Natural disaster legal assistance funding
Natural disasters are becoming more common and more extreme in Australia. In the aftermath of natural disasters such as the floods of 2022 and the bushfires of 2019-20, the volume and complexity of legal issues faced by a community increase significantly.
The Australian Government is providing separate, additional funding for the legal assistance sector to help respond to the impacts of the floods in 2022 and the bushfires in 2019-20. This includes:
- $5.4 million over 2 years, from 2021-22 to 2022-23, for additional frontline legal services, to support relief and recovery in communities affected by the floods in New South Wales and Queensland in February and March 2022
- $12 million over 4 years, from 2022-23 to 2025-26, to support community legal centres in New South Wales and Queensland with the compounding impacts of recent natural disasters including the bushfires in 2019-20 and floods in 2022.
Recipients of the funding include legal aid commissions and generalist and specialist community legal centres.
Learn more about the natural disaster additional legal assistance agreement.