Australia – release of the productivity commission inquiry into access to justice

Abstract

On 3 December 2014, the long awaited Final Report of the Productivity Commission Inquiry into ‘Access to Justice Arrangements’ in Australia was released publically through an email to those of us who made submissions. The report had been provided to the Government in September 2014 and as yet the government has not made its response. The Government did however hold off mooted further cuts to legal assistance services that were foreshadowed to be in the Economic Forecasts which were released in early December. Perhaps, the government desisted because of the Productivity Commission’s clear finding that the legal assistance sector was underfunded, stretched and unable to meet demand as a consequence and its call for a further $200 million that is needed (Page 30). Making a further announcement of cuts might have looked very odd given this recently released Government commissioned wide-ranging report.