Access to Justice in Rural Victoria

Barriers, Gaps, and Reform Pathways

Dr Alexandra Nguyen and Professor James O'Brien

April 2025

978-0-9871-5533-2

Nguyen A and O'Brien J (2025). Access to Justice in Rural Victoria: Barriers, Gaps, and Reform Pathways. Victoria Law Foundation.

https://victorialawfoundation.org.au/research/access-to-justice-rural-victoria

Introduction

Access to justice is a foundational principle of the rule of law¹ and has been the subject of sustained policy attention in Victoria for two decades.

This report presents findings from 87 in-depth interviews conducted across 12 regional local government areas between July and November 2024. Participants included clients of community legal centres, private solicitors, court staff, and representatives from Legal Aid Victoria.

Research questions

The study addressed three primary questions:

• What legal problems do rural Victorians most commonly face?

• What barriers prevent timely access to legal assistance?

• What systemic reforms would have the greatest impact?

Scope and limitations

The study focused on civil and family law matters. Criminal matters were outside scope, as were matters handled exclusively by specialist tribunals. Findings reflect the experience of participants and should not be taken as representative of all regional Victorians.

Key Findings

Distance and travel time

The median travel time to the nearest legal aid office for participants in the study was 94 minutes (one way). For matters requiring multiple attendances — such as contested family law proceedings — this represents a substantial cumulative burden, particularly for participants with caring responsibilities or unreliable transport.

[Image: Map showing median travel times to nearest legal aid office by local government area, colour-coded from green (<30 min) to red (>120 min)]

Cost barriers

Private legal fees in regional areas averaged $340 per hour in 2024,² compared with a national average of $390. Despite the lower hourly rate, participants reported that fees remained unaffordable for most matters.

Legal problem area	No. participants	% of sample
Family law / separation	31	36%
Tenancy / housing	24	28%
Employment / workplace	14	16%
Debt / consumer credit	11	13%
Other civil matters	7	8%

Recommendations

Expanding outreach services

Community legal centres should receive recurrent funding to expand travelling outreach clinics into underserved local government areas. The study identified 19 LGAs with no regular on-site legal service.

Remote and telephone advice

Telephone and video advice services should be promoted more actively and resourced to handle initial triage for all matter types. Several participants were unaware that telephone advice was available free of charge.

Fee relief and means testing

Legal Aid Victoria should review its means test thresholds, which have not been indexed to inflation since 2019. Participants whose income marginally exceeded the threshold consistently reported being unable to afford private representation.

References