Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

Community Legal Services Program

Community Legal Centres

Community legal centres are independent and community managed non-profit services which provide a range of assistance on legal and related matters to people on low incomes and those with special needs. They are a key component of Australia’s legal aid system. They provide services which complement and extend the services provided by legal aid commissions and the private profession. Services may include information and referral, legal advice and ongoing legal assistance.

The majority of organisations funded under the program provide assistance across a wide range of legal issues including for example family law, discrimination and consumer rights law. Some organisations involve volunteers from their community in the administration, management and delivery of services.

Some centres are funded to provide assistance across a broad range of legal matters. Others are specifically funded by the Australian Government to deal with particular issues or clients. Information on the various programs for which centres may receive funding is provided below.

Search National Association of Community Legal Centres website to find a centre near you. There is usually no means test at community legal centres, although there are some areas of law that centres do not deal with, such as taxation and commercial disputes.

Generalist Centres

Generalist community legal centres provide assistance across a broad range of legal matters. The services delivered will reflect the needs of the local community. Specialist services such as child support, civil litigation, and child and youth legal services are also delivered through some generalist centres.

Child Support Scheme Legal Services Program

The Child Support Scheme Legal Services Program is designed to help disadvantaged parents who receive, or who are seeking, child support. The program is also designed to help those parents who pay child support to understand their rights and responsibilities under the Child Support Scheme.

Disability Discrimination Act Legal Services

Disability Discrimination Act Legal Services are a significant source of legal assistance for people with disabilities seeking redress under the Disability Discrimination Act 1992. These services are funded to address the needs of people experiencing discrimination because of a disability or a perceived disability or because a family member or friend has a disability.

Environmental Defender’s Office Program

The Environmental Defender's Office Program provides high quality and accessible legal information, advice and community legal education services aimed at protecting the environment in the public  interest.

Welfare Rights Services

Welfare Rights Centres assist people experiencing difficulties with income support issues. They address the needs of clients with Centrelink and Family Assistance benefit issues and seek to provide independent assistance to people wishing to appeal against administrative decisions by Government agencies.

Women’s Legal Services

Women’s Legal Services provide assistance to women, often providing State-wide services through telephone advice lines. They also undertake community legal education and law reform activities in relation to family law, violence against women, discrimination and employment.

Youth Legal Services

Funding is provided to increase access to services in a range of areas of law for children and young people and those working on their behalf.

Civil Litigation Project

Civil litigation project funding enables ongoing representation to be offered to people experiencing a civil legal problem whose dispute contains some element of social injustice but who are either ineligible for legal aid, unable to afford a private solicitor or unable to access a pro bono service. These projects provide legal representation, advice, negotiated settlements and advocacy before courts and tribunals. Advice on legal merit, court procedures and evidential requirements is provided to other community centres for particular cases.

Clinical Legal Education Program

This program aims to forge closer links with universities to help them promote public interest lawyering with their students and improve the quality of, and access to, legal assistance for socially and economically disadvantaged members of the community.

Indigenous Women’s Outreach Project

Funding is provided for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Women’s projects to address the particular legal service needs of Indigenous women.

Rural Women’s Outreach Lawyer Services

Several generalist centres are funded to employ rural women’s outreach lawyers for the provision of legal services to women in rural and remote areas, particularly where isolation is exacerbated by factors such as disability, age and domestic violence.