2021–22 annual report

1. Annual report highlights

[Audio description] A vibrant sound track is played as background music throughout the video. 

[Visual description] In 2021-22, we continued to deliver a wide range of legal services to vulnerable and disadvantaged Queenslanders

[Visual description] We helped people who:

• Were experiencing domestic and family violence
• Had a child protection matter
• Were separating
• Had been charged with an offence
• Had been affected by a bushfire, flood or other natural disaster
• Had questions about consumer and debt matters
• Were making an anti-discrimination claim

And many others

[Visual description] In 2021-22 we employed 640 staff across Queensland, including:

• 77% women
• 5.47% people with disability
• 4% Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Peoples

[Visual description] Who helped to deliver:

• 223,006 information and referral services
• 40,752 legal advice and legal tasks services
• 110,298 free duty lawyer services
• 31,833 approved grants of aid

[Visual description]

• 55 policy/law reform responses
• 218 community legal education activates to 6,532 people
• 2,370 dispute resolution conferences

[Visual description]

And our family law dispute resolution processes helped 76% of clients achieve an early resolution

• Family law disputes resolved before court or before a final hearing

[Visual description]

We helped to establish the Defence and Veterans Legal Service

[Visual description]

Which is a free service providing information and advice to:

• Serving defence members
• Veterans and their families
• Carers and supporters

To safely share their experiences with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide

[Visual description]

We continue to provide best practice legal services to Frist Nations clients

[Visual description]

We deliver cultural sensitivity training and focussed on becoming an employer of choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lawyers and staff.

Read the 2021-22 annual report at www.legalaid.qld.gov.au/annual-report.

2. Letter of compliance

31 August 2022

The Hon Shannon Fentiman MP
Attorney-General and Minister for Justice,
Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence
1 William Street
Brisbane Qld 4000

Dear Attorney

I am pleased to submit for presentation to the Parliament the Annual Report 2021–22 and financial statements for Legal Aid Queensland.

I certify this annual report complies with:

• the prescribed requirements of the Financial Accountability Act 2009 and the Financial and Performance Management Standard 2019
• the detailed requirements set out in the Annual report requirements for Queensland Government agencies.

A checklist outlining the annual reporting requirements is provided in the appendix of this annual report.

Yours sincerely

The Hon Margaret McMurdo AC
Chairperson, Legal Aid Queensland Board

3. Chairpersons report

As chair of the Legal Aid Queensland Board, I am delighted to introduce our annual report for 2021–22.

This report highlights the organisation’s achievements and challenges over the past year as we continued to deliver a remarkably wide range of legal services to vulnerable and disadvantaged people around Queensland.

It has again been a privilege to work with the Legal Aid Queensland Board, Executive Management Team, and staff this reporting year. The board welcomed as a member Cairns-based lawyer Spencer Browne. Spencer brings to the board his experience as a lawyer in private practice and in the not-for-profit sector. Importantly, his appointment maintains a regional voice and perspective after we farewelled board member, Lucia Taylor. I sincerely thank Lucia for her support and contribution to the organisation. With a view to ensuring continued good governance, the board this year completed its first risk appetite statement for the organisation.

Navigating the COVID-19 pandemic has been a continuing challenge this year, impacting our staffing levels at various times. Throughout, our staff and management team have been flexible, positive, and committed to delivering quality legal services to clients. I commend everyone in the organisation for their professionalism and resilience this year and throughout the pandemic.

During the year, the board was finally able to resume its regional meetings with a visit to the Legal Aid Queensland Townsville office. It is no easy task ensuring that our services are available throughout this large and decentralised state. The board heard first-hand about the benefits and challenges for our lawyers and staff in North Queensland, and met with judicial officers, the local legal profession and other stakeholders.

In 2021–22, we continued to enhance our work as a Centre of Excellence, sharing our considerable experience in criminal, family and civil law with the legal and community service delivery sectors, as well as with the broader public. Where appropriate, we continued to provide policy and legislative reform proposals to the state and federal governments, to commissions of inquiry, and to industry bodies. I particularly acknowledge Legal Aid Queensland’s comprehensive submission to the Women’s Safety and Justice Taskforce. The submission reflected our unique expertise in delivering holistic legal services to large numbers of domestic and family violence victim-survivors, as well as to many people charged with perpetrating such violence.

I warmly congratulate our Toowoomba principal lawyer Kyna Morice who was honoured as the 2021 Regional Woman Lawyer of the Year, and to Toowoomba lawyer Darren Lewis who was named as joint winner of the Queensland Law Society’s First Nations Solicitor of the Year Award for 2021. These are outstanding personal achievements and provide continued testament to the high calibre of Legal Aid Queensland’s lawyers. I also congratulate preferred supplier law firm Cridland & Hua Lawyers on receiving the Legal Aid Queensland Equitable Briefing Award at the 2021 Women Lawyers Association Queensland Awards.

Legal Aid Queensland has continued to work towards reducing the over-representation of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples in the criminal justice and child protection systems and to provide best practice legal services to First Nations clients. During 2021–22, we implemented our revised First Nations strategic and operational plans and delivered cultural sensitivity training throughout the organisation. This training encompasses cultural awareness, capability, safety and embedding cultural practices and has been embedded in our learning and development framework. We have also focussed on becoming an employer of choice for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander lawyers and staff. We now have 4.06 percent First Nations staff, exceeding the 3 percent Queensland Government target. We look forward to steadily increasing these numbers.

This year, we received significant funding increases from both state and federal governments. On behalf of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and the people of Queensland, I thank the Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, the Hon. Shannon Fentiman MP, the former federal Attorney-General, the Hon. Michaelia Cash MP, and the federal Attorney-General, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus QC MP, for their support. Without this financial assistance, we could not provide our current level of services. The much-needed increased funding will assist the organisation to continue to best meet the legal needs of a growing number of vulnerable and financially disadvantaged Queenslanders. It will also ensure we continue to attract and remunerate the private practitioners who do legal aid work on our behalf across the state.

Many people have collaborated to ensure Legal Aid Queensland has again delivered high quality legal services, including in regional, rural and remote areas. I thank our wonderful staff (both those who deliver legal services and those who support them), our talented management team, and my hard-working fellow board members. I thank the hundreds of private service delivery partners who perform a great public service in joining with us to deliver access to justice to vulnerable Queenslanders. And I thank those working in the wider legal assistance sector for their role in delivering community-based legal services to those in need. The talent, effort and dedication of everyone contributing to the quality and quantity of Legal Aid Queensland’s important and diverse work continues to inspire me, as I hope it does you. I look forward to working with you all in 2022–23.

Margaret McMurdo AC
Chairperson, Legal Aid Queensland Board

4. Chief executive officer's report

In 2021-22, Legal Aid Queensland continued to provide legal assistance to financially disadvantaged people throughout Queensland and to strive to be a leader in a fair justice system.

We worked towards achieving the objectives set out in our strategic plan while also being guided by our values of social justice, respect, quality, cost effectiveness and accountability, and cognisant of the Queensland public service values-customers first, ideas into action, unleash potential, be courageous and empower people.

