aims to help separated couples with property disputes to resolve these in a two-step conference and arbitration process that allows property disclosure and discovery to occur.
Providing services to the farming community
Our Farm and Rural Legal Service provides free legal help to Queensland farmers and primary producers experiencing financial hardship related to their business, including those with severe debt problems or those in dispute with their lenders.
During the year, we gave legal advice via telephone or face-to- face and represented clients in mediations with their banks and finance providers. The service was delivered by our in-house lawyers and involved travelling thousands of kilometres on outback Queensland roads to see farmers on their properties.
Representation services
Our in-house practice, together with hundreds of private law firms and barristers, provide representation services to legally-aided clients in serious crime, general crime, youth justice, family law, child protection, domestic and family violence and other civil law matters. We use grants of aid to purchase these services from private lawyers and manage in-house work allocations.
About 80 percent of our legal representation is provided by private lawyers, with the remainder provided by our in-house practice.
In 2023–24, our expenditure to private lawyers for representing clients was $90.052 million.
Processing applications for grants of aid
Our Grants division is responsible for processing applications for grants of legal assistance and managing these grants following approval.
We assessed 46,287 new applications for legal aid and approved 35,333 applications in 2023–24.
Applications are processed by staff in our Brisbane and regional offices. Demand for our services is high so we use strict criteria when granting aid for legal representation. In determining whether to approve a grant of aid, grants officers assess requests in line with our guidelines, which are set by the Legal Aid Queensland Board, and apply the means and merits tests. This process looks at the financial means of the person applying and the case’s merit. If an application is refused, internal and external review processes are available to applicants. We also allocate independent children’s lawyers in family law proceedings and separate representatives in child protection proceedings from the specialist panels we maintain.
Figure 8. Applications for grants of aid received and approved 2023–24
Applications for grants of aid received and approved 2023–24
- Criminal law - 32,969 applications received
- Criminal law - 28,508 applications approved
- Family law - 8,092 applications received
- Family law - 3,962 applications approved
- Civil law - 5,226 applications received
- Civil law - 2,863 applications approved
Managing grants of aid
In addition to processing initial applications for legal aid, during the year we managed 45,681 ongoing cases—this involved assessing and issuing 81,057 extensions to the initial grants as matters progress, paying 83,521 accounts, and recovering financial contributions from clients and external agencies.
Reviewing decisions
We have an established review process where applicants can ask to review a decision to refuse legal aid. Most requests for review are conducted by a senior officer who was not involved in the original decision. The applicant may also request an external review of an internal review decision. Independent lawyers or barristers in private practice complete these reviews by considering all relevant information held and any extra information provided.
Applicants are invited to participate in the external review by telephone. In 2023–24, we considered 2368 internal reviews and external review officers considered 331 decisions. In 4.06 percent of cases the external review officer overturned Legal Aid Queensland’s decision.
Improving grants of aid
From 1 September 2023, we increased fees paid to preferred suppliers and counsel undertaking most state law matters by about two percent. We also increased disbursements for items such as reports, giving evidence, service, travel and accommodation across state and some Commonwealth matters.
In August 2023, we improved the structure of grants of aid associated with domestic and family violence matters to better respond to the current legal environment, court processes, and preferred supplier and client needs. We expanded our grants to allow counsel to represent clients in particularly complex contested hearings. We also expanded our guidelines so ‘respondents’ now include particularly vulnerable clients who are under 18, have a substituted decision maker, or do not have capacity to understand the proceedings and orders made.
In August 2023, the Evidence Act 1977 was amended so a protected witness cannot be cross-examined by an unrepresented defendant for domestic violence related offences at a summary trial. We worked with Magistrates Courts across Queensland to establish a process to ensure, where an order is made by a magistrate in line with s 21O of the Evidence Act, Legal Aid Queensland will provide a free grant of legal aid to a defendant for a summary trial in the Magistrates Court for domestic violence or domestic violence order related offences.
In November 2023, we provided an extra grant of legal aid to help vulnerable clients with their Mental Health Court matters. Lawyers can now investigate the merit of appealing a decision made by the Mental Health Review Tribunal to the Mental Health Court.
Recent amendments to the Youth Justice Act 1992 established a framework to transfer detainees from youth detention to an adult correctional centre when they turn 18. Detainees can apply to Youth Justice to delay their transfer to adult custody. During the year, we established grants of legal aid to ensure 18-year-olds receive legal advice and representation when applying to delay their transfer to adult custody. This applies to detainees who have been sentenced and those on remand.
In 2023–24, the family law courts made changes to court processes for family law matters under the Lighthouse Project expansion. We changed our family law funding model to provide more hours and extra grants of aid to support practitioners acting for parties or representing the interests of children to comply with court requirements, attend court for more events and for longer, including court-ordered family dispute resolution.
