Ross, Randal --- "Indigenous Legal Services Restructured" [2006] IndigLawB 29; (2006) 6(19) Indigenous Law Bulletin 6

• Indigenous Legal Services Restructured

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Indigenous Legal Services Restructured

by Randal Ross

Until 1 July last year Queensland had 11 Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services (‘ATSILS’). These had been established to provide legal aid to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people in priority areas of law, particularly where personal safety or liberty was at risk. These ATSILS were grant-funded, usually restricted to a relatively small region, and supported by the local (former) Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Commission (‘ATSIC’) regional office. Much good work was done through these services, however duplication of administrative infrastructure and the recurring difficulty of attracting high quality legal personnel to frequently under-resourced practices was, in the final summation, inefficient. It was important that these inefficiencies were dealt with because the need for responsive legal services in the Indigenous community was great.

It is widely recognised that Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people experience far higher rates of adverse contact with the justice system than other Australians. They are also one of the most profoundly disadvantaged groups in Australian society, falling well below relevant national benchmarks on virtually every measure of well-being and socio-economic status.[1]

According to the Federal Government report, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005,[2] victim rates for crime, substantiated child protection notifications and imprisonment rates for both men and women are areas where positive changes are needed. Over the period 2000-2004, the rate of imprisonment for Indigenous women increased by 25 per cent and that of Indigenous men by 11 per cent. Overall in that period, Indigenous people were 11 times more likely than other Australians to be imprisoned and Indigenous juveniles were 20 times more likely to be detained than other juveniles.[3]

To better deal with this burgeoning problem, the Commonwealth Attorney-General’s Department undertook a radical restructuring of Indigenous legal services. The decision was made to operate with only two Aboriginal legal services in Queensland, one in the south of the State and one in the north. The southern region would encompass the former ATSILS of Brisbane, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Murgon, Rockhampton and Charleville; and in the northern, the services of Townsville, Mackay, Mt Isa and two in Cairns.

In February 2005, the Attorney-General, Philip Ruddock, announced that tenders were being called from organisations interested in developing a centralised legal service in each of these two regions. The tenders were open to all organisations wishing to participate, not just Indigenous organisations. ‘The Government is committed to seeing better outcomes delivered to Indigenous Australians, and ensuring value for money,’ Mr Ruddock said at the time.[4] Funding would no longer be through ATSIC but directly from the Attorney-General’s Department, and the tender would require a broad range of criteria to be met, including the capacity to deliver high-quality and efficient legal aid services and to work cooperatively with other service delivery agencies at both state and federal levels. ‘The capacity to deliver accessible and culturally sensitive legal services will be a key requirement of the tender,’ Mr Ruddock added.[5]

In March 2005, the Board of the then community legal service in Townsville, the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Legal Services (Townsville and Surrounding Districts) Limited, made a considered decision to submit a tender response. Two major reasons prompted this decision. The first was that the core of the service was already in place and networks with similar services in the region were operating. The second was the manifest need of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people for culturally sensitive legal aid services.

Additionally, the Board was only too painfully aware that North Queensland, with one of the largest concentrations of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people,[6] is hugely overrepresented in Australian prisons. Not only that, in comparison to non-Indigenous Australians, a greater proportion report being victims of violent crime. Data from the Australian Bureau of Statistics National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2002 show that 24 per cent of Indigenous Australians aged 15 years or over reported being the victim of physical or threatened violence in the 12 months prior to the survey, 16 per cent reported being arrested, and 7 per cent reported being incarcerated in the five years prior to the survey.[7]

The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Legal Services (Townsville and Surrounding Districts) Limited had been providing legal services to communities in Townsville and regions since December 1999 and operated with an understanding of how Indigenous law and culture intersects with non-Indigenous legal principles and processes. The Board believed it had the capacity to deliver the stipulated services albeit over a greatly expanded area. A working party was established and every effort went into preparing the tender response.

To ensure that those interested in tendering were up to speed on what was required, the Attorney-General’s Department organised information sessions and workshops in Brisbane and Cairns.[8] This corporate approach was quite different to that used to set up the community-driven legal services that had gone before. ‘This was a useful undertaking,’ commented Chairperson Angelina Akee, ‘and we used this opportunity to liaise with the other Queensland ATSILS with a view to working collectively before, during and following the tender process.’[9]

In June 2005 it was announced that Townsville had won the contract to provide legal services to Queensland Zone A, which includes Mackay, Mt Isa and western Queensland to the Gulf of Carpentaria, Townsville and surrounding districts, including Palm Island, Cairns and the Cape York communities. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Corporation (QEA) for Legal Services had been awarded the contract for the southern zone.[10]

‘We were very pleased,’ said Angelina Akee, ‘...because it demonstrated that Indigenous organisations could compete successfully in an open and competitive tender process.’ ‘However, we found the expectations to be unrealistic,’ Ms Akee went on to say. ‘Other States had three months to prepare and we were given only 20 days from being formally advised to having to be open for business under the new framework on 1 July.’[11]

The transition period was a difficult and challenging time for all concerned; staff, clients, Board members and other parties who deal with the legal profession. The reality was that the organisation had to grow from being one organisation to the size of five organisations in a very short time, and it now serviced a much larger territory with its own demographic and geographic difficulties. Along with this came all of the problems associated with servicing what were traditionally other people’s territories, including a high level of resistance to change.

The magnitude of the task was extremely large. The company, now known as Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Legal Services (North Queensland) to better reflect the larger region, set about establishing offices in Mackay, Mt Isa and Cairns and continued with the office in Townsville. Negotiations took place with the former legal service providers for the transfer of client files and assets, and the retention of staff. An extensive recruitment drive was undertaken, however despite ongoing national advertising, it took longer than expected to recruit solicitors with experience in criminal law at the senior level.

Ongoing and wide consultation was needed, particularly in the remote communities to inform them of changes to the legal service structure, and with stakeholders such as magistrates, judges and police to ensure streamlined and efficient service delivery.

It has been a hectic 10 months and, as is to be expected, there are still some teething problems. Such a widely dispersed legal service has never before been attempted. The organisation has had to shift its focus from being a regionally-based grant-funded community legal service provider to that of a corporate model servicing a wider region. However, it is drawing together and an intricate web of quality service delivery has evolved.

‘There is a lesson for other ATSILS to be learned here,’ Ms Akee said, ’and that is that, within the contract confines, they still have to set their own realistic goals; to keep focused on their vision and where their organisation is headed.’[12]

Randal Ross is the Chief Executive Officer of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Community Legal Services (North Queensland).

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[1] Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision 2003, Productivity Commission, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2003, (2003).

[2] Steering Committee for the Review of Government Service Provision 2005, Productivity Commission, Overcoming Indigenous Disadvantage: Key Indicators 2005, (2005).

[3] Ibid.

[4] Philip Ruddock, MP, ‘Tendering Begins for Indigenous Legal Services in Queensland’ (Press Release, 25 February 2005).

[5] Ibid.

[6] Office of Economic and Statistical Research, Queensland Government, 2001 Census of Population and Housing, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples Demography, 112, 772.

[7] Australian Bureau of Statistics, National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Social Survey 2002.

[8] Attorney-General’s Department, AusTender <http://www.tenders.gov.au> at 13 June 2006.

[9] Faye Norling, interview with Angelina Akee (Townsville, May 2006).

[10] Philip Ruddock, MP, ‘Indigenous Legal Services Announced for Queensland’ (Press Release, 10 June 2005).

[11] Faye Norling, above n 9.

[12] Ibid.