Legal Aid WA: Eligibility, Grants and How to Apply

Legal Aid WA (LAWA) is Western Australia's statutory legal aid commission, established under the Legal Aid Commission Act 1976 (WA). Before applying for anything, call the Infoline on 1300 650 579, Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm WST, for information, referral and to book a legal advice appointment.

Free and Low-Cost Help With No Means Test

Legal Aid WA's Infoline, 1300 650 579, runs Monday to Friday, 9am to 4pm WST, closed on public holidays, with interpreter support and access through the National Relay Service. This is the first call for most people, whether or not a grant of aid is ever needed. Infoline officers give information, referrals and book legal advice appointments, but cannot give legal advice about your specific issue, and calls are charged at local call rates, or by your carrier from a mobile.

A duty lawyer is available at many WA courts: the Magistrates Court and Children's Court for criminal matters, and for traffic matters only in limited situations (outside the metropolitan area, in the Children's Court, alongside criminal charges, or in an arrest or remand list where imprisonment is possible), the Family Court of WA for parenting matters and urgent advice, Perth Children's Court for protection and care matters, and Family Violence Restraining Order applications through the Domestic Violence Legal Unit at the Perth and Joondalup Magistrates Courts. Seeing the duty lawyer at the Magistrates Court costs $20, reduced to $5 for concession card holders. It is free of charge if you are in custody, in prison, or appearing in the Children's Court. Duty lawyers do not cover the District Court, the Supreme Court, except at Stirling Gardens Magistrates Court, or the Children's Court President.

The Stronger Women program provides free duty lawyer advice and representation for disadvantaged women in regional Western Australia, including Broome, Bunbury, Albany and Kalgoorlie, for protection and care matters and Family Violence Restraining Order applications.

Legal advice appointments are available on a wide range of topics, including criminal and traffic matters referred by a duty lawyer, family and parenting matters, protection and restraining orders, consumer, debt and insurance problems, unpaid fines, elder abuse, guardianship matters before the State Administrative Tribunal, unrepresented Federal Court matters, and some Administrative Review Tribunal appeals and reviews, including NDIS appeals. Legal Aid WA says the list is not complete, and to call the Infoline if a problem is not mentioned. Legal Aid WA's own list of what it will not advise on is just as explicit: building disputes, business related contract, debt or tenancy disputes, conveyancing, defamation, intellectual property, legal costs disputes, most neighbour disputes, motor vehicle accident personal injury, professional negligence, prosecutions not started by the police, the DPP or Corrective Services, residential tenancy, strata disputes, tax, wills and probate, and workers compensation.

Getting a Grant of Legal Aid: The Three Tests

A grant of legal aid for ongoing representation, rather than one of the free or low-cost services above, must satisfy three tests on Legal Aid WA's own pages: a matter test (does the problem fit a funded category or priority), a means test (income, assets and spare income, assessing how much the applicant can reasonably pay toward a lawyer), and a merits test (reasonable prospects of success, and whether a prudent litigant spending their own money would proceed). NDIS Appeals are explicitly exempt from the means test.

Legal Aid WA's State Eligibility Guidelines, last amended 27 April 2021, set out three named priorities for state matters: risk of loss of liberty on a serious criminal charge, a child at risk of physical, sexual or emotional abuse or other seriously harmful conduct, and a case raising a point of law of public importance or affecting a significant number of people. The guidelines are a detailed, matter by matter document covering the Children's Court, the Magistrates Court, Supreme Court bail, inquests, appeals, superior court trials and pleas, proceeds of crime matters, private prosecutions, family conferencing, de facto property disputes, protection applications, minor civil matters, personal injury, restraining orders, criminal injuries compensation, unfair dismissal, motor vehicle property damage, class actions, Royal Commissions, High Court appeals and judicial review, rather than a single blanket rule.

On the means test itself, Legal Aid WA does not publish dollar figures for its income or asset thresholds anywhere on its public website. Its published guidelines describe the mechanism, an assessment of spare income and an equity threshold, in prose only, with no numbers attached. A dollar figure for Western Australia circulating on some other websites is not published by Legal Aid WA and should not be treated as current or accurate. If exact figures matter for a specific situation, the Infoline is the place to ask.

Contributions and Repaying a Grant

A person granted legal aid may be asked to pay a contribution before work starts, partway through the matter if it extends, or out of money or costs recovered at the end of the case. A contribution is never more than Legal Aid WA's total spend on the grant, and Legal Aid WA charges no interest or fee on a contribution. Legal Aid WA can make security for a contribution a condition of a grant, and the Act allows that security to be a charge registered over land (s39(1)(b)(iv) and s44A), but neither the Act nor Legal Aid WA's public pages set a dollar figure that triggers it, unlike South Australia's $2,530 threshold. Legal Aid WA's grant guidelines say that where there is some equity in property below the asset threshold, a contribution secured against the property will normally be imposed.

How to Apply

An application for a grant of aid is made to the Director in a manner and form the Commission determines. Legal Aid WA's own guidance is to get advice, or make duty lawyer contact, first, and then apply, either on paper or online, lodged directly or through a private lawyer on the Legal Aid WA panel. Legal Aid WA's public pages do not state a typical processing time for a first decision on a grant application.

If Your Application Is Refused: Reconsideration and Review

Refusal of a grant, refusal to extend or cover a disbursement, a new or increased contribution, conditions attached to a grant, assignment of a private lawyer, termination of a grant, or a requirement to repay recovered costs can each be reconsidered. A request for reconsideration must reach the Director within 28 days of the day the decision was communicated, a timeframe set out in the Act itself: the decision maker may refuse to reconsider a decision if the request was not received within that period. A decision about which lawyer transfers a matter is not reconsiderable.