The Family Law Amendment Act 2023 includes significant changes to the framework for making parenting orders and new obligations for independent children’s lawyers, with most measures taking effect on 6 May 2024. We changed our family law guidelines to ensure they align with current legislation.
We updated the definition of a dispute about a substantial issue to include disputes about:
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the safety of the child and their protection from family violence, abuse, neglect or other harm
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the denial of the child’s right to have a safe and beneficial relationship with their parents and other significant people
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the denial of the child’s right to enjoy their Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander culture.
We also updated the Grants Handbook to provide guidance about eligibility criteria.
Legal help for war veterans and their dependents
We receive federal funding under the War Veterans’ Legal Aid Scheme to provide help to veterans and their dependents in relation to appeals of Veterans Review Board decisions about:
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war caused disability pension entitlements or assessment claims under Part II of the Veterans Entitlement Act 1986
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claims under the Military Rehabilitation and Compensation Act 2004 about warlike or non- warlike service.
Federal government Family Violence and Cross-Examination of Parties Scheme
We receive funding from the federal government Attorney- General’s Department to administer the federal government Family Violence and Cross-Examination of Parties Scheme. Demand for representation through the scheme has been high with 597 notifications received from the family law courts during 2023–24. Each notice may relate to a number of parties and each party is invited to apply. We approve applications for funding about 12 weeks before the hearing date where the cross-examination is to happen. Applications for funding are not subject to means or merits testing, and we usually allocate these to a preferred supplier to prepare for and conduct the hearing where the cross-examination is to happen. In 2023–24, we approved 519 parties for funding.
In-house legal practices
Criminal law services
Magistrates Court
We provide legal representation in the Magistrates Court for guilty pleas, summary trials, committals, applications in line with s 172 of the Mental Health Act 2016, and other Magistrates Court matters.
Our lawyers are involved in the Magistrates Court call over process in Brisbane and provide case conferencing services for summary and committal matters. In 2023–24, we continued to pilot criminal law duty lawyer services in the Brisbane and Holland Park Magistrates Courts. These pilots minimise the need for processing grants of aid and streamline representation of people. These services were well received by the Magistrates Court and other stakeholders and provided legal help and representation to a significant number of defendants.
Consistent with the state government’s commitment to diversionary court programs, we have actively participated in supporting these courts in Queensland. The Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court continued to operate this year, and our extensive knowledge and experience of previous drug court programs has allowed us to positively contribute to the successful operation of this important specialist court program.
We also continued to provide duty lawyer services to help unrepresented defendants in the Court Link criminal call over in Brisbane and Ipswich. Court Link is a very successful bail-based case management program monitored by the Magistrates Court and aims to address the underlying causes of offending such as homelessness. For each Brisbane call over we provide two duty lawyers, one of whom is female.
Serious and general crime
Our lawyers specialise in the defence of complex and general criminal law cases in federal government and state jurisdictions.
We provide legal assistance in Dangerous Prisoners (Sexual Offenders) Act 2003 (DPSOA) matters. In DPSOA matters, we act for people responding to dangerous prisoner applications brought by the Attorney-General, at periodic reviews of continuing detention orders, in contravention proceedings for breaches of supervision orders, and in applications to amend and extend supervision orders.
We also provide advice and representation to witnesses in coronial inquests held in the Coroner’s Court of Queensland.
Representation in our criminal litigation teams is often delivered in serious criminal law matters such as murder, major fraud and complicated drug prosecutions. The defence of these complex matters is challenging and demanding, requiring extensive investigation and preparation. It often sees our lawyers’ involvement over years from the time shortly after a defendant’s arrest through the various stages of a case within the criminal justice system.
The General Crime team has helped in absorbing criminal law work across all jurisdictions, particularly in south east Queensland’s District and Supreme Court jurisdictions.
Our experienced lawyers continued to contribute to criminal justice system consultation to help increase efficiencies in the superior courts, particularly in relation to streamlining criminal justice processes.
Appeals
Legal Aid Queensland represents people on appeal in the District Court appellate jurisdiction, Queensland Court of Appeal and the High Court of Australia. Appellate jurisdictions are the safety net for the criminal justice system and our lawyers appear in many appeals alongside in-house counsel.
Our lawyers work with stakeholders in the appellate jurisdictions to improve representation and the justice system generally. Our Appeals team has also been actively engaged with the Court of Appeal to ensure we provide efficient and effective defence representation in legally-aided appeals.
Mental Health Court
Our Mental Health Court team provides advice and representation for people charged with criminal offences who have been referred to the Mental Health Court.
