Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre does great work in our community helping people who need help the most every day. During the 2016 federal election campaign Labor committed to stopping the Liberal's cuts to community legal centres and ensuring funding for community legal centres, like Shoalcoast. Today's announcement of a reversal in cuts to Community Legal Centres and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services is a humiliating backdown by the Liberal Government and a victory for campaigners around Australia. Labor has been protesting these cuts for years, arguing vulnerable Australians in need of free legal services - including domestic violence victims - would suffer. The devastating cuts would have seen significant cuts for Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre, which offers free legal advice to people in need, in the Gilmore electorate in the Shoalhaven, including an outreach service at Ulladulla, Batemans Bay and Moruya. Until today, George Brandis and the Liberal Government pretended these cuts did not exist. While the reversal of these cuts is welcome, it is beyond time for the coalition and George Brandis to stop toying with the funding of these vital services. They deserve stability and predictable funding. The uncertainty faced by Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre in recent months and years has been incredibly hard, making it extremely difficult to plan for the future and maintain services. It’s unacceptable. Labor is committed to free legal services for Australians who need it, and will always give Community Legal Centres like Shoalcast Community Legal Centre and Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services the support they deserve. Media Release
Above: Fiona Phillips, Labor Candidate for Gilmore, with Andrew Leigh, MP, Shadow Assistant Treasurer taken when the announcement was made in Moruya 10th June 2016 to Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre to stop the Liberal’s cuts and provide a total of $450,000, over three years, to Shoalcoast Community Legal Centre.
