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How does disadvantage accumulate?

For some individuals lack of financial resources will be the primary barrier to justice. For these people, systems of assistance offsetting such costs through waiver, pro bono, direct provision or subsidisation are important. A number of forms of assistance have been established to provide legal advice and representation aimed particularly at low income people, including Legal Aid, Welfare Rights, community legal centres and pro bono/legal assistance schemes involving the private legal profession.

However, economic disadvantage often compounds with other social disadvantages:

• While there has been a fall in poverty among sole parent families due to improved government assistance and increases in child support from non-custodial parents, sole parent families continue to face the highest risk of poverty. Those living in families consisting of couples with children had the second highest risk, with the risk steadily increasing as the number of children in the family increased.¹⁴²
• Not surprisingly, 57.5% of unemployed people live in poverty. Only 4.6% of Australians who hold a full-time job are in families that live in poverty, with the poverty risk increasing to 11.7% among Australians over 15 working part-time.¹⁴³
• While having a job provides significant protection against poverty so too does higher education. Poverty rates among those 15 and over decline significantly as educational qualifications increase, with the risk of poverty among those with university education being less than half for those with no post-secondary qualifications.¹⁴⁴
• The most striking trend is the steady increase in poverty rates among the aged during the 1990s, up from 7.3% in 1990 to 11.2% in 2000. The ageing population and early retirement are resulting in people over the age of 50 making up an increasing share of the poor.¹⁴⁵

Access to justice issues
Economically disadvantaged people are less likely to have the skills or education to prevent escalation of a legal problem. They also have less access to non-legal, early intervention strategies and non-legal support services. Similarly, they are less likely to be able to access direct involvement in law reform or systemic change.

Legal issues which may be more prevalent for the economically disadvantaged include

• legal issues relating to unserviceable debts
• issues relating to rights, obligations, appeals and penalties under the Social Security Act 1991 (Cwlth)
• the effectiveness of the administrative appeals system in dealing with discretionary decision making in Centrelink and the marketisation of employment services through the Job Network
• tenancy law relating to both public or private housing tenants
• industrial relations laws regulating such matters as employment and dismissal
• workers' compensation issues.