Over 40 community legal centres came together this week for an emergency national meeting about the impact of the fuel crisis on their clients’ access to safety and justice.
Community Legal Centres Australia is now urgently calling on the Federal Attorney-General for an immediate funding boost of $11.9m in 2026-27 to offset rising fuel costs and limit the impact of the crisis on people’s access to vital frontline support from more than 160 community legal centres nationwide.
Community legal centres help people manage legal, housing, financial, health, and social problems that make their lives harder. In rural and remote areas, 75% of community legal centre work is supporting victims of family and domestic violence. Many clients in remote communities don’t have reliable access to transport, internet, or mobile phones, and rely on community legal centre outreach travel to access help in person.
Before this crisis, a lack of resources was already forcing community legal centres to turn away over 1,000 people a day, including 400 victim-survivors. Community Legal Centres Australia’s 2026-27 pre-budget submission outlines 8 targeted measures totalling $226m per year to address some of this shortfall.
Now, community legal centres are raising serious concerns about the impact of rising fuel costs on their ability to reach people who need crisis support.
Quotes attributable to Tim Leach, Community Legal Centres Australia CEO
“Community legal centres are a lifeline to safety for people in crisis. In remote areas, often the only way people can access vital frontline support is by community lawyers and social workers driving long distances to their communities to meet them and help in-person. For many people, when a community legal worker can’t drive to reach them, they don’t get help."
“Now, skyrocketing fuel costs and fuel shortages are threatening to sever that lifeline by forcing community legal centres to make impossible decisions about how often and how far they can drive to reach people who need help to stay safe and well."
“Economic hard times drive higher rates of family violence and other legal problems. Community legal centres are already starting to see spikes in domestic violence, in acute financial stress, and in other flow-on legal problems. This is likely to increase over coming months. In uncertain and difficult times, it’s more important than ever that people can rely on a strong, stable, safety net of community support, wherever they live.”
About us:
About Community Legal Centres Australia
Community Legal Centres Australia is the national representative voice for the community legal sector. We are an independent, non-profit organisation set up to support the community legal sector to provide high-quality free and accessible legal and related services to everyday people, especially people experiencing financial hardship, discrimination and/or some other form of disadvantage, or who are experiencing domestic or family violence. More information: www.clcs.org.au
Contact details:
Emily Hamilton - 0458 066 054, [email protected]