The team is committed to helping Queenslanders affected by mental illness or significant impairment and strives to provide them with a voice in the justice system. The team is also a first point of contact for inquiries from practitioners and stakeholders about issues arising from the implementation of the Mental Health Act 2016.
The team works closely with our in-house counsel and Mental Health Review Tribunal (MHRT) team to conduct matters, representing the vast majority of non-privately represented clients appearing in the Mental Health Court.
Legal representation in the Mental Health Review Tribunal
We continued working with the MHRT to provide legal representation services to patients appearing before the tribunal under the Mental Health Act 2016.
The tribunal sits in 128 locations across Queensland, and during the year we provided legal representation services to clients.
The MHRT is an independent statutory body protecting the rights of people receiving involuntary treatment for mental illness. It provides an independent review process and makes decisions about whether treatment should occur either in hospital or in the community.
To help service clients statewide, we have an in-house MHRT team based in Brisbane and in-house regional lawyers along with a network of 25 external legal service providers (private law firms that do legal aid work and CLCs). Our in-house team, working together with the network of service providers, gives legal help to some of Queensland’s most vulnerable people appearing in the tribunal across the state. The in-house team also plays an important role in providing legal advice to people in relation to tribunal process and procedure, the impacts of tribunal decisions, and options for appeal or review. During the year, the MHRT team conducted a number of appeals and reviews in the Mental Health Court in relation to decisions that were considered to adversely impact on the human rights of this vulnerable client cohort.
Arranging representation for MHRT referrals
Our Dispute Resolution Service is responsible for arranging free legal representation for people appearing before the MHRT where s 740 of the Mental Health Act 2016 requires the appointment of a representative. Funded by Queensland Health to help meet its statutory obligations, we allocate legal representation from a specialist panel including lawyers in our MHRT team as well as preferred suppliers and CLCs.
Helping young people in the criminal justice system
Our Youth Legal Aid teams provide specialist legal assistance to children and young people in the youth justice system, particularly in south east Queensland. The team is a significant stakeholder in the youth justice sector and advocates strongly on behalf of vulnerable children.
During the year, we continued to provide advice and policy submissions to government on issues relating to youth justice. Our youth justice lawyers also used their knowledge, experience and expertise to continue to provide statewide legal training programs for youth justice stakeholders to improve justice outcomes for young people.
The state government continued to fund us to deliver the Youth Legal Advice Hotline and our Legal Advocacy Program. The hotline enables young people and youth justice stakeholders to access legal information and advice about a criminal law matter by telephone, while providing Queensland Police investigating officers with an available lawyer to help promote early resolution of matters and diversionary options.
The Legal Advocacy program delivers an important legal advice and representation service for young people detained in custody, helping them to pursue bail applications where the case has merit. During the year, our team considered 1232 referrals and made 134 bail applications before the Childrens Court of Queensland.
Our in-house Youth Legal Aid teams have continued to deliver duty lawyer services to court locations in south east Queensland providing expert advice and representation to children appearing before the Childrens Court.
We participated in the state government funded Fast Track Sentencing Pilot in Brisbane, Townsville, Southport and Cairns. The pilot ensures children appearing in court have easy and prompt access to a lawyer so matters can be resolved quickly.
Family law services
Social science work
Our social scientists play an integral role in delivering our legal services to vulnerable clients. They support people through legal processes, complete social assessment and family reports and provide counselling services. We provide social science and support services from our Brisbane, Rockhampton and Townsville offices.
During the year, our social workers completed forensic assessment reports and psychological reports for independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives involved in family law and child protection matters and provided testimony before the courts. They helped our lawyers by providing clients with information and referrals to appropriate external organisations for help with non-legal matters such as mental health problems, substance dependencies and accommodation difficulties.
Helping those affected by domestic and family violence
We represent people in domestic and family violence matters through grants of aid to private law firms and to our in-house legal practice.
Our specialist Violence Prevention and Women’s Advocacy teams help clients experiencing domestic and family violence. The team comprises specialist lawyers who work with in-house domestic and family violence practitioners to provide services to people and practical advice about service delivery in domestic and family violence cases. Our particularly vulnerable clients are at risk of social exclusion and include people under 18 and those with intellectual disability or experiencing mental illness.
Rockhampton Domestic Violence Unit
The federal government funded Domestic Violence Unit in Rockhampton provides a wrap-around service to clients impacted by domestic and family violence. The service is designed to support the client’s legal and non-legal needs by involving lawyers and support workers working together to address the client’s needs. The service provides advice and assistance for clients in the domestic and family violence and family law jurisdictions in Rockhampton and surrounding areas.
