54CFinancial assistance in respect of legal representation

#### 54C Financial assistance in respect of legal representation (1) Where: (a) an application has been made, in accordance with paragraph 50(1)(a), to a Commissioner by or on behalf of Aboriginals claiming to have a traditional land claim to an area of land; and (b) a person (not being a person by whom, or on whose behalf, the application referred to in paragraph (a) has been made) or an unincorporated association of persons wishes to be, or is, legally represented at the inquiry by the Commissioner into the claim; that person or association may apply to the Attorney‑General for the provision of assistance under this section in respect of the cost of such representation at that inquiry. (2) Where: (a) an application is made to the Attorney‑General under subsection (1); and (b) the Attorney‑General, or a person appointed or engaged under the Public Service Act 1999 (the public servant) authorized in writing by the Attorney‑General, is satisfied that, in all the circumstances of the case, it is reasonable that the Commonwealth should provide assistance in respect of the whole or a part of the cost of the representation to which the application relates; the Attorney‑General or the public servant may authorize, either unconditionally or subject to such conditions as the Attorney‑General or the public servant determines, the provision by the Commonwealth of assistance under this section in respect of the whole or that part of the cost of that representation. (3) The reference in subsection (2) to all the circumstances of the case shall be read as including a reference to any hardship that the refusal of the application in question would cause to the applicant or, if the applicant is an unincorporated association of persons, to any of those persons.