The Honourable Rob Hulls, Victorian Deputy Premier and Attorney-General have announced a grant of $838,927 to be provided over a three-year period to Austlii from the Legal Services Board of Victoria to “help make Victoria a model jurisdiction for free access to law.”

AustLII Co-Director and UNSW academic Professor Graham Greenleaf said the grant would enable AustLII to develop comprehensive and up-to-date databases of Victorian legal materials, including legislation, case law, law reform reports, law journals, and community legal materials.

It is hoped the funding will have spillover effects into other Australian and international jurisdictions.

“Victoria is the first Australian jurisdiction to provide a major grant to AustLII to bring its free access legal materials to the highest possible international standards,” Professor Greenleaf said.



AustLII Co-Director and UTS Professor Andrew Mowbray said the materials would be available for free access to everyone via the AustLII website.

“The grant will also fund research into better technical methods of providing Victorian materials, which will eventually benefit how AustLII provides legal materials from all jurisdictions,” he said.

Rod Hull’s Media Release says:
Tuesday, 12 August 2008

Victoria’s online legal services will receive a $1.2 million funding boost thanks to grants aimed at improving community access to justice, Deputy Premier and Attorney-General Rob Hulls said today.
 
Mr Hulls said the Fitzroy Legal Service and Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) would receive significant funding as part of the $7 million Legal Services Board Major Projects grants.

Mr Hulls said the online availability of the Fitzroy Legal Service Law Handbook, which is currently only open to subscribers, would be extended through a $445,464 grant.

“The Fitzroy Legal Service Law Handbook has been published for more than 30 years by the Fitzroy Legal Service,” Mr Hulls said.
 


“Once it is available online to all Victorians for free, it will provide a valuable tool in educating and informing community members on their legal rights and responsibilities.”

Mr Hulls said the Australasian Legal Information Institute (AustLII) also would receive nearly $840,000 to expand the scope of Victorian legal information, such as legislation, decisions and interpretive material, that was available online and free to the community on its widely-used website.  



“The project aims to make the free access to Victorian legal information through AustLII easier to use, more comprehensive and more sophisticated,” he said.

“This will significantly contribute to the Victorian operation of this online resource.”

The funding is part of a $7 million major grant program for innovative legal projects aimed at improving community access to justice in Victoria by facilitating community legal education, research and law reform.

The grants program is funded by the Public Purpose Fund, which is administered by the Legal Services Board. The grants were made possible through the 2004 reforms to the Legal Profession Act.