Justice denied in State Budget
5 June 2026
The Law Society has been vocal in its advocacy for improved court infrastructure. The call for major court upgrades was the cornerstone of the Society’s Election and State Budget submissions, due to SA’s ageing, inadequate, and in some cases, inaccessible court buildings, compounded by successive under-investment in the justice system.
Disappointingly, the State Budget does not include measures to address the dire state of the courts. The Society considered some of the most urgently needed upgrades to be a suite of new criminal courtrooms in the Supreme Court, interview rooms that meet safety standards, remedial work to the Sir Samual Way Building and a trauma-informed redesign of the Youth Court building.
The Society is also disappointed by the lack of new measures to increase prevention, early intervention and rehabilitative services to reduce offending and re-offending. The law and order measures are limited to further prison upgrades and some extra resources for police. Given the increased funding demands on the Correctional Services and Child Protection Departments, it is disappointing that this budget lacks a vision for significantly reducing the number of people in custody.
The Society congratulates the Government for achieving its target of reducing re-offending by 20%, but notes that increased expenditure in last year’s budget of over $6 million is largely due to an increase in prisoner numbers.
In addition to providing further resources for prisoner rehabilitation and treatment programs, the Society considers that the Government should conduct a review into the operation and resourcing requirements of the Adelaide Remand Centre, given the reported issues relating to understaffing, prisoner violence, and difficulties faced by legal practitioners seeking appointments with clients on remand.
The Government is investing heavily in building more houses quickly. This is a positive measure, but it comes with the likelihood of increased building disputes, which can become beset by huge costs and delays. The Society has called for the establishment of a Building Tribunal to resolve building disputes quicker and more affordably, so homeowners can get on with their lives and builders can continue building.
The Society supports the Government's objectives to provide additional public housing, particularly the measure to build 200 dwellings specifically for tenants with complex needs. However, it is unclear whether people requiring post-prison accommodation will be eligible to stay at any of these accommodation places. In the Society's view, there is still a major shortfall in bail accommodation for vulnerable people, particularly for female prisoners and young people who come into contact with the justice system.
The Society notes that, according to the Budget papers, the Government plans to begin the procurement process for a new 30 bed bail accommodation support program for Indigenous remandees, which was announced in last year’s budget.
The Society strongly supports the re-establishment of the Young Workers Legal Service, which provides valuable services for young people experiencing workplace problems. However, the Society is disappointed that there are no broader measures to boost resources for legal assistance services, especially those in regional areas where local residents face significant barriers accessing important legal and justice services.
State Budget wrap
The following is a summary of State Budget measures that relate to the legal sector and justice system, and the Law Society’s response to the measures. The 2026-27 State Budget was tabled on 4 June.
Courts
Court mediation fees
From 1 July 2026, court mediations conducted by a judicial officer in the Supreme Court will cost $2000, and mediations by a judicial officer in the District Court will cost $1500.
Currently, no fee is imposed for mediation services provided by judicial officers in the Supreme and District Courts of South Australia, whereas mediation by private mediators is provided at a cost. This measure is expected to generate $170 000 per year (indexed) from 2026-27.
Legal Assistance
Young Workers Legal Service
The Young Workers Legal Service will be re-established with funding of $250,000 per year. In its previous form, the YWLS provided free legal information, advice and representation on workplace issues to workers under the age of 30.
Child Protection and Wellbeing
Child protection
From 2025-26, an additional $350 million over five years has been provided to the Department of Child Protection to support young children in out-of-home care. According to the Budget papers, an additional $110 million was allocated to support young people in out-of-home care.
Foster and kinship carers
Connecting Foster & Kinship Carers SA – the peak body for foster and kinship carers in SA – will receive $120,000 for its carer peer support program, while Grandcarers SA – which provides support to grandparents and other informal carers will receive $82,000 per year (indexed) over the forward estimates.
Justice Services
Office of the Inspector
The Office of the Inspector will receive an additional $4.3 million over four years to conduct reviews into the operations, conduct and administration of the Independent Commission Against Corruption, the Office for Public Integrity, and the Ombudsman.
Corrections
Electronic monitoring
The Department of Corrections will be provided 60 additional electronic monitoring devices for the supervision of offenders with a non-custodial sentence, at the cost of $645,000 per year (indexed).
Prisons
$16.5 million will be spent over four years to build 59 temporary beds at Mount Gambier prison, which will be used to accommodate prisoners while Yatala Labour Prison is being expanded. According to the Budget papers, the project to build an additional 312 beds in Yatala Labour Prison is expected to be completed by December 2028.
Law Enforcement
Surveillance
SAPOL will receive $2.8 million per year over the forward estimates to establish four drone base stations in metropolitan Adelaide and nine units across regional SA to enable police to undertake unmanned aerial surveillance.
Police stations
$5 million has been allocated to undertake initial planning work for the construction of police stations in Mount Barker and Murray Burdge. No timeline has been set for the expected construction start and completion dates.
Addressing Dometic Violence
Stamp duty relief
Victims of domestic, family and sexual violence will be eligible for 100% stamp duty relief and the First Home Owner Grant, even if they had purchased a home previously, under a new ex gratia scheme designed to help vulnerable women leave dangerous situations and re-establish themselves in secure, independent housing.
Applicants who have vacated a home due to domestic, family or sexual violence are eligible for this scheme if they have not received a material financial benefit from the vacated home and otherwise meet all eligibility requirements that apply to stamp duty relief for first home buyers and/or the First Home Owner Grant in relation to the home they are purchasing or building.
Housing
Affordable housing
In addition to measures to increase housing supply and accessibility (such as $1 billion to fast track housing and apartment developments, and a $1.3 billion program to provide 2000 “rent to own” homes), $30 million has been allocated to upgrade 300 vacant Housing Truist homes, and $110 million will go towards the construction of 200 supported accommodation places to support tenants with complex and specialised needs.
Homelessness
An additional $6 million over four years will go towards homelessness support centres, including Catherine House, St Vincent de Paul Society and Hutt Street Centre.
Indigenous Justice
Truth-telling and treaty
$8.4 million over four years will be invested to establish a Commission to undertake Truth-telling and Treaty activities.
Legislative Objectives
The Budget papers listed a number of legislative targets for 2026-27, including:
- Introduce legislation to ban domestic violence and sexual offenders from using online dating platforms.
- Introduce legislation to amend the Intervention Orders (Prevention of Abuse) Act 2009 to implement recommendations of the Royal Commission into Domestic, Family and Sexual Violence. Recommendations include creating a time-limited vacate order; a rebuttable presumption that children should be included on intervention orders; and introducing an offence of facilitating a breach of a domestic violence order on behalf of the respondent.
- Consult on legislation to regulate the use of non-disclosure agreements in sexual harassment cases.
- Integrate Guardianship and Administration Act 1993 reforms into Tribunal processes, hearings and decisions. The reforms aim to expedite guardianship and administration proceedings in the SACAT to address delays in discharge from hospital for people with dementia or otherwise impaired decision-making capacity.
- Integrate Advance Care Directives Act 2013 reforms into Tribunal processes, hearings and decisions.
- Consult on amendments to the Long Service Leave Act 1994 to modernise long service leave, ensuring that unpaid parental leave counts towards the accrual of long service leave, and that workers who move between different franchisees of the same franchisor have continuity of service recognised.
- Establish a new legislative framework to modernise the regulation of employment agents in South Australia.
- Consult on changes to the Work Health and Safety Act 2012 to improve supports and protections for Health and Safety Representatives.