Our policy priorities

Priority area - family law and child protection

• Impacts of recent changes to the Family Law Act
  Example: Examining the outcomes for parties and children when issues of violence or abuse are raised in the court material, when parties are self-represented, or when a party is from a NESB or has an intellectual disability or mental health problems.
• Impacts of new family relationship centres
• Example: Impact of these centres on LAQ workloads especially in relation to matters involving domestic violence and family law conferences.
• Domestic violence and child abuse
• Example: The impact on the number of calls to police to attend domestic violence incidents of the recent requirement that police compulsorily report these calls to the Department of Child Safety.

Priority area - youth and crime

• Identification of options to enhance early disposition of appropriate criminal law matters, including post-committal case conferencing
• Inclusion of 17 year olds in the juvenile justice system.
• Example: The impact on adult recidivism of the inclusion of 17 year olds in the juvenile justice system and the availability of cautions and other forms of diversion and disposition of matters.
• Reducing Indigenous over-representation in the criminal justice system
• Example: Examining options for reducing the number of Indigenous juveniles on remand in custody.Identifying the needs of Indigenous women who have experienced violence or abuse or are escaping violent relationships.

Priority area - civil and consumer law

• Development of a model to improve the crime compensation system, including reducing the costs, delays and complexity of the current system.

Priority area - service delivery and access to justice

• Identifying models and means for improving access to justice and the quality of service delivered to Legal Aid Queensland's diverse client base.
• Example: Research that focuses on the legal needs of special needs groups such as women, women and children escaping violence, Indigenous people, people from NESB, youth, people from culturally diverse backgrounds, and those with an intellectual disability, cognitive impairment or mental health issues. Undertake research into the costs of certain types of legal matters and the factors that drive their complexity that could be used to develop a predictive model that would assist LAQ to streamline processes and better anticipate its costs in relation to certain types of legal matters.
• Identifying alternative models for legal service delivery to reduce the costs of providing legal advice and assistance and to maximise Legal Aid Queensland's ability to provide effective legal advice and assistance to the greatest number of people.

Last updated 9 October 2023