During the year, the Defence and Veterans Legal Service was established to support people who want to engage with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide. The service is a free and independent national legal service, and Legal Aid Queensland provides information and advice services to serving defence members, veterans and their families, carers and supporters to safely share their experiences with the Royal Commission. The service has answered 633 calls and provided 309 information and referral services to clients since it began.

At the core of our organisation are our dedicated staff. We strive to be a great place to work where our people are respected, valued, safe and supported. And our highly skilled workforce embraces diversity, flexibility, learning and continuous improvement to deliver quality legal services. During the year, we continued to participate in the whole-of-government Working for Queensland Employee Opinion Survey with 77 percent of respondents reporting high levels of engagement with the organisation. The feedback we received from the survey helped us to identify areas for improvement and informed our Workforce Action Plan 2021-22. In particular, we focussed on increasing awareness about workplace bullying and harassment, and also improving our approach to recruitment and selection. We extended the training and development opportunities offered to our staff and external service delivery partners.

During the year, the federal government announced additional funding for Legal Aid Queensland over the next four years. These funds will be used to expand our Family and Advocacy Support Services, Rockhampton Domestic Violence Unit, and our flood legal assistance services. We will also increase legal services for people with mental health conditions and introduce legal services for people affected by sexual harassment in the workplace.

The state government also announced increased funding for Legal Aid Queensland over the next four years. This injection of funding will allow the organisation to meet increasing demand for core legal services in criminal law, domestic and family violence and child protection. It will also allow us to expand our domestic and family violence duty lawyer services and support the continued enhancement and rollout of specialist Domestic and Family Violence Courts in Queensland.

Importantly, this funding will also allow for a much-needed increase in the fees paid to private lawyers and specialists like psychiatrists who do legal aid work on the organisation's behalf. This will help ensure we remain appropriately resourced so that preferred suppliers will continue to do this important work. Without the support and work of these service delivery partners, Legal Aid Queensland would be unable to fully service the legal needs of financially disadvantaged Queenslanders.

I would like to extend my gratitude to the Queensland Attorney-General and Minister for Justice, Minister for Women and Minister for the Prevention of Domestic and Family Violence, the Hon. Shannon Fentiman MP, and the former federal Attorney-General, the Hon. Michaelia Cash MP and federal Attorney-General, the Hon. Mark Dreyfus QC MP for their continued financial support. These significant funding increases will deliver vital legal services to Queensland's most vulnerable, and I look forward to reporting on these services next year.

I would also like to thank the Legal Aid Queensland Board and Executive Management Team for their continued support this year. And I sincerely thank Legal Aid Queensland staff, our service delivery partners and stakeholders across the courts, government and legal assistance and community sectors. Your commitment to our clients-from culturally and linguistically diverse backgrounds, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples, people with disability, people living in rural, regional and remote areas of Queensland, and women experiencing domestic and family violence-is to be commended. I look forward to working with you all over the next 12 months.

Nicky Davies Chief executive officer

5. Corporate governance

Corporate governance is the system by which our organisation is managed, directed and held accountable.

Sound corporate governance means:

• achieving our strategic objectives
• being accountable for our decisions and actions
• fulfilling legal requirements
• complying with privacy obligations
• ensuring the Legal Aid Queensland Act's requirements and philosophy are met
• managing risks
• monitoring, reporting on and evaluating our performance
• meeting government and community expectations.

Our corporate governance structure provides leadership in achieving our strategic and operational objectives (see Figure 1 for more information).

Figure 1. Corporate governance structure

Legal Aid Queensland Board

The Legal Aid Queensland Board (the board) is responsible for governing Legal Aid Queensland and ensuring the organisation achieves its objectives. The board is our organisation's governing body and is responsible to the Attorney-General.

The board decides the organisation's priorities and strategies, leads policy direction and ensures sound and prudent financial management.

The board usually has five members. Each member has specific knowledge or experience that helps in the organisation's management. The areas of expertise include public administration, financial management, and law and legal services provision. The board is headed by a chairperson, who is appointed by the Governor in Council. Board members are appointed by the Governor in Council usually for three-year terms (see Table 1 for more information). The chief executive officer (CEO) and the senior directors are invited to attend all board meetings. Executive Management Team directors also attend as needed to present papers and discuss issues with the board.

Board members

Margaret McMurdo AC

Board chairperson since May 2017

Margaret McMurdo was appointed President, Court of Appeal, Supreme Court of Queensland from 1998 until 2017 and was Acting Chief Justice of Queensland in 2015.

Margaret graduated with a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Queensland in 1976. She began her legal career as a student volunteer in 1974 with the newly formed Aboriginal Legal Service.

In 1976, she became the first female paralegal in the Public Defender's Office. She was admitted as a barrister in December 1976 and was an Assistant Public Defender from 1977 to 1989. She practised at the Bar from 1989 until 1991 when she was appointed to the District Court of Queensland. In 1993, she also held a commission as a Childrens Court judge.

Margaret has been awarded a number of honorary doctorates and is a founding Fellow of the Australian Academy of Law and a member of the American Law Institute. She is patron of Caxton Legal Service and LawRight's Civil Justice Fund. In 2017, Margaret was appointed chair of the Board of Governors of Queensland Community Foundation, the state's largest public perpetual charitable trust.

Margaret chaired the Victorian Royal Commission into the Management of Police Informers from 2018 to 2020.

From March 2021 until June 2022, Margaret was chair of the Queensland's Women's Safety and Justice Taskforce.

Allan Welsh

Board member since July 2008

Allan Welsh has led major projects in the public and private sectors for the past 20 years, with extensive experience in managing capital infrastructure, information and business system projects and events. He was awarded a Public Service Medal in the 2008 Australian Honours for his work in managing capital projects in the arts sector.

Sandra Deane

Board member since September 2014

Sandra Deane is an experienced board member and tribunal member with extensive private and public sector experience. She brings experience from senior positions (including as CEO) in the corporate (publicly listed, large private and government-owned corporations) and professional (legal) sectors. Sandra was admitted as a solicitor in 1988 and has more than 25 years' experience in legal practice in corporate and private practice and tribunal roles. She also has more than 15 years' experience in the energy sector. She brings professional expertise in contract management and negotiation, dispute resolution and compliance. She is currently an external Audit and Compliance Committee Member of the Local Government Association of Queensland Limited and is a part-time member of the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Joshua Creamer

Board member since July 2017

Joshua is a descendant of the Waanyi and Kalkadoon nations from North West Queensland. He has been practising as a barrister since 2011.

Joshua has a national practice and specialises in class actions and native title.

Joshua has appeared in two landmark class actions, Wotton v State of Queensland [2016] FCA 1457, (the Palm Island Case), Australia's largest racial discrimination case, and Pearson v State of Queensland (No 2) [2020] FCA 619, (Stolen Wages QLD) Australia's largest human rights case.

Joshua is ranked in Chambers and Partners Asia-Pacific and Doyle's Guide for his work in the native title jurisdiction.

In 2017, Joshua was the recipient of the National Indigenous Legal Professional of the Year Award.