Counselling Notes Protect
We work to deliver the Counselling Notes Protect service in partnership with Women’s Legal Service Queensland. The service provides advice, assistance and representation to clients about Queensland law that protects the counselling records of victims of sexual assault or alleged sexual assault from being used in some courts. In 2023–24, we represented 46 people in the District Court and provided advice and minor assistance to a further 22 clients. During the year, changes were made to the Sexual Assault Counselling Privilege legislation, which impacted how our service operates. We also provide education and training to the legal profession, Queensland Police Service, sexual assault services and other support services about the laws.
Helping people with child support issues
We provide information, referral, legal advice and representation services to clients in some child support areas. We can explain how the child support formula works, how the Family Tax Benefit is affected and how to prove paternity.
Children and young people
Helping children, their families and the courts to assess the best interests of children involved in legal proceedings is a key focus of the work conducted by our family and child protection lawyers. We continued to provide legal services for children and young people involved in family law and child protection matters in 2023–24.
Courts exercising family law and child protection jurisdictions make a significant number of independent children’s lawyer and separate representative appointments, where judicial officers order a child’s interests be separately represented. Independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives provide best interests representation for children, playing a unique and difficult role within the family law and child protection systems. They gather and assess independent evidence, help children and young people to participate in legal processes that affect them and have their voices heard, and provide measured guidance and recommendations to the courts about the best interests of children and young people. The cases they work on are complex and demanding. Many of these matters are dealt with by specialist in-house lawyers. Our in-house independent children’s lawyers and separate representatives have significant experience and knowledge about parenting and child protection cases.
In addition to appearing in complex child protection and family law matters, our in-house lawyers also perform work in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia’s Magellan list—a case management list devoted to cases where there are allegations of serious physical abuse or sexual abuse of children. We also perform significant work in the Evatt List in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia dealing with matters where there are serious allegations of family violence or other allegations increasing risk to children or parties, through the Lighthouse Project.
We facilitated independent children’s lawyer and separate representative panel meetings to help ensure knowledge is shared and issues are discussed between the private practitioners on the panel and in-house specialist lawyers. This ensures a consistent, quality approach to representing children and young people.
Child protection
We are the largest child protection legal service provider to individuals in Queensland, providing information and advice, representation of parents, direct representation of young people, separate representation of children and young people in the Childrens Court of Queensland, and limited representation in QCAT in respect of reviewable decisions.
Civil justice services
Anti-discrimination services
We provide representation in matters involving discrimination, sexual harassment, victimisation and vilification under state and federal government laws. Where appropriate we attached ‘piggy back’ actions relating to relevant considerations under the Human Rights Act to state anti-discrimination complaints in the QHRC. We provide representation in the Australian Human Rights Commission (AHRC), QHRC, QCAT, Queensland Industrial Relations Commission, Queensland Court of Appeal, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and Federal Court of Australia.
Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme
The Civil Law Legal Aid Scheme is an outlays only scheme that helps financially disadvantaged people who have a civil law claim for which no grant of legal aid is available. Funded by the Public Trustee of Queensland and administered by Legal Aid Queensland, the scheme covers outlays required to prepare civil law claims for settlement negotiations and/ or court proceedings. The scheme does not fund legal professional fees and lawyers accessing the scheme must agree to speculate their fees. The scheme does not cover areas of law where a mainstream grant of legal aid is available from Legal Aid Queensland. The scheme operates under guidelines independent of Legal Aid Queensland’s grants of legal aid.
The scheme will consider providing funding for outlays where:
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there are reasonable prospects of the scheme recovering outlays
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the action can be dealt with in the Queensland legal jurisdiction
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an approved firm is willing to act on a speculative basis for their professional fees.
Applications are subject to means testing and merit assessment, and assistance will only be approved if it is considered the claim has reasonable prospects of success.
Consumer protection
We provide representation in credit, debt and consumer law matters. We provide advice to clients as well as lawyers and financial counsellors throughout Queensland. During the year, we helped people with:
-
mortgage stress
-
housing repossession
-
debt (including debts faced by people experiencing family violence)
- credit cards and personal loans (including car loans)
- telecommunications and utilities
- misleading and deceptive conduct, unfair contract terms and unsolicited consumer agreements (including door-to-door selling)
- insurance (including flood, storm and bushfire insurance claims)
- debt collection practices
- credit reporting
- bankruptcy and part IX agreements.
Disaster Legal Help Service
Our Disaster Legal Help Service provides legal advice, task assistance and casework to clients impacted by disasters including the Townsville floods (2019), south east Queensland floods (2022), Tara bushfires (2023), Cyclone Jasper (2023) and the south east Queensland Christmas/New Year’s storms and tornadoes (2023–24).
