Additional Legal Services for Indigenous Australians
NAAJA like other legal services in the Northern Territory has received additional funding from the intervention. NAAJA developed a protocol to enable staff to distinguish between NTER matters and non-NTER matters. This has been very difficult because of the combination of Commonwealth and Northern Territory legislation.28 Furthermore, as discussed above, we have not seen the increase in child abuse cases that many people have predicted.
Nonetheless, this funding has been a welcome addition because of the historic chronic levels of underfunding of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services and the difficulties this has caused our staff and our clients.
We urge the Review Board to recommend that there are on-going funding increases for the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services in the Northern Territory and that this funding recognises the difficulties and costs associated with providing legal services to remote Aboriginal people as well as the fundamental importance of such services.
28. For example prior to the intervention the Liquor Act (NT) prohibited bringing alcohol into many parts of the Northern Territory. These penalties were then increased by the intervention legislation.