After the release of the federal budget, some groups who missed out on crucial funding are grappling with what it means for their future work including Australia's frontline Aboriginal Legal Services. 

They had made a plea for $250 million dollars in emergency funds to keep up with record demand and try to tackle staffing shortages but it was denied, meaning the ALS has had to suspend its work in more than a dozen courts in regional New South Wales.

Long time NSW Council for Civil Liberties committee member, Nicholas Cowdery spoke to ABC News regarding the ALS funding crisis. 

"[There are] two aspects here. One is that governments do not see votes injustice and so they do prioritse the acheivement of efficient and effective justice but there's a more sinister aspect here, possibly, as well", Nicholas Cowdery said.

"The First Nations people represented by the Aboriginal Legal Services are regarded by some people quite wrongly as being at the bottom of the social heap and so they get the last bits and pieces that are being allocated."

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