Consequences
The case reinvigorated debate about who should be provided with legal aid, and raised the possibility that those charged with serious offences could escape conviction if legal aid was not provided. This placed pressure on the legal aid authorities to fund these cases, and fears emerged that they would need to pull funds from other cases to meet the new demands, especially when faced with "complex criminal cases" which may entail high costs over extended periods of time. Although there are no precise figures about the effect of the decision on legal aid budgets, a Senate inquiry agreed that the decision had the potential to divert legal aid funding towards criminal cases at the expense of civil or family law matters. Among the solutions to these problems were proposals for the state legal aid commissions to maintain "emergency funds" that could be used in major criminal cases; the South Australian Criminal Law (Legal Representation) Act 2002, which was designed to allow the courts to seize a defendant's assets to prevent false claims under the Dietrich principle; and the introduction of legislation in the Parliament of Victoria amending the Crimes Act 1958 to allow judges to directly order that legal aid funding be granted, rather than to simply order a stay.
Read more about this topic: Dietrich V The Queen
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