Description

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, as well as being one of the most profoundly disadvantaged groups in Australian society. Until July 2005, Queensland had eleven Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander grant-funded legal services to provide legal aid in priority areas if law, however administrative inefficiencies and duplication were affecting the level of service available. To better deal with both the burgeoning problem of victim rates for crime and imprisonment rates, as well as addressing the need for responsive legal services in the Indigenous community, 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. This article describes the restructure, and the process of selecting the successful service providers.