Warren Snowdon (Lingiari, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Parliamentary Secretary for External Territories) Share this | Hansard source

I was wondering, as I was sitting here during question time, what parallel universe we actually live in here, especially when the foreign minister, the member for Curtin, got up and berated us after she had received a piece of paper from the Attorney-General's office telling us how much they had spent on legal services across the country. But, of course, what she said belies the truth. Can I just enlighten the chamber—and you particularly, Mr Deputy Speaker—on some comments made today by the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of the Northern Territory about 'people in custody who are waiting' and 'witnesses whose memories are fading' because a legal aid agency does not have enough money for lawyers.

The North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency, or NAAJA, has proposed to vacate seven trials in which it was to defend people in the Northern Territory Supreme Court today because it did not have enough federal funding to handle its caseload. NAAJA principal lawyer Jonathon Hunyor told the court:

Our resources aren't keeping up with the demands … we don't have staff to meet our commitments.

Mr Hunyor said NAAJA no longer had access to the Expensive Indigenous Case Fund, which allowed it to outsource help for cases that would cost more than $20,000. Very serious alleged crimes such as murder and sexual assault are the most expensive. Chief Justice Trevor Riley said:

I'm concerned about underlying insufficient funding for lawyers on the ground.

This is not us speaking, foreign minister. This is not us speaking, justice minister and Attorney-General. It is the Chief Justice of the Northern Territory Supreme Court. Following the 2015-16 budget, where the federal government funding was found to be insufficient to keep up with the exploding case load, Chief Justice Riley described the funding situation as 'a blow to the heart of the Northern Territory justice system'. Call me naive, but you would reckon he might know. You would think the foreign minister might actually think before she opens her big fat trap and says stupid things in this parliament.

Mr Tudge interjecting—

You are taking offence? These are the people who call us racists. They take offence at me saying someone has got a big fat trap.

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