Spencer Browne

Board member since September 2021

Cairns-based lawyer Spencer Browne has a wealth of experience in private practice and the not-for-profit sector.

Spencer graduated from James Cook University in 2009 with a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Laws and obtained his Graduate Diploma in Legal Practice from the Australian National University in 2010. He was an associate to two District Court judges, before practising in planning and environmental law and commercial litigation. He is the North Queensland Law Association's longest-serving president and currently sits as the organisation's treasurer.

Spencer has a keen interest in Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander affairs and has spent the last 10 years doing legislative compliance work in the Aboriginal Community Control Health Organisation (ACCHO) sector. He has organised a major youth-based event in north Queensland for the past 10 years, focusing on reducing youth crime and recidivism.

Legal Aid Queensland Board

Remuneration

Table 1. Legal Aid Queensland Board information 2021-22

Accommodation Committee

The Accommodation Committee is a sub-committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in an advisory capacity to the board. The committee assesses our long-term accommodation needs and options for office operations throughout the state.

The committee's primary functions include:

• assessing and making recommendations surrounding the continued ownership of 44 Herschel Street Brisbane and/or future refurbishments
• assessing sale, purchase and/or leasing options for our Brisbane central business district occupancy needs
• engaging with relevant stakeholders surrounding accommodation options available to Legal Aid Queensland
• providing advice and assessing the valuation impacts potential to Legal Aid Queensland moving forward
• considering significant issues relating to regional office accommodation
• engaging external contractors to help with assessments as needed.

The committee comprises Legal Aid Queensland Board member Allan Welsh (chairperson).

The meeting is also attended by:

• CEO Nicky Davies
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren
• Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
• Chief finance officer (CFO) Gavin Holdway
• Facilities and procurement manager Jeffrey Patterson.

Allan Welsh received remuneration for his attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration he received for attending board meetings.

Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee

The Audit, Risk and Compliance Committee is a sub-committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in a review and advisory capacity to the board. The committee provides independent assurance and assistance to the board on our financial administration and reporting, audit control and independence, legal compliance, internal controls, and risk oversight and management.

The committee's key achievements in 2021-22 included:

• continuing to review the charter annually to ensure ongoing effectiveness of the committee's authority, objectives and responsibilities
• continuing to advise on better practice governance trends
• reviewing the 2020-21 end of financial year statements before signing by the board chairperson and CFO
• reviewing the external auditor's recommendations from the 2020-21 audit and 2021-22 interim audit
• reviewing the organisation's strategic risks register and overseeing the register's maintenance
• reviewing the compliance assurance tools and endorsing the ongoing bi-annual compliance reporting program.

The committee comprises:

• Legal Aid Queensland Board member Sandra Deane (chairperson)
• Legal Aid Queensland Board member Lucia Taylor (1 July 2021 to 23 August 2021)
• Legal Aid Queensland Board member Spencer Browne (24 August 2021 to 30 June 2022)
• a Queensland Treasury representative
• a Department of Justice and Attorney-General Financial Services representative
• Jeanette Shanahan, external committee member, independent financial management, regulatory compliance and audit practices specialist.

Sandra Deane and Spencer Browne received remuneration for their attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration they received for attending board meetings. Lucia Taylor received remuneration for her attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration she received for attending board meetings for the period 1 July 2021 to 23 August 2021. The representatives from Queensland Treasury and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General are public servants and did not receive remuneration for attending meetings. External committee member Jeanette Shanahan received $2210 (including superannuation) remuneration in 2021-22.

The meeting is also attended by:

• CEO Nicky Davies
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren
• CFO Gavin Holdway
• Governance manager Stephen Shirvington.

First Nations Advisory Committee

The First Nations Advisory Committee is a sub-committee of the Legal Aid Queensland Board and acts in an advisory capacity to the board. The committee leads the ongoing development of Legal Aid Queensland's cultural capability in providing best practice legal services to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.

The committee's responsibilities include:

• monitoring the First Nations Strategic Plan 2021-23
• reporting to the board about the plan's implementation
• providing advice to the board about issues relating to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander strategies and policies.

The committee comprises:

• Legal Aid Queensland Board member Joshua Creamer (chairman)
• representatives from two external organisations that provide general help to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people
• an Indigenous Lawyers Association of Queensland representative
• two Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander employee representatives-one lawyer and one administrative officer.
• Other stakeholders and staff members attend meetings to provide specialist advice on matters as needed.

Joshua Creamer is a board member appointed to the committee and received remuneration for his attendance and representation in addition to the remuneration he received for attending board meetings. External committee member Wyatt Cook-Revell received $1969 (including superannuation) remuneration in 2021-22. Other external committee members receive remuneration for their attendance and representation. Legal Aid Queensland employee representatives do not receive remuneration.

Executive Management Team

Under the Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997, the CEO has responsibility, under the board, for managing Legal Aid Queensland's day-to-day administration, providing legal services to legally assisted people, and arranging and supervising the legal services provided by Legal Aid Queensland lawyers.

The CEO is supported in this role by the Executive Management Team. The team's functions are to:

• monitor our strategies, activities and performance to ensure legal assistance is provided to financially disadvantaged people in the most effective, efficient and economical way
• review and approve policies and standards and ensure these are implemented so we meet our statutory obligations
• review and approve documentation before these documents are submitted to the board or one of its sub-committees for consideration, noting and/or approval
• ensure management systems and practices are effective and reflect ethics obligations and the Code of Conduct
• oversee our budget and monitor financial performance
• promote, sponsor and develop a culture of risk management, service delivery improvement and innovation to ensure we have an organisational culture and environment that attracts and retains high-performing employees
• consider and make decisions on significant issues affecting the organisation
• communicate important information to staff.

The team meets monthly and comprises:

• CEO Nicky Davies
• Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
• Family Law and Civil Justice Services director Toni Bell
• Criminal Law Services director Kerry Bichel
• Acting Public Defender Catherine Morgan
• Grants director Louise Martin
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren
• Information and Advice Services director Katrina Smith
• CFO Gavin Holdway
• Communication and Community Legal Education managers Miranda Greer and Amanda Catania.

The meeting is also attended by Governance manager Stephen Shirvington, Chief people officer Kelly Camden and Senior advisor Margaret Hornagold.

Finance Committee

The Finance Committee monitors and reviews our financial, budget and performance processes.

The committee's responsibilities include:

• overseeing the annual budget preparation and recommending its endorsement by the CEO and approval by the board
• ensuring our budget is framed to maximise achieving objectives outlined in our strategic plan and government priorities
• ensuring the budget is effectively managed so we achieve budget targets and comply with government requirements
• monitoring and reporting on our financial performance and position, identifying key financial performance drivers and establishing measures for determining success
• monitoring compliance with external financial reporting requirements.

The committee comprises:

• CFO Gavin Holdway (chairperson)
• CEO Nicky Davies
• Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren
• Grants director Louise Martin.

The meeting is also attended by:

• Grants assistant director Amber Buckland
• Chief people officer Kelly Camden
• Financial Services and Business Analysis manager Melissa Gill
• Principal financial accountant Yin Mand Ng.

