Patrick O'Connor leads a team of lawyers helping refugees with migration law. He says downtime is not a word he knows.
Lawyers for not-for-profit legal services say they are overworked and struggling to survive, with little funding available.
Many legal assistance services get funding from a $2.4 billion federal government agreement with the states and territories called the National Legal Assistance Partnership .Mr O'Connor believes only one refugee-dedicated legal service in the country is covered by the federal agreement, and changing that would make a world of difference.
She believes one reason LGBTQIA+ and refugee legal services are not covered under the NLAP, is because they are considered too specialised. The Director of the Inner City Legal Centre is "optimistic" about the review, and said lack of funding was an "ever-present" threat for her organisation." makes you quite vulnerable to shortcomings during times of hardship … and having your attention diverted from your core work to think about how you can fundraise to keep surviving."