During the year, we also:
-
attended community forums from Cairns to the Gold Coast to help consumers with insurance, debt and other legal problems
-
provided CLE face-to-face and via webinars and social media to community and support workers, community recovery groups, financial counsellors, lawyers and community members
-
advocated with the Insurance Council of Australia to resolve cases without needing to proceed to dispute resolution.
Employment law
We provide specialist legal representation to federal system employees for unfair dismissal and general protections matters covered by the Fair Work Act 2009. We provide representation in the FWC, Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia, and Federal Court of Australia.
Farm and Rural Legal Service
The Farm and Rural Legal Service provides advice and representation at farm debt mediations to Queensland farmers and primary producers facing financial hardship related to their business, including severe debt problems or those who are in dispute with their lenders.
Social security appeals
We provide casework assistance and representation for social security appeals in the general division of the AAT and the Federal Court of Australia.
National Disability Insurance Scheme appeals
During 2023–24, we continued to provide casework assistance and legal representation to eligible people in the General Division of the AAT and the Federal Court of Australia.
Workplace sexual harassment and mental health
We help people experiencing sexual harassment at work and mental health issues with their legal and social service needs. Our lawyers work with a social worker to provide holistic and trauma informed legal services to clients experiencing a range of vulnerabilities.
Public Defender Chambers
Our team of barristers continued to demonstrate their commitment to efficiently providing quality specialist legal advocacy services to disadvantaged Queenslanders.
In April 2024, Public Defender Katarina Prskalo KC was appointed as a District Court judge sitting at Southport. Deputy Public Defender Jakub Lodziak has been acting in the Public Defender role since then. During the year, the chambers established barrister positions in our offices at Southport, Ipswich and Cairns, and a second barrister in our Townsville office.
Our barristers continued to undertake complex trials and sentences in the Supreme, District and Magistrates Courts across the state, including 29 weeks of regional court sittings. They also appeared at all Mental Health Court sittings throughout the year and for respondents to applications brought under the legislation before the Supreme Court, in its civil jurisdiction.
Senior barristers regularly provided advice on the merit of applications for grants of aid for appeals against conviction and sentence and High Court special leave applications. They also appeared in appeals against conviction and sentence before the Court of Appeal.
Members of the Public Defender Chambers shared their legal expertise by contributing to Legal Aid Queensland’s continuing professional development (CPD) program, which is available to in-house and external lawyers. Our barristers also assessed and coached Bar Practice Course pupils by acting as ‘judges’ for mock trials and as presenters in advocacy training sessions. In doing so, the chambers continues to contribute to the professional training and development of junior barristers across the state.
Ensuring quality legal services
Legal Aid Queensland aims to provide quality legal services to financially disadvantaged people and we continue to improve the quality of our work and the outcomes for our clients.
Measuring client satisfaction
Legal Aid Queensland undertakes a client satisfaction survey every two years. We conducted two surveys in March 2024 in line with performance monitoring and reporting requirements in the NLAP 2020–25.
The core survey was a telephone survey of 659 previous clients and an extra 106 clients who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander participated in a telephone survey.
In both surveys, clients were asked about their overall satisfaction with Legal Aid Queensland, and more detailed questions about the specific services they received and their experiences. The survey revealed positive outcomes for Legal Aid Queensland in overall service satisfaction and performance across our key service areas. Overall satisfaction was rated 6.38 out of 10 in the core survey and 6.7 out of 10 in the First Nations survey. First Nations clients are most satisfied with Legal Aid Queensland’s duty lawyer and conferencing services.
In the core survey, there has been a slight decrease in satisfaction since 2022 when overall satisfaction was rated 7.6 out of 10. The results indicated we are performing consistently well with information, advice and casework services. There were notably positive levels of satisfaction among clients who identified as Aboriginal and/or Torres Strait Islander. First Nations client satisfaction with legal representation remained steady at 7.9 out of 10 compared with 7.8 out of 10 in 2022 and a slight increase was recorded for conferencing services at 8.1 out of 10 compared with 7.4 out of 10 in 2022.
In-house lawyers
We continued to use our Quality Legal Services Framework for Legal Aid Queensland employed lawyers. The framework lists the measures we have in place to ensure we maintain a high standard of service delivery to our clients.
This includes:
-
recruiting and selecting lawyers through open, merit- based selection processes
-
providing an induction program for new lawyers to ensure they are familiar with standards of conduct, professional requirements and administrative processes
-
developing and delivering a CPD program for lawyers
-
compliance with legal profession standards
-
compliance with legal service standards, case management standards and practice management standards
-
providing legal professional supervision to lawyers
-
regularly reviewing files and auditing lawyers
-
responding to client feedback and complaints
-
conducting a client satisfaction survey every two years to guide improvements to service delivery.
