NT Legal Aid Crisis: Dozens of Serious Criminal Cases Halted Amid Lawyer Shortage

Dozens of people charged with serious crimes in the Northern Territory are applying to have their cases halted because they cannot access a lawyer amid a worsening legal aid funding crisis.

Since November, funding pressures and increased demand on NT Legal Aid (NTLA) have left many who cannot afford representation, including children, unable to secure a lawyer.

Legal experts have expressed "significant concern", with a growing number of people forced to face court alone, causing major delays and leaving some defendants in custody longer than necessary.

In a landmark legal challenge in June, lawyers will test whether a decades-old High Court ruling should be applied in the NT Local Court, which, if successful, could have major ramifications for the territory's justice system and the NT government's tough-on-crime agenda.

The High Court's ruling in Dietrich v The Queen requires Australian courts to halt proceedings if defendants charged with serious crimes are unrepresented through no fault of their own.

But in 2006, NT Justice Dean Mildren ruled the Dietrich decision did not apply to "summary proceedings" in NT local courts.

Territory Criminal Lawyers principal Clancy Dane said a growing number of people facing serious charges had already argued their cases could not fairly proceed without a lawyer and had applied to have them stayed.

"When you have people who can't get lawyers through no fault of their own, justice slows down and in many cases grinds to a halt," he said.

Mr Dane, who will be running the case on behalf of a woman who was refused legal aid, said a "significant number of people" had been affected by the cuts.

"Right now things are essentially on hold until this stated case resolves," he said.

"[The courts] have lists, whole lists, set aside in Katherine, Darwin and Alice Springs, where these cases are being adjourned into.

"In the circuit courts, there are groups of people being adjourned again and again because they don't have lawyers."

Funding cut denied despite shortfall

In recent months, NT Attorney-General Marie-Clare Boothby has repeatedly insisted NTLA's funding has not been cut.

But in a letter leaked to the ABC earlier this month, NTLA director Catherine Voumard confirmed millions of dollars had been stripped from the service.

This month, NTLA exhausted its monthly allocation for grants for new clients within a week, leaving many going forward unable to access representation.

Mr Dane said the funding crisis exposed how vulnerable ordinary people were to being left without representation, and facing crippling legal bills, if they entered the justice system.

"All it really takes is for one person to accuse you of anything … or a moment of inattention on the road where you cause a serious accident, or somebody misrepresents what you've done and you can find yourself here at court facing serious criminal charges," Mr Dane said.

"So many people think it'll never be them, and then it is, or it's their family.

"And if people are dealing with financial hardship right now, there will not be a lawyer for them if they're on bail."

Victims might not get their day in court

Criminal Lawyers Association of the NT president Beth Wild said if Mr Dane's client was successful it would have profound implications for the NT's justice system, extending far beyond delays.

"If a stay is granted, then something can't be prosecuted until such time as legal aid might be reinstated so that person has a lawyer," she said.

"So at best it causes a delay, but at worst it means that the case can't proceed at all in front of a fair court.

"Or we don't have a just outcome and someone doesn't get penalised for whatever wrongdoing they've been charged with."

Ms Wild said the recent service cuts had come at a time when demand for legal help was rising across the territory, as the government poured millions into policing and prisons in pursuit of its tough-on-crime agenda.

But she said any perceived savings when cases reached court were a "false economy".

"What Legal Aid requires is a fraction of the cost that's being poured into corrections and the prison system and police," she said.

"But by not allowing for adequate funding for the legal services, it means that the system does halt because matters don't progress.