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Canterbury student on changes to Legal Aid legislation

Friday, 15 April 2011, 2:20 pm
Opinion: Robert Walker

Postgraduate humanities student at Canterbury University discusses recent changes to Legal Aid legislation

I am a in the welfare field.

My concerns with the recent changes of the Legal Aid legislation is that it severely limits or obstructs those marginalised citizens, welfare recipients, Maori, gay and others who may, visibility, be on a relatively limited income. This, thereby, effectively prevents them from seeking redress against wealthy or powerful groups. employers or institutions when, for example, they have been the victims of discrimination or other tortious conduct.

To explain my case further: Consider the possibility, for example, a rich/er or powerful group, organisation or institution who have engaged in, say, a human rights discrimination breach against a person. The victim person who, because of their limited resources or capital, cannot now seek redress through the Courts. The organisation, knowingly, might then consider they can afford to ignore any present or future complaints or the possibility of litigation as they realise that the person cannot afford to litigate or proceed through the Courts for redress.

The result, overall, will be come a cynical and cavalier bully mentality where the organisations can continue to shape or use their self-serving polices and actions safe in the knowledge that there can be no legal repercussions due to the financial limitations of the victims. The law of the land can thus be safely ignored because there can be no effective comeback on them for their behaviours. At the coalface of daily human activity, the law itself then becomes an ineffective tool for obtaining social or real legal justice and will not be worth the paper it is written upon. That, in turn, undermines the power of Parliament to legislate effectively to protect its citizens and, of course, the validity of the Law itself.

ENDS

 
 
 
 
 
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