Bend over and take your cuts. The headmaster is dishing out the cane to a variety of backsides, most of whom don't deserve any punishment at all.

The law and justice community is not immune from the pounding. Front-line community legal centres (CLCs) are the latest to be whacked, with cuts ranging from 27 per cent for the Environmental Defenders Office - punishment for taking action against mining interests? - to 18 per cent for the Public Interest Advocacy Centre - punishment for a big disability case against RailCorp?

Illustration: Simon Letch

CLCs are organisations that represent the most vulnerable and disadvantaged. To a large extent they take the pressure off Legal Aid with civil and family law work and are partly funded through the Commonwealth, Legal Aid's budget and a milch cow called the Public Purpose Fund (PPF).

Overall, the centres have received budget cuts from the PPF component of 10 per cent across the board and more for specific programs such as for training, the Aboriginal legal access service and the child support access service.