The number of women seeking help from Legal Aid NSW now represents more calls than the service can manage in one day.
NSW’s publicly funded lawyers and caseworkers, tasked with helping victims of domestic violence navigate the complex and confrontational courts, have recorded a 70 per cent increase in demand in just five years - and are bracing for the numbers to spike further when new laws come into effect.
“My violence went for almost a decade: emotional, physical and financial. It started off perfect in the beginning, then violence started creeping in a little bit,” she told this masthead. The solicitors have provided 7841 separate services in the current financial year to date - a 70 per cent increase in five years - and there are still two months left. Of the services, 94 per cent were toActing director of Legal Aid NSW’s domestic violence unit, Anna Baltins, said the service’s statewide hotline and duty lawyers have both recorded significant increases in demand in the last two years in particular.
“That’s a lot of pressure for our staff. It means sometimes we don’t get to speak to every woman on the same day, which is what we would love to do and we aim to do - no one gets turned away.”
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