The Federal Government can stop this from happening

We all share deep concern for the impact that freezing services will have on community and the understandable frustration that will be felt as this news comes out.

This crisis can only be resolved with an emergency support package, complemented by a sector strengthening plan that will guarantee Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people have the legal services they expect and deserve.

As such, we are unable to provide a timeline for when these freezes will end. We will regularly review our funding and workforce situation to ensure we can deliver the maximum service level possible whilst protecting our teams.

All of the Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander Legal Services (ATSILS) around Australia are being forced into similar difficult decisions.

Together, all ATSILS nationwide are calling on government to urgently deliver a $250 million emergency support package.

If we receive this emergency funding, we can prevent or reverse the freezes to our services in the NSW courts listed above.