Information Communication and Technology Steering Committee

The Information Communication and Technology (ICT) Steering Committee ensures information technology (IT), and communication operations, investments and initiatives are aligned with Legal Aid Queensland's strategic objective of building on our business capability, sustainability and workplace culture.

The committee's responsibilities include:

• providing corporate governance for planning, approving and prioritising significant ICT investments and initiatives
• ensuring whole-of-organisation coordination and oversight of ICT and its deployment within the organisation
• ensuring ICT investments and initiative proposals:
  • are and remain consistent with the organisation's strategic plan, priorities, budget strategy and resourcing capability
  • are responsive to identified client and staff needs
  • fully consider people management, change management and communication priorities
• ensuring whole-of-organisation engagement with the organisation's ICT priorities and challenges
• monitoring IT service delivery performance against approved targets and initiating corrective action where needed.

The committee comprises:

• CEO Nicky Davies (chairperson)
• Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren
• Grants director Louise Martin
• Information and Advice Services director Katrina Smith
• Chief information officer Paul Ninnes
• Records and Information manager Michael Johnston
• a Department of Justice and Attorney-General representative.

The meeting is also attended by:

• CFO Gavin Holdway
• Communication and Community Legal Education managers Miranda Greer and Amanda Catania
• Acting Technical operations manager Darren Erlich
• Business engagement manager Rae Fletcher
• Facilities and procurement manager Jeffrey Patterson
• Governance manager Stephen Shirvington.

People, Culture and Capability Committee

The People, Culture and Capability (PCC) Committee helps determine Legal Aid Queensland's approach to support the strategic objective of building on our business capability, sustainability and workforce culture. The committee considers organisational issues relating to resourcing, performance, structure, culture and skills development, and aims to meet organisational needs while engaging employees.

The committee's responsibilities include:

• guiding our workforce strategy development, monitoring and evaluation
• ensuring resource levels, mix and allocation adequately support the organisation's current and future needs
• maintaining an awareness of PCC trends, assessing their applicability for Legal Aid Queensland and implementing initiatives for continuous improvement
• approving new and updated PCC policies and procedures in line with the strategic framework
• noting operational PCC metrics and key performance indicators
• encouraging a culture of performance through active people management and development
• ensuring the organisation complies with relevant legislation and directives.

The committee comprises:

• CEO Nicky Davies (chairperson)
• Legal Practice senior director Peter Delibaltas
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren
• Criminal Law Services director Kerry Bichel
• Grants director Louise Martin
• Information and Advice Services director Katrina Smith
• Family Law and Civil Justice Services director Toni Bell
• Acting Public defender Catherine Morgan
• Chief people officer Kelly Camden
• Senior advisor Margaret Hornagold.

Work, Health and Safety Committee

The Work, Health and Safety Committee provides a consultative forum (with particular reference to the requirements of the Work, Health and Safety Act 2011) that can effectively address arising health and safety matters as well as recommend proactive initiatives to promote health and safety in Legal Aid Queensland.

The committee's responsibilities include:

• helping to develop, monitor and review health and safety policies and procedures
• considering proposals for, or changes to, the workplace, policies, work practices or procedures, which may affect the health and safety of employees
• considering measures for training and educating employees about health and safety
• promoting the importance of health and safety among management and employees
• monitoring Legal Aid Queensland's health and safety performance
• reviewing the circumstances surrounding workplace incidents and hazards referred to the committee for review
• helping to resolve health and safety issues.

The committee comprises:

• Principal consultant (Work Health and Safety) Rosemary Mason (chair)
• Business Support senior director Ian Warren (management representative)
• Senior family lawyer Darren Lewis (southern regional offices representative)
• Criminal lawyer Craig Ryan (northern regional offices representative)
• Lawyer Jason Czinki (Basement/Ground - 44 Herschel St Brisbane)
• Criminal Law Services coordinator Patrick O'Brien (Level 3/4 - 44 Herschel St Brisbane)
• Litigation support officer Christopher Pell (420 George St Brisbane)
• Conference organiser Merrilyn Cox (193 North Quay Brisbane)
• Facilities and procurement manager Jeffrey Patterson
• Senior facilities and procurement officer Delina Smail
• Security officer
• Consultant (payroll) Jenni Nobbs (secretariat).

External scrutiny

We are subject to all of the external accountability mechanisms that apply to a statutory body in Queensland, including regular budget and performance updates with Queensland Treasury and the Department of Justice and Attorney-General.

Accountability mechanisms that complement the internal corporate governance framework include:

• external audit and certification
• judicial review of administrative decisions
• the Queensland Ombudsman
• the Crime and Corruption Commission Queensland
• Parliamentary Estimates Committee Hearings
• the Legal Affairs and Safety Committee
• the Legal Services Commission
• public performance reporting, for example, through this annual report and the annual Service Delivery Statement.

Human Rights Act

The Human Rights Act 2019's main objects are to:

• protect and promote human rights
• help build a culture in the Queensland public sector that respects and promotes human rights
• help promote a dialogue about the nature, meaning and scope of human rights.

Legal Aid Queensland is committed to human rights principles. To fulfil this commitment, and further the objects of and ensure compliance with the Act, we have adopted the following measures:

• implementing a Human Rights Policy
• reviewing policies for compliance, including our case management and client service standards
• updating internal procedures to improve alignment with the Act's principles and requirements
• implementing staff awareness measures and compulsory staff training.

Our complaints systems and processes ensure we can capture and effectively address any human rights complaints received. We did not receive any human rights complaints in 2021-22.

6. Organisation structure

Download a PDF of the organisation structure(PDF, 230KB)

7. Report card

Queensland Government community objective

• Backing our frontline services

Our services

Community legal education and information—through our website, publications, community legal education activities, statewide contact centre and customer service counters

Legal advice and task assistance—over the phone, by video-link or face-to-face

Duty lawyer services—in criminal, family, domestic and family violence, child protection, anti-discrimination, employment and administrative law

Lawyer assisted dispute resolution—for families facing separation, and for consumers and farmers

Representation in courts and tribunals—including criminal law, family law, child protection, domestic and family violence, mental health and some civil law matters.

Performance indicators

• Meet Commonwealth Government performance indicators and Queensland Government service delivery statement measures
• Conduct service delivery audits
• Conduct client satisfaction survey
• Deliver internal and external training opportunities to staff and other service providers
• Achieve First Nations Strategic Plan objectives
• Improve services to rural and regional communities
• Participate in legal assistance forums
• Contribute to government policy development
• Implement service delivery initiatives in the Financial Strategy, Workforce Strategy and ICT Strategic Plan

Outcomes

✓ Achieved Queensland Government targets (see Table 4).

✓ Conducted service delivery audits (see Objective 1. Provide quality and cost-effective legal services to our clients).

✓ Client survey respondents rated their overall satisfaction with Legal Aid Queensland as 7.6 out of 10 in the core survey and 8.2 out of 10 in the First Nations survey.

✓ Delivered training to staff and our legal service delivery partners (see Objective 2. Progress our vision through collaboration and policy leadership).

