Radical changes to the legal aid system announced by the Government will deny low income people access to lawyers, the Labour Party says.
Justice Minister Simon Power unveiled the changes yesterday, saying he was tackling a $402 million cost blowout.
The changes include introducing a $100 user fee, tightening eligibility criteria and having the State-owned Public Defence Service (PDS) take up 50 percent of criminal cases.
Legal aid for less serious criminal cases will be restricted to single people earning below $22,000 a year and people with children earning below $50,934 a year.
Legislation will be introduced to Parliament by mid-year and the first stage of the plan is designed to cut legal aid spending by $138m over four years.
Labour leader Phil Goff said almost every low income person would be excluded from legal aid.
"You've got to constrain costs but you can't do that by preventing access to justice to low income people," he said.
"It means a single person has to earn $100 less than the minimum wage."
The party's justice spokesman, Charles Chauvel, said the changes would lead to a lack of quality legal defence options for people facing charges.
"No one is arguing that legal aid doesn't need reforming, it does," he said.
"But the reform must entail a balanced provision of services. Simon Power has destroyed that with his announcement."
The Criminal Bar Association said it was appalled.
"Legal aid is a loan, not a grant," it said.
"If a client is required to repay a loan it is only fair that they should be able to choose their lawyer.
"A National government is nationalising a profession."
Law Society president Jonathan Temm said the Government would hire inexperienced lawyers for the PDS.
"We don't believe the forecasted savings are certain, and we don't actually accept that the forecasted costs which drive these changes are certain either," he said.
NZPA