Melbourne
The Centre for Innovative Justice at RMIT University in Melbourne will receive $300,000 to investigate ways to improve access to justice for Australians.
The Centre, which forms part of the Graduate School of Business & Law, was officially opened today by Prime Minister Julia Gillard and Attorney-General Mark Dreyfus.
The Commonwealth funding will support research into ways to make private legal assistance affordable for more Australians.
The new Centre will investigate the most cost-effective way to assist people whose income is too high to qualify for legal aid, but cannot afford full legal support. It will consider options such as fixed fees for legal services and ‘unbundled services' where lawyers can provide advice or assistance on one particular element of a legal issue.
The Centre will also work towards establishing a community legal centre to provide legal services to the public and give students the opportunity to learn about the justice system in a practical setting.
Led by former Victorian Attorney-General Rob Hulls, the Centre for Innovative Justice is the first of its kind in Australia with the goal of increasing the capacity of the justice system.
RMIT is Australia's largest tertiary institution and has three campuses in Melbourne and two in Vietnam.
The Gillard Government has committed more than $1.35 billion in legal assistance funding nationally - the biggest boost to legal aid in more than a decade.