✓ Ensured clients from key disadvantaged groups were able to access our services (see Table 6).

✓ Provided 55 policy/law reform responses.

✓ 77 percent of Employee Opinion Survey respondents reported high levels of engagement with Legal Aid Queensland.

✓ Financial position remains healthy (see Financial overview).

✓ Implemented Workforce Strategy initiatives (see Objective 2. Progress our vision through collaboration and policy leadership).

✓ Implemented ICT Strategic Plan initiatives (see Objective 3. Build on our business capability and sustainability).

✓ Completed business support projects.

Priorities for the future

• Continue to provide quality, cost effective legal services statewide.
• Improve service delivery to Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people.
• Continue to pursue our goal of Legal Aid Queensland being a ‘centre of excellence’.
• Continue to deliver training opportunities to staff and external service providers.
• Replace our key business systems LAQ Office and Grants Online.
• Collaborate with and enhance support for preferred supplier law firms.
• Roll out expanded Family Advocacy and Support Services.
• Expand services delivered by our Domestic Violence Unit in Rockhampton.
• Enhance legal service delivery for people with mental health conditions.
• Continue to deliver legal services for people:
  • affected by sexual harassment in the workplace
  • affected by the severe weather events in Queensland in February and March 2022
  • appealing decisions from the National Disability Insurance Scheme.
• Enhance and expand services to specialist domestic and family violence courts.
• Increase fees paid to preferred supplier law firms and other specialists like report writers to do legal aid work.

8. Financial overview

Table 2. LAQ 2021-22 operating budget versus actual performance

The 2021-22 operating surplus of $2.912 million, or 1.75 percent of total income, has been substantially influenced by the receipt of additional Commonwealth funding for various services later in 2021-22. Due to the timing and later receipt of these funding streams, this resulted in underspends in employee expenditure and supplies and services expenditure. While these underspends emerged in 2021-22, this is essentially a timing matter only as the organisation is expected to spend against the additional funding streams into the next financial year.

Our financial position remains healthy and reflects the board and management's commitment to sound financial management principles to ensure the long-term sustainability of core services.

Our continued focus on managing our finances has maintained our balance sheet's strength and stability while allowing the organisation to continue to deliver frontline services in a timely and effective way. This sound financial position allows us to invest in our assets and operational infrastructure, which ultimately helps us deliver services more efficiently to our clients. We will continue to minimise costs and risks in relation to liabilities and contingent liabilities through our ongoing focus on sound governance practices in our financial management.

The organisation collectively has a strong focus on financial management and this allows for a greater ability to plan and deliver against objectives while meeting our core responsibility to provide cost effective services to financially disadvantaged Queenslanders.

Income

Federal and state government grants are our main income source, with relatively little income derived from service charges or clients' contributions towards their legal costs (see Figure 4 for more information).

Another part of our overall income management focuses on interest income earned on cash investments. This portion of income is moderate in nature but important as it helps deliver core services and provide operational support functions.

Expenses

Our major expenditure categories cover salary and wages for our staff along with paying our statewide network of private law firms to carry out legal aid work on our behalf (see Figure 6 for more information). The expenditure paid to private law firms is consistent with our mixed service delivery model, which allocates about 75 to 80 percent of legally-aided matters to private lawyers. The remaining costs support the in-house legal practice and infrastructure for all service delivery (see Figure 5 for more information). Our continued focus on expenditure management has contributed significantly to the organisational delivery.

Assets

The most valuable assets we have are cash and cash equivalents (of $70.410 million), and our land and building in Brisbane (currently valued at $30 million). Other assets we own include unique computer-based business systems, car fleet and money owed to us by clients.

Liabilities

Our largest liability is money we have to put aside to pay private lawyers for work assigned to them but not yet completed. Sometimes these cases can take several years to complete so money needs to be kept aside from the outset of the matter. This is shown as a provision in the accounts. In addition to this, our other main liabilities include known future payments to suppliers and providing payments associated with annual leave entitlements for our staff.

Equity

Equity is made up of two components-first the accumulated surplus (also known as retained earnings), which essentially is money in the bank and available to use for business needs, and secondly the asset revaluation reserve. The accumulated surplus balance as at 30 June 2022 was $34.274 million, which represents about 60 percent of our total equity. The second component of our equity is the revaluation reserve and this represents the increase, over time, in the value of the land and buildings we own in Brisbane where our head office is located. The 30 June 2022 balance of the asset revaluation surplus was $22.841 million.

Cash

We have maintained and managed healthy cash levels over the past number of years to ensure we can pay our employees, ensure payment to our network of private lawyers for matters they finalise, and to allow us to replace equipment and other assets along with upgrading our facilities when and where required. We invest this cash in low-risk funds managed by the Queensland Government's central financing authority. This investment strategy provides us with some income from interest earned but also protects us from market fluctuations.

9. About us

Our role, purpose, vision and values

Our role

We provide legal assistance to financially disadvantaged people throughout Queensland.

Our purpose

To maintain the rule of law, protect legal rights, contribute to the efficiency of the justice system and reduce the social impacts of legal problems.

Our vision

To be a leader in a fair justice system where people are able to understand and protect their legal and human rights.

Our values

Social justice

We seek to protect people's legal and human rights, promote fair treatment and help those at risk of social exclusion.

Respect

We respect the people we assist and those with whom we work and their safety.

Quality

We strive to improve the quality of our work and the outcomes for our clients.

Cost effectiveness

We deliver innovative, sustainable, quality and cost-effective services.

Accountability

We are accountable for our actions and decisions.

Who we are and what we do

Legal Aid Queensland provides legal help to financially disadvantaged Queenslanders. We are an independent statutory authority that operates under the Legal Aid Queensland Act 1997.

We receive state government funding to provide legal services for state law matters, and federal government funding to provide the legal services designated in the National Legal Assistance Partnership and any other federal funding agreements.

Our services include community legal education (CLE) and information, legal advice and task assistance, duty lawyer services, lawyer assisted dispute resolution, and representation in courts and tribunals. Our services are provided across a range of areas of law including crime, family, child protection, child support, domestic and family violence, social security, consumer protection, employment and anti-discrimination.

Our work contributes to the Queensland Government's objective: Backing our frontline services. We deliver vital legal services to financially disadvantaged people who cannot afford to engage a lawyer. Our programs help to break the cycle of disadvantage for Queenslanders.

Our head office is in Brisbane. To meet the needs of Queenslanders living in rural and regional areas, we implement a range of strategies, including a statewide client contact centre and offering our services from 13 regional offices: Southport, Ipswich, Toowoomba, Woodridge, Inala, Caboolture, Maroochydore, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Mount Isa, Townsville and Cairns. Our regional office staff work with a network of community access points that act as information outposts and referral points in communities. We also participate in the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum and Regional Legal Assistance Forums.

We provide free CLE, legal information and referral, legal advice and legal task services, and duty lawyer services.