Preferred supplier law firms
Our preferred supplier law firms are required under their agreement with Legal Aid Queensland to meet our policies, guidelines, and file management, practice and case management standards.
As part of our commitment to ensuring funding is used in line with the terms and conditions of approved grants, we implement a program of compliance checks. These may focus on particular aspects across a large number of grants of aid and suppliers or focus on identified areas. During 2023–24, we focused on specific issues and conducted targeted audits across a number of suppliers and areas of work.
We communicate all compliance activity outcomes to the participants and use these to continuously improve our grant funding processes.
We also regularly delivered CPD events throughout the year that were open to our preferred supplier law firms, in-person and online. These covered a wide range of professional, practice and procedure areas.
Working to improve equitable briefing of barristers
Legal Aid Queensland’s in-house legal practice continues to be a leader in implementing the Law Council of Australia’s target for equitable briefing of female barristers. In 2023–24, 39.6 percent of briefs were allocated to women barristers. The percentage of female in-house counsel still exceeds 50 percent.
Private law firms that do legal aid work (preferred suppliers) are required under the preferred supplier service agreement, when selecting counsel, to make a reasonable endeavour to comply with the Law Council of Australia’s Equitable Briefing Policy, and if required, provide information about the efforts made to identify and consider briefing female counsel.
In 2023–24, many preferred supplier private law firms continued to reach or exceed the Equitable Briefing Policy target of 30 percent.
As a strong supporter of women in the legal profession, we were delighted to present the Equitable Briefing Award at the 2023 Women Lawyers Association of Queensland Awards. Congratulations to law firm Ryan Murdoch O’Regan Lawyers on receiving the Legal Aid Queensland Equitable Briefing Award. We hope this award encourages law firms to reflect on their briefing policies, so they brief women barristers more frequently and more women are encouraged to join and remain at the Queensland Bar, enriching the legal profession and the community it serves.
Legal Aid Queensland will continue to drive cultural change within the legal profession by supporting the progression and retention of women barristers and addressing the pay gap and underrepresentation of female counsel in the superior courts.
Briefing counsel policy and committee
Our In-house Lawyers Briefing Counsel Policy ensures probity and accountability in decisions by our in-house lawyers when briefing counsel.
Our briefing policy sets out general briefing guidelines and provides specific procedures for briefing counsel in expensive or extraordinary cases.
The general briefing guidelines include requirements to:
-
consider the Law Council of Australia’s Equitable Briefing Policy which aims to promote diversity, equality and respect to improve the retention of women barristers within the profession
-
genuinely consider briefing Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander barristers where it is possible, including developing barristers through our First Nations Junioring Program
-
consider briefing in-house counsel to ensure cost effectiveness
- briefing regional barristers wherever a barrister of sufficient experience and expertise is available
- briefing in a way that develops a wide and diverse pool of barristers who can do legal aid work
- briefing barristers who have appropriate experience and expertise
- being objective, independent, apolitical and impartial.
A Briefing Monitoring Committee is chaired by the CEO to monitor in-house lawyers’ briefing practices and ensure the In- house Lawyers Briefing Counsel Policy’s goals are supported.
Access by disadvantaged groups
Culturally and linguistically diverse clients
During the year, we continued our commitment to clients from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds. We promoted our services within these communities to increase people’s awareness of Legal Aid Queensland and improve their access to justice by:
-
delivering CLE sessions on common legal topics to people from migrant and refugee backgrounds
-
distributing translated legal information to people from migrant and refugee backgrounds
-
using free interpreter services for clients in line with the state government’s Language Services Policy
-
promoting our website, which can translate content into other languages.
Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander clients
We are committed to providing services to First Nations people. During the year, we:
-
implemented our First Nations Action Plan 2023–24, which continues to:
- outline initiatives that align with the objectives of the First Nations Strategic Plan
- increase awareness and accessibility of our services to First Nations peoples
- position Legal Aid Queensland as an organisation that provides culturally capable legal services for First Nations peoples
- position the organisation as an employer of choice for First Nations people within the legal profession
- contribute to developing a more equitable justice system that addresses the disparity of First Nations people in the broader legal profession
- promoted cross-cultural training to staff to help ensure staff delivering services are culturally competent
- provided cultural awareness training to staff so they understand the importance of communication as a barrier in a legal setting
-
celebrated Close the Gap Day across our offices
-
continued to promote our Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Information Line which gives priority to First Nations callers so they can access legal information and advice for the cost of a local call from a landline anywhere in Queensland
-
provided information stalls at NAIDOC Week events
-
participated in legal assistance forums and the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum (QLAF) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Strategic Working Group which aim to promote cooperation and collaboration between legal assistance service providers and non- legal services working with First Nations peoples
-
continued to work towards our target of having nine percent of Legal Aid Queensland staff identify as First Nations
-
achieved the target of employing 12 First Nations lawyers across the organisation
-
enhanced our Graduate Lawyer and Emerging Lawyer programs across the state to include opportunities in regional areas
-
continued the Yadaba Working Group to provide consultation and advice on employment and training for First Nations staff at Legal Aid Queensland
-
enhanced cultural capability frameworks and e-learning resources for staff
-
worked with a research company to prepare the 2024 First Nations Client Satisfaction Survey
-
changed the organisation’s feedback process to identify and capture First Nations client complaints and compliments
- worked with the ATSILS, Queensland Indigenous Family Violence Legal Service (QIFVLS) and Community Legal Centres Queensland to develop resources to help First Nations families dealing with child protection and domestic and family violence matters
- established a Closing the Gap Working Group to identify how we can address the priority reform areas and the key outcomes identified in the national Closing the Gap agreement.
People with disability
We recognise many people with disabilities experience legal problems and require services that respond to their individual needs and circumstances. We continually aim to review and improve our services, including our website in line with the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines endorsed by the Australian Government.
Web accessibility focuses on providing equal access and opportunity for people with disabilities. For example, websites should be compatible with screen readers used by people with vision impairment and with devices used by people who cannot use a mouse because of a physical impairment. It also benefits people with literacy issues, older users and mobile device users.
When people with disability make contact with our client contact centre or visit one of our offices, we have processes in place for identifying their vulnerabilities and giving them priority and supported access to our services.
People who are deaf, or who have a hearing or speech impairment, can contact us through the National Relay Service. We can also organise Auslan interpreters if needed.
The Client Assistance Service operates in the client contact centre to help some of our particularly vulnerable clients, especially those with multiple legal issues, who need extra help to access our services.
In 2019, we started Your Story Disability Legal Support which supports people to share their experiences with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability. For more information about the service, see Your Story Disability Legal Support.
Regional, rural and remote Queenslanders
Legal Aid Queensland is committed to providing frontline legal services to rural, regional and remote areas of Queensland. We have 13 regional offices providing services throughout regional Queensland, and a statewide network of regional preferred supplier private law firms. There are 29 CLCs that contribute to supporting Queensland’s legal and justice system. Many CLCs help Legal Aid Queensland deliver domestic and family violence, family advocacy and support services, and child protection duty lawyer services in courts across Queensland.
We provide direct legal services such as grants of aid for court representation, legal information and advice, and duty lawyer services to people in rural, regional and remote Queensland (see Figures 9 and 10). About 40 percent of our legal advice and representation services are delivered to clients in non-metropolitan areas.
Other frontline legal aid services available to regional Queenslanders include:
-
criminal law duty lawyer services in Magistrates and Childrens Courts in regional towns across Queensland
-
family law duty lawyer services in Townsville, Cairns, Mackay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Maroochydore, Toowoomba and Hervey Bay
-
domestic and family violence duty lawyer services in Richlands, Beenleigh, Southport, Caboolture, Holland Park, Cleveland, Pine Rivers, Redcliffe, Sandgate, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Maroochydore, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Gladstone, Rockhampton, Yeppoon, Mackay, Townsville, Cairns, Mount Isa and Palm Island
-
child protection duty lawyer services in Ipswich, Pine Rivers, Caboolture, Beenleigh, Southport, Toowoomba, Maroochydore, Gladstone, Mackay, Cairns and Townsville
-
family law, domestic and family violence law, and criminal law legal advices
-
child protection legal advice services in Mount Isa, Mackay, Longreach, Emerald, Biloela, Gladstone, Kingaroy, Cherbourg, Murgon, Cleveland, Roma, Charleville and Cunnamulla
-
legal advice and assistance from our Cairns office under the cultural adoption program (Meriba Omasker Ailan Kastom child rearing practices for Torres Strait Islanders)
-
domestic and family violence duty lawyer services in Rockhampton, Yeppoon and Gladstone from a dedicated Domestic Violence Unit in Rockhampton
-
providing legal and social work support, which meets clients’ legal and non-legal needs
- a Farm and Rural Legal Service, which provides free legal help to Queensland farmers and primary producers experiencing financial hardship related to their business, including those with severe debt problems or those in dispute with their lenders
-
providing legal help to residents of disaster affected areas of Queensland
-
in-house counsel appearing in regional and remote courts including circuits to Mount Isa, the Gulf of Carpentaria, Thursday Island, Cape York Peninsula, Bowen, Charters Towers, Hervey Bay, Gympie, Bundaberg, Kingaroy, Maryborough, Emerald and Gladstone
-
Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia sittings across regional areas
-
legal outreach clinics, where lawyers travel to surrounding regions or link in by videoconference to provide legal advice services, to Cooktown and Tully (Cairns office), Bribie Island (Caboolture office in conjunction with local CLCs), and Dirranbandi, Goondiwindi and Tara (Toowoomba office).
