When the NSW Government cut off our funding in October 2022, we had no choice but to close certain services to NSW-based community organisations. Organisations were left without critical legal support, amidst growing demand for their services and significant pressure on finances due to cost of living increases.
We were grateful to secure short-term funding to get our NSW resources back on our website. And now, with more short-term funding, we’re able to reopen our free legal advice service for NSW-based community organisations. This is a huge win, and a testament to the voices of our supporters and the sector.
But this new funding only lasts until June 2026 and without adequate, long-term support from the NSW Government, these services are at risk of being cut off again in a year’s time.
Who we are
Justice Connect’s Not-for-profit Law program is the only nationally available source of free legal support for community organisations across Australia, focusing on legal help for small-medium sized organisations delivering frontline services. We build the capacity of volunteers and staff in community organisations to understand the law and achieve good governance. We prevent legal problems through self-help tools and education, and provide access to free lawyers when organisations need specialist legal advice.
Every day, community organisations grapple to navigate complex legal issues around employment obligations, workplace safety, privacy requirements, tax compliance, and more. By providing tailored legal support, we save organisations time, money, and resources so they can deliver more services to communities in need. Without this support, organisations risk getting bogged down in legal and governance issues that can impact their overall sustainability.
The impact of losing our funding in NSW
After funding us for a number of years, in October 2022 the NSW Government stopped funding our work. We were forced to scale back our free legal advice services in NSW. A year later, we had no choice but to cut off our NSW advice services completely and remove our tailored legal information resources for NSW-based community organisations from our website.
Since then, tens of thousands of small and medium sized, often volunteer-run, organisations that rely on us have had to go without critical legal and governance support, amidst growing demand for their services and significant pressure on finances due to cost of living increases.
What’s happened now
We urgently needed to provide support to these organisations, so we were grateful to secured short-term philanthropic funding to get our NSW-specific resources back on our website.
Now, we have secured more short-term funding to restart our legal advice service for the NSW community sector. Our lawyers will be able to once again help eligible NSW community organisations navigate legal and governance issues, so that they can deliver services to the community efficiently, effectively, and sustainably.
But, this support is short-term and we can only reopen our advice service until June 2026. Without adequate, ongoing support from the NSW Government, we won’t be able to keep these services going - let alone expand them to meet demand.
We will continue to ask the NSW Government for sustainable funding that will help ensure a strong and vibrant community sector in NSW, where frontline organisations can access our full suite of free legal supports to help them deliver services to the growing number of people in need.