Part one of this guide discusses the eleven priority groups identified under the National Partnership Agreement on Legal Assistance Services 2015-2020 (the NPA). Within each priority group is a summary of key data and facts, as relevant to legal need. The barriers to accessing services, identified in the Law and Justice Foundation Report (Coumarelos et. al. 2015) are presented for each priority group, as well as considerations for making services more accessible.

Part two provides region specific information. Each region is based on the Legal Aid office boundaries and unless otherwise stated, uses SA3 level data. Relevant statistics and evidence are provided for the region, and where possible there is a reflection on key priority group factors. Data for each region has been analysed, before breaking the region into its individual SA3 components to enable a more detailed analysis of the data. For all regions other than Brisbane and Townsville, the three SA3 regions with the highest level of disadvantage, as identified from the data, has been included for additional comparison.

In reading the guide, it’s important to reflect on your own understanding of your service and the region/priority client area in which you provide support. While Community Legal Centres Queensland has contextualised some of the data to provide considerations for service development, it’s important that when you are completing your procurement application, you use your the on-the-ground experience to make the data and resources in this guide your own.