We also:
-
help the ATSILS and the courts on circuit to the remote areas of Normanton, Burketown, Mornington Island and Doomadgee (from our Mount Isa office), and Cooktown, Thursday Island, Bamaga and other Torres Strait Islands (from our Cairns office)
-
provide a statewide telephone legal information line and an Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander information line where people can call from a landline from anywhere in Queensland for the cost of a local call
-
work with 45 community access points across Queensland that provide information about our services, access to some of our publications, and help people access free telephone legal advice.
Women
We treat women, especially women experiencing domestic and family violence, as a priority client group. We support the Queensland Government strategy to reduce domestic and family violence by delivering legal information, advice and representation to disadvantaged Queenslanders experiencing domestic and family violence. We support and acknowledge Queensland’s domestic and family violence laws’ objective—to maximise or increase the safety, protection and wellbeing of people who fear or experience domestic and family violence, including their children.
Our specialist Violence Prevention and Women’s Advocacy teams work with clients who experience domestic and family violence. Their mission is to increase women’s access to our services and improve our responsiveness to meet women’s legal needs. The team represents women and vulnerable clients so the court appropriately identifies the person in most need of protection and holds the person using violence accountable. They work to develop and maintain effective working relationships with service providers and identify, review and respond to issues impacting on women’s access to justice.
The teams act for women with complex legal issues in the areas of family law, child protection, and domestic and family violence. They also provide services to women from culturally diverse backgrounds and women with intellectual disabilities. We have a network of family lawyers in 11 of our 13 regional offices who deliver legal services to local communities in response to issues arising from family relationships, including domestic and family violence, and child protection.
Our Violence Against Women Strategy is an integrated, collaborative and consistent response to clients who have been affected by domestic and family violence. We run awareness campaigns each year to increase staff and preferred suppliers’ knowledge and improve trauma informed legal practice in Queensland.
The 2024 Domestic and Family Violence Prevention Month campaign focused on young people and domestic violence and how online content and practices can contribute to violent attitudes and behaviour. Legal practitioners learnt how the digital world can contribute to gendered violence and the support available for young people.
We have included current research when developing and implementing practical tools for our practitioners including:
-
Best practice guidelines for working with people who have experienced domestic violence
-
Best practice guidelines for lawyers working with respondents in domestic violence proceedings
-
Best practice guidelines for working with sexual assault victims
- a domestic violence risk assessment tool
-
an internal policy for responding to staff experiencing domestic violence.
Figure 9. Legal advices provided by location 2023–24
Legal advices provided by location 2023–24
- Major cities 53.24%
- Inner regional 30.10%
- Outer regional 12.46%
- Remote 1.00%
- Very remote 0.57%
- Interstate 2.40%
- Unmatched 0.23%
Figure 10. Applications for grants of aid received by location 2023–24
Applications for grants of aid received by location 2023–24
- Major cities 54.33%
- Inner regional 30.78%
- Outer regional 11.94%
- Remote 1.00%
- Very remote 0.56%
- Interstate 1.22%
- Unmatched 0.17%
Table 5. Access by key disadvantaged groups 2023–24
|
Key disadvantaged group
|
Criminal law %
|
Family law %
|
Civil law %
|
Total %
|
|
Legal advice
|
|
Female
|
25.28
|
66.63
|
53.51
|
47.50
|
|
Indigenous
|
20.09
|
9.62
|
10.97
|
13.82
|
|
Regional and remote
|
14.22
|
14.80
|
13.06
|
14.03
|
|
Culturally diverse
|
9.92
|
13.58
|
13.20
|
12.14
|
|
Applications received
|
|
Female
|
23.65
|
64.76
|
59.20
|
34.17
|
|
Indigenous
|
21.11
|
12.22
|
18.69
|
19.42
|
|
Regional and remote
|
12.95
|
15.33
|
14.47
|
13.50
|
|
Culturally diverse
|
5.72
|
11.36
|
8.97
|
6.99
|
|
Applications approved
|
|
Female
|
22.68
|
62.85
|
64.62
|
29.09
|
|
Indigenous
|
21.88
|
14.20
|
22.07
|
21.25
|
|
Regional and remote
|
12.14
|
13.51
|
12.82
|
12.31
|
|
Culturally diverse
|
5.20
|
9.48
|
6.45
|
5.65
|