We provide duty lawyer, representation and dispute resolution services through a mixed service delivery model involving our in-house legal practice and preferred supplier law firms around the state to maximise legal services available to disadvantaged Queenslanders. Staff assess individual legal aid applications against the Legal Aid Queensland funding guidelines and by applying means and merits tests, and manage the funding arrangements for cases where aid is approved.

We also respond to requests from the state and federal governments for submissions on legislative reforms and other matters.

10. Our performance

Table 3. Overview of Legal Aid Queensland services 2021-22

Overview of services

The Australian Government and the states and territories entered into a National Legal Assistance Partnership Agreement (NLAP) in July 2020. This agreement expires in June 2025. The NLAP governs the manner in which Commonwealth legal aid services funding to the states and territories is to be used, as well as the broader goals and objectives of legal assistance services.

The previous National Partnership Agreement outlined benchmarks on which to report, whereas the NLAP requires national performance indicators to be reported.

The NLAP national performance indicators are:

• legal representation services
• legal assistance services
• information and referral services
• community legal education
• facilitated resolution processes
• stakeholder engagement.

Queensland Government service delivery statement measures

Table 4. Queensland Government service standards 2021-22

Notes:

1. This measure demonstrates the effectiveness of the decision-making process for approval of grants of aid to clients.
2. This measure represents the importance to local suppliers of receiving accurate payments on a timely basis for services provided. Legal Aid Queensland relies on the work performed by private sector preferred supplier firms to deliver legal services. Accounts processed by the Grants division are predominantly for legal representation and it demonstrates the effectiveness of the Grants division to review and process all accounts within a 14-day period. Adherence to the 14-day payment terms is a contractual obligation and paying accounts on time greatly provides for the continuity and support for legal aid services to financially disadvantaged Queenslanders.
3. This measure reflects the unique criminal law duty lawyer service and the efficiency of this service as it calculates the average time spent with a client and converts this into a dollar figure based on the hourly rate. The 2021-22 target of $66 reflects the cost of an average criminal law duty lawyer session (ie 30 minutes average session at the rate of $132 per hour paid to preferred supplier firms) as provided by preferred supplier firms. The criminal law duty lawyer service is provided by both in-house lawyers and lawyers from Legal Aid Queensland's panel of private sector preferred supplier firms.
4. This measure demonstrates the efficiency of the contact centre services, as it calculates the average time spent on a call through the contact centre and converts this into a dollar figure based on the hourly salary rate of contact centre staff excluding overheads. The 2021-22 target of $5.34 was set prior to the confirmed EBA increases provided by the state government following the wage freeze during the early stages of COVID-19.

11. Objective 1 Provide quality cost-effective legal services to clients

Community legal education

CLE activities are an integral part of the services offered by Legal Aid Queensland. Our CLE activities are coordinated through a strategy that responds to priority client groups and legal problems and aims to:

• improve community understanding of the law
• reduce litigation and costs to the justice system
• help community members to understand their legal rights and responsibilities and how to access legal help if they need it
• help key stakeholders to understand our services and how to access them.

Our CLE Strategy is delivered through:

• CLE activities and engagement with priority groups including Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples and communities
• legal information sessions and webinars for community members and community, health and education workers
• collaborative projects that focus on increasing awareness of the law and our services with priority community groups
• connecting with existing networks and establishing new networks through strong relationships
• participation in community events across Queensland such as Homeless Connect and NAIDOC Week events
• web-based legal information and digital resources
• online and printed materials including factsheets and legal information guides.

The NLAP focus on prevention, early intervention legal services and collaborative service planning has been a key driver for the strategy and delivering our CLE work.

During the year, we:

• worked with Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander service providers and networks to improve access to our general and specialist services, like consumer protection and child protection, and to create CLE opportunities through relationship building
• used existing project resources like the Blurred Borders kits as training tools to help facilitate CLE workshops
• participated in community engagement meetings with interagency networks, individual services and service delivery hubs and co-located services in regional areas to provide information about our services and delivering CLE
• supported collaborative service delivery opportunities and facilitated a one-day CLE skills refresher and First Nations community engagement workshop in Cairns; the workshop was a funded project of the CLE Legal Assistance Forum - a specialist forum of the Queensland Legal Assistance Forum (QLAF)
• delivered Blurred Borders training workshops in Mount Isa, Cairns and Townsville, leading to legal assistance sector and service provider network development to support the newly funded Blurred Borders Queensland project
• contributed to a National Legal Aid project to develop a 'Do it yourself divorce' online resource
• distributed 'CLE news updates' via email to our CLE program subscribers
• contributed specialist legal information content to newsletters of Financial Counselling Australia and Queensland African Communities Council
• increased our social media presence and reach across the legal assistance sector and with Members of Parliament (MPs) to promote our resources and key legal information
• produced and promoted animated videos in response to specific legal needs like the Aboriginal Community Benefit Fund (Youpla) funeral fund collapse, and flood insurance law issues
• participated in community events across Queensland, including Homeless Connect, NAIDOC Week events, disability awareness expos and regional council community events
• coordinated our CLE webinar program for community, health and education workers (and MPs); we planned and delivered webinars and YouTube video resources on topics like domestic and family violence, Your Story Disability Legal Support, helping clients negotiate Centrelink, work and study when living with an impairment, young people and the law, Drug and Alcohol Court and Court Link, and Legal Aid Queensland's services; all CLE webinars are now live captioned and Auslan interpreted to meet accessibility requirements
• promoted the Law for All podcast channel to provide information about legal issues affecting everyday people with everyday problems in a relaxed chat-based style for community, health and education workers and community members
• delivered 218 CLE activities to 6532 people and produced 45 resources in response to community group and agency requests and identified need; topics included Legal Aid Queensland's services, young people and the law, cyber bullying and sexting, domestic and family violence, consumer law, financial hardship, consent, discrimination, human rights and credit reporting
• coordinated and administered the CLE Collaboration Fund's 12th round to resource collaborative initiatives and partnerships to extend the reach of our CLE work. The fund allows us to resource community legal centres (CLCs), the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Service (ATSILS) and regional legal assistance forums (RLAFs) and specialist legal assistance forums to educate priority communities across Queensland. More than 90 projects have been funded to date. One of the funded projects this year will deliver CLE activities and resources to help community members and support workers understand the legal requirements of mandatory reporting of child sexual offences in a practical, trauma-informed way. Two of the projects will educate school aged young people in regional areas about domestic and family violence and respectful relationships.

Discrete assistance

Information and referral

Legal Aid Queensland provides comprehensive statewide free legal information and referral services to disadvantaged Queenslanders. Our legal information and referral services can be accessed online via the Legal Aid Queensland website (www.legalaid.qld.gov.au), by phone through our client contact centre or in person at one of our 14 offices throughout metropolitan and regional Queensland.

The Legal Aid Queensland website complements our information and referral services by providing comprehensive legal information and access to a statewide network of referral agencies. Clients can also access information in person by visiting one of our offices or community access points.

