WATCH: TLA director Kristen Wylie explains how funding cuts will impact family violence victim-survivors.
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00:00 So we're seeing an extremely high level of family violence and the need for
00:04 response services on the northwest coast. We know that 80% of Tasmania Legal Aid
00:12 clients, family law clients, have experienced family violence and across
00:17 the state last year we granted more than four and a half thousand grants of legal
00:23 aid to people experiencing family violence and we know that this year it's
00:28 going to be even more. And what are some of the programs that are at risk from
00:33 the current funding levels that are available to Legal Aid? So one of our
00:38 biggest programs is our family law program and that offers advice and
00:44 representation to parents and children in family law disputes and we know that
00:50 the Family Law Court is one of the primary courts that keeps families and
00:54 children safe. So over the last two years we received a funding stream
01:02 from the Commonwealth acknowledging the increased workload in family law and
01:08 the increased numbers of independent children's lawyers that were needed to
01:13 help children through these proceedings. Unfortunately the Commonwealth did not
01:19 renew that funding source this year and so we're now in a position where we
01:25 have to make some very very difficult decisions. One of those is potentially
01:31 not funding children to the extent that we previously were and that does not sit
01:39 well with me. Children are the most vulnerable members of our community and
01:44 absolutely need support and representation through what are extremely
01:48 difficult proceedings. The other decision that we could make is that we don't fund
01:54 parents anymore and this could potentially include victim survivors and
01:59 again that does not sit well with me. Tell me about the cross-examination
02:05 services that Legal Aid provides to victims of victim survivors of family
02:09 violence. So we do have a number of other services available in the family
02:15 violence space and one of those is the cross-examination family violence scheme
02:20 and that operates to ensure that perpetrators of family violence aren't
02:25 personally cross-examining the victim survivor. So in those circumstances if
02:31 the perpetrator is unrepresented they will receive funding to be represented
02:37 in the family law proceedings and similarly if the victim survivor is also
02:43 unrepresented they will receive representation in the proceedings.
02:49 And what outcomes do you think there might, what challenges there are for you for your
02:55 services when the government is you know offering programs to help people flee
03:01 and get out of family violence but they're not they're not funding these
03:04 programs that you're advocating for? So we're facing a real difficulty here
03:10 because and I applaud the government for funding victim survivors to leave
03:16 violent relationships which is great but unfortunately we've now got a position
03:21 where they've left and they turn into services like ours that are absolutely
03:27 essential in taking that next step and we're going to have to break cuffs. So I
03:32 would really like to see that funding stream urgently reinstated so that the
03:39 victim survivors can leave and that they can get the assistance they need right
03:44 throughout the family law matter.
03:48 [BLANK_AUDIO]