Legal assistance – Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion

National legal service

National Legal Aid (NLA) has established a national legal service to support individuals to engage with the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion (Royal Commission).

You can contact the service for free legal information, help and advice, including about voluntary submissions to the Royal Commission.

The service supports individuals who are not a formal witness to the Royal Commission.

If you are required to engage with the Royal Commission, a legal financial assistance scheme is available to assist you.

Legal financial assistance scheme

The scheme funds the reasonable costs of legal representation for people and organisations required to engage with the Royal Commission on Antisemitism and Social Cohesion.

Where to seek help first

You should exhaust other options for legal assistance first. Your options depend on the nature of your employment or former employment. If you are eligible for another form of assistance, you will generally not be eligible for help under this scheme.

If you are a current or former minister, you should seek legal assistance under Division 2 of Part 5 of the Parliamentary Business Resources Regulations 2017.

You can find out more about seeking legal assistance under the Regulations by calling the Office of Legal Services Coordination (OLSC) on 02 6141 3642 or emailing olsc@ag.gov.au.

If you are a current or former employee of a non-corporate Commonwealth entity, you should seek legal assistance under Part 9 of the Legal Services Directions 2025. You should contact the agency that employed you for help with the Legal Services Directions.

If you are or were employed under the Members of Parliament (Staff) Act 1984, you should seek legal assistance under Part 9 of the Legal Services Directions 2025.

To find out more, contact Ministerial and Parliamentary Services at the Department of Finance by calling 02 6215 3333 or emailing mpshelp@finance.gov.au.

If you are a current or former state or territory government employee, you should contact the agency that employed you to ask about legal assistance.

Eligibility for legal financial assistance

To be eligible to apply, the Royal Commission will need to request your involvement in writing. This includes the following circumstances:

  • You are called, or you are granted leave to appear, as a witness at a public or private hearing.
  • You are granted leave to attend a private session (if the Royal Commission authorises legal representation to be present).
  • You are requested to attend or are attending an interview of the Royal Commission.
  • You are requested to provide a written statement that will be used as evidence.
  • You must comply with a notice to produce.

We may seek advice from the Office of the Royal Commission to help us decide whether you are eligible for legal financial assistance.

You are responsible for finding and engaging your own legal representative.

You are not eligible to apply if you are:

  • an Australian Government or state, territory or local government agency or body
  • an individual appearing on behalf of an Australian Government or a state, territory or local government agency or body.

You may be eligible if you are a current or former government employee giving evidence in your personal capacity.

How to apply

  1. Download and complete the Application Form for the Royal Commission Scheme.
  2. Email your completed form and required documents to finass@ag.gov.au.

How we assess your application

We assess your application according to the:

If your organisation has been called by the Royal Commission, we will assess whether the organisation can meet the cost of its legal representation without incurring serious financial difficulty. 

When applying, an organisation should provide full details about its financial circumstances including:

  • annual income from all sources
  • total value of assets
  • total balance of savings and shares.

Supporting documentation should be attached to the application, including:

  • the last 6 months of bank statements
  • latest tax assessments
  • annual financial statements.

All information you provide to support the application will be treated confidentially.

If you have been called before the Royal Commission in your personal capacity, we will not assess your financial circumstances.

Which costs are covered

We will pay for reasonable legal representation and disbursement costs that you incur as a witness for the Royal Commission. These could include:

  • your solicitor's costs, such as attending hearings or preparing documents
  • disbursements, such as solicitor's travel or obtaining reports.

Your solicitor should invoice us directly by email to finass@ag.gov.au.

Assessment timeframes

If your application is complete, we will assess it within 21 days. If it is incomplete, we will notify you and ask for the missing information. We will not assess incomplete applications.

If you receive less than 21 days notice of appearing before or attending an interview of the Royal Commission, we will try to assess your application before the date of your appearance.

Payments process

We will only assess a claim for payment after:

  • we have approved your application
  • the work has been performed
  • we have received an invoice.

Find out more

To contact the Legal Financial Assistance Casework team, email finass@ag.gov.au.

If you need an alternative way to contact us, you can leave a message for the team with our department’s switchboard at 02 6141 6666 (or +61 2 6141 6666 for overseas callers). 

If you are deaf or have a hearing or speech impairment, contact the department through the National Relay Service and give 02 6141 6666 as the number you would like to call.