Website

To support Queenslanders with their legal issues, we provide legal information, resources and information about our services across three websites:

• Legal Aid Queensland website
  • Legal information covering family, criminal and civil law written in plain language making it easy to use and understand.
  • A 'For Lawyers' section which includes updates, key policies and procedures for our preferred supplier law firms.
  • During the year, people visited this website 1,435,627 times with 2,593,228 pages being viewed.
• Your Story Disability Legal Support website
  • Provides information and resources to empower people with disability to safely share their story with the Disability Royal Commission and connect with local support services.
  • During the year, people visited this website 20,577 times.
• Defence and Veterans Legal Service website
  • Provides information and resources to support Australian Defence Force personnel and veterans, and their families, carers and supporters to safely share their experiences with the Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide.
  • During the year, people visited this website 9158 times.

We are committed to working towards digital accessibility for all Queenslanders by continually improving the user experience and applying the relevant accessibility standards.

Client contact centre

Our client contact centre is based in Brisbane and operates Monday to Friday during business hours.

The client contact centre answered 135,515 calls in 2021-22 and provided 86,696 legal information and referral services to clients.

The team also provided 1284 legal information and referral services via email.

We continued to give prisoners in correctional centres priority access to our client contact centre to reduce their waiting time. Prisoners are considered highly vulnerable clients as they have extremely limited access to legal services and support and are at a high risk of social exclusion and financial disadvantage. Prisoners' call times are restricted and time waiting in a queue counts towards their call limit and impacts their capacity to deal with their legal issues.

In 2021-22, we continued to participate in the Queensland Police Service Police Referrals Service. The service helps people who come into contact with police and other community organisations to obtain support for legal issues.

We also worked to improve our business processes and systems to further streamline information and advice delivery to clients by:

• continuing our monthly ongoing training program with specialist sessions on psychological wellness, cultural awareness, human rights and contemporary social issues
• using videoconferencing and technology to improve access to legal advice services
• embedding our client-focused call pathway in our training and work practices
• improving specialist reporting to allow improved analysis of incoming calls and service delivery trends.

Client Assistance Service

This year, we continued to help some of our particularly vulnerable clients, especially those with multiple legal issues, through our Client Assistance Service. The service is targeted to clients who need extra help accessing Legal Aid Queensland services. The Client Assistance Service triages the client's legal problems and provides the support they need to ensure they can access timely and appropriate legal services. This year, the service provided support to 195 clients.

Your Story Disability Legal Support

Legal Aid Queensland continued to provide information and advice services to people wanting to share their experiences with the Royal Commission into Violence, Abuse, Neglect and Exploitation of People with Disability through Your Story Disability Legal Support. This service is a free and independent national legal service jointly delivered by National Legal Aid and the National Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services. Clients access the service online via the Your Story Disability Legal Support website (www.yourstorydisabilitylegal.org.au) or by calling the national Your Story Disability Legal Support information line on 1800 77 1800. Your Story Disability Legal Support answered 2973 calls and provided 1635 legal information and referral services to clients during 2021-22.

Defence and Veterans Legal Service

The Royal Commission into Defence and Veteran Suicide was established in July 2021 and began hearings in December 2021. The Defence and Veterans Legal Service is a free and independent national legal service that was set up to support people who want to engage with the Royal Commission. Legal Aid Queensland provides information and advice services to serving defence members, veterans, and their families, carers and supporters to safely share their experiences with the Royal Commission. The service has answered 633 calls and provided 309 information and referral services to clients since it began. The Defence and Veterans Legal Service can be accessed by calling 1800 33 1800 or visiting the website defenceveteranslegalservice.org.au

Legal advice and legal task services

Financially disadvantaged Queenslanders can access our free legal advice and legal task services by telephone, including through the National Relay Service, by videoconference or face-to-face at Legal Aid Queensland offices and at designated outreach services.

Figure 7. Legal advice and legal tasks services 2021-22

We provide free legal advice to eligible clients in:

Criminal law

• Criminal charges in the Magistrates, District and Supreme Courts
• Youth justice
• Traffic matters
• Mental health law

Family law

• Parenting issues (eg arrangements about children)
• Relationship issues (eg divorce, property settlement)
• Domestic and family violence
• Child support and maintenance
• Child protection
• Family dispute resolution

Civil law

• Anti-discrimination and human rights
• Farm and rural debt issues
• Social security appeals
• Peace and good behaviour
• Victim Assist
• Motor vehicle property damage
• Consumer and debt disputes
• Employment
• Natural disasters
• National Disability Insurance Scheme (NDIS).

In 2021-22, we provided legal advice and legal task services to 40,752 people.

The legal advice service is primarily delivered by our Brisbane-based First Advice Contact Team (FACT), specialist legal teams and regional offices.

FACT provides face-to-face advice to eligible clients at our Brisbane office and remote legal advice via a statewide telephone service. FACT also provides legal task services for people who might need help with preparing letters and other documents following initial legal advice.

Prison Advice Service

Our Prison Advice Service primarily uses videoconferencing to provide legal advice services to people in Queensland's prisons. Videoconferencing reduces travel time and provides cost savings. The Prison Advice Service and some regional advice lawyers also provide face-to-face advice services at designated prisons.

In 2021-22, the Prison Advice Service provided 1321 advice services to Queensland prisoners.

Refugee and Immigration Legal Service advice referrals

We continue to work with the Brisbane-based Refugee and Immigration Legal Service (RAILS) to provide a warm referral pathway for clients who have family law, domestic and family violence, or child protection issues. The lawyers provide advice through these referrals pathways and help clients apply for legal aid (if appropriate).

Consumer advice clinic

During 2021-22, we continued to provide telephone consumer advice clinics five days a week. We provided advice about:

• mortgage stress and housing repossession
• debt and debt collection practices
• credit cards and personal loans
• car loans
• small amount (payday) loans and consumer leases
• telephone and other utilities contracts
• insurance including home and contents, car insurance and funeral insurance
• Australian Consumer law including faulty cars, unsolicited consumer agreements and training colleges and courses
• bankruptcy and part IX agreements.

Anti-discrimination advice clinic

During the year, we provided specialist advice clinics about state and federal anti-discrimination laws three days a week. We also provided advice about state human rights protections in these clinics.

We operate specialist advice clinic one afternoon a week through an arrangement with the Queensland Human Rights Commission (QHRC). The clinic is available to clients whose complaints have been accepted by the commission. Clients receive advice via telephone about their complaint, the complaint process, the conciliation process and how to proceed to the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT). During these clinics, we also provide task assistance to clients to help facilitate their access to justice.

Employment law advice clinic

We deliver specialist legal advice and task assistance to federal system employees about federal employment law matters under the Fair Work Act 2009, including unfair dismissal, general protections, bullying, discrimination, civil penalty provision breaches, stand downs, flexibility arrangements and JobKeeper. We also provide advice on entitlements and disciplinary processes, and help clients apply for legal aid if appropriate. We provide telephone advice clinics four days a week. We also provide a specialist advice clinic through the Fair Work Commission's Workplace Advice Service.

Social security appeals advice clinic

We continued to provide a specialist in-house legal advice clinic that focusses on providing advice to clients who do not yet have an appeal before the Administrative Appeals Tribunal (AAT), including those who need help to lodge an appeal with the tribunal. This allows clients to achieve an early resolution rather than having to wait until their appeal reaches the tribunal. The clinic also supports clients whose appeal was unsuccessful and who are unsure how to progress their matter.

