Legal Crisis
September 2026
Tasmania’s legal assistance sector is in crisis.
The impact of increasing costs, structural funding changes, and the unmet demand for legal assistance continues to be overlooked by governments, despite calls from the legal assistance sector for greater support to meet community needs.
While the recent Babb report on court backlogs and the recommendations presented were largely accepted by the State Government, they will take time and money to implement and the impact will continue to sit with those in the system, including those held on remand, victim-survivors, the courts, the lawyers who represent interested parties, families and communities.
The Tasmanian State Government also continues to develop new laws at a rapid pace, increasing the need for legal representation and assistance on an already overstretched sector.
Recent calls for increased funding have highlighted parts of the legal assistance sector in need, yet the most legally disadvantaged members of our community have not been mentioned.
The most recent national review and subsequent published report on the legal assistance sector, undertaken by Dr Warren Mundy, highlighted that Aboriginal people are the most legally disadvantaged members of our community, and the unmet demand for legal assistance services for Aboriginal people also plays out through our State.
The inadequacy of funding has clear consequences for the over representation of Aboriginal people in our prison system - including the large number on remand who are unsentenced, young people in detention, children in out-of-home care and those impacted by family violence.
Commitments made by all levels of government to address the overrepresentation of Aboriginal people and children here have not been fulfilled and data shows the numbers are getting worse.
In Tasmania, the number of Aboriginal & Torres Strait Islander adults incarcerated is worsening year on year, increasing from 828.6 per 100,000 to 870.2 per 100,000, compared to a decline for non-Aboriginal Adults from 163.8 per 100,000 to 146.7 per 100,000.
The whole sector needs increased government support, and governments at all levels need to step up. In Tasmania, the sector is largely funded via the Commonwealth, with the State administering funding.
While the State contributes to some parts of the legal assistance sector, for a number of legal assistance service providers it does not.
And, when we look closely at those who are the most legally disadvantaged, with the greatest unmet legal need, the State does not directly provide a single cent of funding for baseline legal assistance services.
Everyone deserves the right to adequate legal representation and now more than ever the entire legal assistance sector needs support.
Jake Smith, CEO Tasmania Aboriginal Legal Services
Media contact: A.Mark Thomas, M&M Communications, 0422 006 732