The Northern Territory is facing a worsening legal aid crisis, with more people facing court without a lawyer and increasingly seeking to have their cases stopped altogether. This is due to funding pressures and increased demand on NT Legal Aid (NTLA), leaving many who cannot afford representation unable to secure a lawyer. As a result, a landmark legal challenge in June will test whether a decades-old High Court ruling should be applied in the NT Local Court, which could have major ramifications for the territory's justice system and the NT government's tough-on-crime agenda.
Northern Territory courts could soon be forced to halt countless serious criminal prosecutions . It comes as a worsening legal aid crisis leaves more people facing court without a lawyer and increasingly seeking to have their cases stopped altogether.
In June, lawyers will test whether a High Court ruling, which stipulates that courts are obliged to stay matters if defendants have no legal representation through no fault of their own, applies in the NT Local Court. Dozens of people charged with serious crimes in the Northern Territory are applying to have their cases halted because they cannot access a lawyer amid a worsening legal aid funding crisis.
Since November, funding pressures and increased demand on NT Legal Aid (NTLA) have left many who cannot afford representation, including children, unable to secure a lawyer, with a growing number of people forced to face court alone, causing major delays and leaving some defendants in custody longer than necessary. In a landmark legal challenge in June, lawyers will test whether a decades-old High Court ruling should be applied in the NT Local Court, which, if successful, could have major ramifications for the territory's justice system and the NT government's tough-on-crime agenda.
The High Court's ruling in Dietrich v The Queen requires Australian courts to halt proceedings if defendants charged with serious crimes are unrepresented through no fault of their own. But in 2006, NT Justice Dean Mildren ruled the Dietrich decision did not apply to 'summary proceedings' in NT local courts. If the legal challenge is successful, those without a lawyer due to no fault of their own could have their case halted.
Territory Criminal Lawyers principal Clancy Dane said a growing number of people facing serious charges had already argued their cases could not fairly proceed without a lawyer and had applied to have them stayed.
'When you have people who can't get lawyers through no fault of their own, justice slows down and in many cases grinds to a halt,' he said. 'That's not just bad for defendants, it's bad for victims, it's bad for the families of victims, it's bad for the community and it's bad for the taxpayers.
' Mr Dane, who will be running the case on behalf of a woman who was refused legal aid, said a 'significant number of people' had been affected by the cuts. 'Right now things are essentially on hold until this stated case resolves,' he said. 'We have lists, whole lists, set aside in Katherine, Darwin and Alice Springs, where these cases are being adjourned into.
In the circuit courts, there are groups of people being adjourned again and again because they don't have lawyers.
' NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has repeatedly insisted NTLA's funding has not been cut, but earlier this month, NTLA director Catherine Voumard confirmed millions of dollars had been stripped from the service. This month, NTLA exhausted its monthly allocation for grants for new clients within a week, leaving many going forward unable to access representation.
Criminal Lawyers Association of the NT president Beth Wild said if Mr Dane's client was successful it would have profound implications for the NT's justice system, extending far beyond delays.
'If a stay is granted, then something can't be prosecuted until such time as legal aid might be reinstated so that person has a lawyer,' she said. 'So at best it causes a delay, but at worst it means that the case can't proceed at all in front of a fair court.
' Ms Wild said the recent service cuts had come at a time when demand for legal help was rising across the territory, as the government poured millions into policing and prisons in pursuit of its tough-on-crime agenda. But she said any perceived savings when cases reached court were a 'false economy'
Northern Territory Legal Aid Crisis Legal Aid Funding Crisis High Court Ruling NT Local Court Criminal Prosecutions Defendants Without Legal Representation Legal Bills Legal Challenge Legal Aid NT Legal Aid (NTLA) Criminal Lawyers Association Of The NT Beth Wild Legal Proceedings Justice System Tough-On-Crime Agenda False Economy
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