There aren’t any official figures available on how many people appear without a lawyer at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court. Police Prosecutors don’t record them, and ‘unrepresented’ isn’t a field that the aging Courtlink system processes.

But spend a day shuffling between the Mention Courts and you’ll see more than enough to make you question the system. Sometimes it’s simply a case of cash-strapped people saving on an appearance fee and asking for their own adjournments until their lawyer is ready. But all too often people fall through the cracks of Victoria Legal Aid’s stringent requirements for representation.