If the reconsidered decision is still unwelcome, the applicant has a further 28 days from the day the reconsidered decision was communicated to ask for referral to an independent Review Committee, again a statutory time limit under the Act. The Committee has three members, two lawyers and one public member, none of them Legal Aid WA staff. Legal Aid WA's guidance describes a typical turnaround of at least eight weeks, with a written outcome following within 14 days of the Committee's decision, though that turnaround figure is sourced to a 2018 review of the page and may no longer be current. Legal Aid WA's own plain English description treats the Committee's decision as final. Under the Act the decision is final subject to one narrow exception: the Commission itself may set it aside and send the matter back to a review committee if circumstances have materially changed, new material information emerges, or there is another special reason (s49A). This is a power of the Commission, not a further appeal an applicant can lodge. A complaint that falls outside the reconsideration or review process goes to the Director as a general complaint.

Where Else to Get Free Legal Help

The Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, reachable on 1800 019 900, runs a Perth head office plus regional offices across the state, covering criminal law at all stages, family law including protection orders and limited Family Court parenting assistance, and civil and human rights law including coronial inquests, discrimination and police accountability, alongside a Bail Support Service, Prison In-Reach, a Custody Notification Service and youth programs.

Nine family violence prevention legal services operate across Perth and regional Western Australia. Aboriginal Family Legal Services runs seven of them, in Perth, Broome, Carnarvon, Geraldton, Kalgoorlie, Kununurra and Port Hedland; Albany is served by the Southern Aboriginal Corporation and Fitzroy Crossing by the Marnin Family Support and Legal Unit.

Twenty eight community legal centres operate across Western Australia, including Circle Green Community Legal, Women's Legal Service WA and the Youth Legal Service, alongside regional centres in the Wheatbelt, Kimberley and Pilbara. Law Access is a pro bono referral service with its own eligibility criteria and its own separate means test, distinct from Legal Aid WA's.

A person who cannot get help through any of these services may still need to consider a family violence restraining order, or advice on an unpaid fine, one of the topics Legal Aid WA does advise on directly; see fines and infringements in WA. Family and parenting matters funded here follow the same Commonwealth Legal Aid Priorities described on the Legal Aid in Australia hub, alongside family law in Australia generally.

Funding and the National Access to Justice Partnership

Western Australia is one of the eight signatories, alongside the Commonwealth, to the National Access to Justice Partnership 2025-30, which commenced on 1 July 2025 and runs to 30 June 2030, replacing the National Legal Assistance Partnership. Nationally, the Commonwealth's contribution is $3.9 billion over five years, funding five separate streams: legal aid commissions, Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander legal services, community legal centres, family violence prevention legal services, and women's legal services as their own funded stream.

For 2026 to 2027, the WA Department of Justice will distribute more than $210 million to legal assistance services in Western Australia, of which about $99.9 million is the Commonwealth's contribution through the National Access to Justice Partnership. Recipients named on the Department's own page include the Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, Legal Aid WA, community legal centres, women's legal services and family violence prevention legal services. A number of programs that were quarantined, separately funded streams under the old National Legal Assistance Partnership, covering vulnerable women, mental health access, domestic violence units, health justice partnerships, workplace sexual harassment funding, coronial inquiries, family law property mediation, the Family Advocacy and Support Service, and child sexual abuse prosecution support, were folded into the new partnership's baseline funding from 1 July 2025. Western Australia also funds several programs itself, outside the national partnership, including the Youth Engagement Program, the Work and Development Permit Scheme, the Centralised Duty Lawyer Service, the Bail Support Service and Prison In-Reach.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is Legal Aid WA free?

Many Legal Aid WA services, including the Infoline, duty lawyers and legal advice appointments, are free or low-cost with no means test, though Infoline calls are charged at local call rates. Duty lawyers are free in custody, in prison and at the Children's Court, but seeing a duty lawyer at the Magistrates Court costs $20, or $5 for concession card holders. A grant of legal aid for ongoing representation is means, merit and matter tested, and can require a contribution.

What is the income and asset test for a legal aid grant in Western Australia?

Legal Aid WA does not publish dollar figures for its means test on its public website. It assesses income, assets and spare income case by case against its own guidelines. Dollar figures for Western Australia found on other websites are not published by Legal Aid WA and should not be relied on.

How do I apply for a grant of legal aid in Western Australia?

Get advice or duty lawyer contact first, then apply to the Director in the form the Commission requires, either on paper or online, lodged directly or through a private lawyer on Legal Aid WA's panel. Legal Aid WA does not publish a typical processing time for a first decision.

What happens if Legal Aid WA refuses my application?

You have 28 days to ask the Director to reconsider the decision. If the reconsidered decision is still unwelcome, you have a further 28 days to ask for referral to an independent three member Review Committee, which has historically taken at least eight weeks, though that figure comes from 2018 guidance.

Is the duty lawyer free at courts in Western Australia?

Not always. Seeing the duty lawyer at the Magistrates Court costs $20, reduced to $5 with a concession card. It is free if you are in custody, in prison, or appearing in the Children's Court. Duty lawyers do not cover the District Court, the Supreme Court, or the Children's Court President.

Where else can I get free legal help in Western Australia?

The Aboriginal Legal Service of Western Australia, nine family violence prevention legal services (seven run by Aboriginal Family Legal Services), 28 community legal centres across the state, and Law Access, a pro bono referral service with its own separate means test, are all available beyond Legal Aid WA itself.