THE Peninsula Community Legal Centre in Frankston says it will have to cut some of its free services if its government funding doesn’t increase.
The PCLC offers free legal services and advice to people across many areas, including housing, family arrangements, employment, health, finances, and personal safety. PCLC CEO Jackie Galloway says that the centre is helping more people than ever in the midst of the cost of living crisis, and that increased funding is badly needed.
“With so many struggling with the cost of living and housing crises, we are seeing an unprecedented number of people who are buckling under the weight of their legal problems coming to us for help,” Galloway said. “Just at the time when the community needs us the most, we are facing a funding crisis and cannot meet this unprecedented demand for our services. Both the federal and state governments need to take action to increase our funding this year or we will be at risk of having to cut programs and staff to address the funding shortfall”.
The PCLC estimates that a quarter of its clients reside within the federal electorate of Dunkley. A little more than 70 per cent of them are financially disadvantaged, and one third are living with a disability or mental health issue.
With the Dunkley by-election looming on 2 March, The News asked major party candidates Jodie Belyea and Nathan Conroy if they planned to advocate for more funding for the PCLC if elected – neither responded before publication deadline. Frankston MP Paul Edbrooke was also contacted for comment.
Galloway says that more than half of the PCLC’s work in the last six months was in the family law field.
“Our family violence duty lawyer recently represented a woman with a complex series of legal problems who illustrates the kind of client we would no longer be able to assist in the same way without additional funding to continue our services at current levels. In this case, our duty lawyer assisted our client to obtain a family violence intervention order against her husband at the Frankston Magistrates’ Court. Our lawyers also successfully assisted her with her divorce hearing at the Family Court, as well as a criminal charge for driving while suspended due to accumulated fines, resulting in the charge and fine being withdrawn,” Galloway said. “Without the support of PCLC’s legal expertise she would have been unlikely to resolve these life-altering problems as successfully, if at all.”
The centre has also recently assisted people being evicted from housing, and helped block rent increases. It has represented renters at 367 VCAT hearings in the last year.
The PCLC estimates that community legal centres in Australia are forced to turn away more than 200,000 people each year under the current funding model “Access to justice should not be based on the size of your wallet,” Galloway said. “Without our services, many in our community would be at risk of continuing exposure to threats such as family violence, homelessness or out of control debt.
“Community legal centres are facing a national funding crisis. We are calling on the Commonwealth government to increase funding to the sector by $125m per year to ensure that programs and services aren’t forced to close.”
To contact the Peninsula Community Legal Centre call 9783 3600 or email pclc@pclc.org.au
First published in the Mornington News – 27 February 2024
