Table of contents
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Table of contents
- 1 – Introduction
- 2 – Types of matters that may be assisted
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3 – Criminal law guidelines
- Guideline 1.1 – ‘not guilty’ plea in the Magistrates’ Court
- Guideline 1.2 – ‘guilty’ plea in the Magistrates’ Court
- Guideline 1.3 – Assessment and Referral Court List matters
- Guidelines 1.4 and 1.5 – social security prosecutions
- Guideline 2 – traffic offence charges in the Magistrates’ Court
- Guideline 3.1 – committal proceedings involving homicide, consent or identification
- Guideline 3.2 – committal proceedings in other cases
- Guideline 4 – trials in the County or Supreme courts
- Guideline 4.1 – County Court and Supreme Court pleas
- Guideline 5.1 – proceedings in the Criminal Division of the Children’s Court
- Guideline 6 – bail applications in the Magistrates’, County and Supreme courts
- Guideline 7.1 – criminal appeals to the County Court
- Guideline 7.2 – interlocutory appeals to the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.3 – appeals to the High Court
- Guideline 7.4 – leave to appeal against sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.5 – appeal against sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.6 – leave to appeal against conviction/conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 7.7 – appeal against conviction/conviction and sentence in the Court of Appeal
- Guideline 8 – stay applications under the Criminal Procedure Act
- Guideline 9 – hearings under the Crimes (Mental Impairment and Unfitness to be Tried) Act
- Guideline 10 – Serious Sex Offenders (Detention and Supervision) Act
- County Court breach proceedings
- Guideline 11 – two-counsel policy
- 4 – Commonwealth family law and child support guidelines
- 5 – Commonwealth civil law guidelines
- 6 – State family guidelines
- 7 – State civil law guidelines
- 8 – Standard grants assessment process
- 9 – Simplified grants assessment process
- 10 – Referral and practitioner panels
- 11 – Means test
- 12 – Commonwealth merits test
- 13 – State reasonableness test and interests of justice test
- 14 – Special circumstances
- 15 – Applying for a grant of legal assistance
- 16 – Decision to grant or refuse assistance
- 17 – Reconsideration and review of decisions
- 18 – Standard terms and conditions
- 19 – Contributions and overdue payments
- 20 – Abandoning legal assistance
- 21 – Finalising grants of legal assistance
- 22 – Allocation of work to lawyers and law firms
- 23 – Payments to lawyers and service providers
- 24 – Compliance reviews
- 25 – Privacy protection
- 26 – Complaints and feedback
- Topic index
- Invoices, worksheets and forms
- Contact us
Guideline 8 – stay applications under the Criminal Procedure Act
VLA will not make a grant of legal assistance to a person who is charged with a criminal offence under State law for any of the following:
- an application to a court seeking an adjournment or stay of their case until they obtain legal representation, in reliance on the decision of the High Court in Dietrich v The Queen
- an application to a court for a permanent stay of proceedings (in reliance on the decision in Dietrich v The Queen or on any other principle), on the ground that the grant of assistance provided by VLA is inadequate
- an application to a court under section 197 of the Criminal Procedure Act 2009 for an order that VLA make a grant of legal assistance.
VLA will not make a grant of legal assistance for an application under section 197 of the Act because to grant assistance would be inconsistent with the earlier decision of VLA to refuse assistance on the ground that:
- the person could afford the services of a private lawyer
and/or - the person had no reasonable defence.
Documentary requirements
Applications under this guideline are only made by the standard grants assessment process.
A member of the either the section 29A practitioner panel or section 30 referral panel, or any other person seeking to apply for a stay or funding order under section 197 of the Act should contact VLA’s Legal and Policy unit to discuss the application at the earliest opportunity.