We also provided social security appeal advice clinics in collaboration with the AAT and Basic Rights Queensland. During 2021-22, we provided telephone advice clinics through the AAT's Social Services and Child Support Division and General Division two days each week. These clinics help clients who may be eligible for a grant of aid for their General Division appeal. The Social Services and Child Support Division clinic provides advice and minor assistance to clients who are representing themselves and many appeals are resolved at this level. We also refer vulnerable clients with appeals before the Social Services and Child Support Division with merit to Basic Rights Queensland for casework assistance.

NDIS advice clinic

We continued to operate an in-house NDIS advice clinic one day a week for clients who have received their National Disability Insurance Agency (NDIA) internal review decisions but who have not yet lodged an appeal before the AAT. We also help those who need help to lodge an appeal with the tribunal.

During the year, we also provided NDIS appeals advice clinics through an arrangement with the AAT. These advice clinics are held two days a week to help clients who have lodged external reviews in the AAT.

At these clinics we give specialist NDIS advice to participants in the NDIS, prospective participants, and nominees in relation to their appointments and, if appropriate, help them apply for legal aid.

Legal Advice Referral Pathways Program

We continued to deliver our Legal Advice Referral Pathways Program, which helps vulnerable clients, particularly women who have experienced domestic and family violence, to receive priority legal advice. The program operates in 10 locations around the state-Brisbane, Caboolture, Gold Coast, Ipswich, Woodridge, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Bundaberg, Mackay and Townsville.

Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service and Application Assistance Program

During the year, we provided legal advice, support and information to women dealing with domestic and family violence matters and related child protection and family law matters, including through the Application Assistance Program and the Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service.

The Application Assistance Program helps women applying for domestic and family violence protection orders in the Brisbane Magistrates Court by:

• helping women prepare and lodge applications for domestic and family violence protection orders
• providing support for women in court
• helping women with risk assessments and safety planning
• referring women to legal and support services.

The Women's Domestic Violence Court Assistance Service provides free and confidential help to all women who attend the Brisbane Magistrates Court for domestic and family violence matters. The service is available to all women applying for, or responding to, a domestic and family violence protection order, and helps them:

• access the court's safety facilities
• understand what protection orders are, including their conditions and what to do if an order is breached
• understand the court process, including support and information
• talk to the police prosecutor and court staff
• make a safety plan
• access relevant legal and community services for crisis counselling and emotional support
• complete applications for legal aid.

Child Protection Early Legal Service

The Child Protection Early Legal Service focuses on providing legal advice and advocacy for vulnerable parents early in child protection interventions. The team's lawyers work collaboratively with community-based support agencies to make sure the program reaches vulnerable parents involved, or at risk of becoming involved, with the child protection system. During the year, we began developing a referral pathway partnership with the Office of the Public Guardian to expand and strengthen services provided to clients who are particularly vulnerable due to mental health and/or intellectual disability issues. We plan to employ a social worker to help with this work and to prepare social assessment reports for matters involving mental health and/or intellectual disability issues.

Early legal support involves advocating for parents to receive support and guidance to keep their children safe so statutory child protection intervention occurs only as a last resort. This support may involve legal advice and help before the start of court proceedings.

Child Protection Outreach Legal Service

The Child Protection Outreach Legal Service provides legal advice services to Mount Isa, Mackay, Longreach, Emerald, Biloela, Gladstone, Kingaroy, Cherbourg, Murgon, Roma, Charleville and Cunnamulla. The service also provides regular Child Protection Duty Lawyer Services in Gladstone and Mackay. The service is delivered by Brisbane-based lawyers who regularly fly in and out of regional Queensland.

We have established referral pathway partnerships with relevant stakeholders, including the Director of Child Protection Litigation, the Office of the Child and Family Official Solicitor and the Office of the Public Guardian to help clients in these areas to get legal advice.

Child support advice clinic

We continued to deliver child support advice two days each week. The clinic provides people with legal advice about reviewing child support decisions, child support agreements, paternity and enforcing outstanding child support payments. Lawyers provide advice to clients on their prospects of success and/or evidence, and if appropriate, help them apply for legal aid.

Family law advice clinic

We provided legal advice each week to people experiencing complex family law issues. Lawyers provide advice to clients on their prospects of success and/or evidence, and if appropriate, help them apply for legal aid.

Domestic and family violence advice

During the year, we delivered specialist domestic and family violence advice services five days a week to help those affected by domestic and family violence and those who are responding to an application for a domestic and family violence order.

Youth Legal Advice Hotline

Our Youth Legal Advice Hotline continued to give legal advice and support to young people, and assistance to youth justice stakeholders and Queensland Police. The hotline was established in November 2017 to help young people with improved access to early legal advice with the aim of increasing the likelihood of their issues reaching an early resolution and promoting diversionary options or bail release for young people suspected by police of having committed an offence. Following the introduction of laws requiring Queensland Police to notify a legal aid organisation that a child is in custody for questioning, the hotline operating hours were expanded in December 2019 to provide services on a 24-hour basis from Friday until Sunday afternoon. The hotline now operates Monday to Thursday from 8am to 9pm and from Friday 8am to Sunday 5pm. During the year, staff provided early legal advice and help for 1187 matters.

Natural Disaster Legal Help

During the year, we provided legal advice and representation to people affected by bushfires, flooding and severe storms in Queensland. We also attended community meetings and forums to provide advice to Springfield residents still experiencing problems with their insurance claims following the 'Halloween 2020 hailstorm'.

Duty lawyer services

Criminal Law Duty Lawyer Service

Our Criminal Law Duty Lawyer Service operates in 107 Queensland Magistrates and Childrens Courts and plays a crucial role in our youth and adult justice systems. The service offers free initial legal advice and representation to people charged with criminal and serious traffic offences who are on bail or in custody in Queensland. Duty lawyers represent people on guilty pleas, make bail applications and request remands for clients.

Duty lawyer services are provided by our in-house lawyers, authorised private lawyers and the ATSILS who deliver services under roster or tender arrangements.

We are committed to case conferencing and mediating matters with the prosecution to ensure our clients have their legal issues resolved as soon as possible. This can have significant sentencing benefits for clients and can also result in savings to the criminal justice system by avoiding court time being wasted. It also means witnesses and victims do not have to go through the stress of attending court.

Family Law Duty Lawyer Service

Our Family Law Duty Lawyer Service provides help to self-represented litigants in the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia throughout Queensland for family law matters. We provide services in Brisbane, Southport, Ipswich, Maroochydore, Toowoomba, Hervey Bay, Bundaberg, Rockhampton, Mackay, Townsville and Cairns.

The duty lawyer service provides information, legal advice, referrals and in some cases, representation for clients with matters in court that day. We also help people complete their own forms and documents, negotiate and settle consent orders, and seek adjournments. We help people complete applications for legal aid or access our review process if they have previously been unsuccessful with applications for aid.

Family Advocacy and Support Services