Access to Justice Arrangements: Productivity Commission Submission

The Consumer Credit Legal Centre has provided a submission to the Productivity Commission on its Issues Paper, Access to Justice Arrangements.

 The key points and recommendations made in this submission are:

• The service delivery model used by CCLC is a very effective and efficient method of addressing legal and related need and enhancing access to justice in relation to credit, debt and other financial services issues.
• There is still considerable unmet need in relation to credit, debt and insurance law in Australia.
• Credit legal services should be integrated with telephone financial counselling and referrals across Australia.
• Community Legal Centres can use their resources to best effect when they use the intelligence gained from casework and service provision to advocate for systemic solutions. This should be explicitly recognised and incorporated into funding models, including reporting and evaluation.
• Access to external dispute resolutions services like the Financial Ombudsman Service and Credit Ombudsman Service are vital to access to justice – and are arguably the greatest addition to consumer protection in Australia in many decades. Current problems with delays in such schemes are not insurmountable and in the process of being addressed.
• The Insurance Law Service operated by CCLC is ideally placed to perform a central role in responding to national disasters but is underfunded to do so. A greater (but still modest) contribution from the Commonwealth and a per capita contribution from each State and territory could increase funding to necessary levels.
• Filing fees and court procedures (or proposed changes to procedures) are creating barriers to pursuing public interest litigation in some cases.