Question – Court Disclosure Delays

Questions asked by the Hon Meg Webb MLC on 7 March 2023 and answered by the Leader for Government Business on 21 March 2022

Questions

1. In relation to the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019, can the Government advise when those parts of the Act which deal with disclosure obligations by Tasmania Police will commence?
2. Can the Government advise why has there been a delay of 3 years in commencing the disclosure obligations in the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019?
3. Can the Government provide an explanation as to why Tasmania Police recently directed that disclosure of the prosecution brief in the Magistrates Court will only be provided for contested hearings and indictable matters?
4. When will Tasmania Police cease the practice of charging defendants who do not have a grant of legal aid for disclosure?

Answers

Questions 1&2:
The Department of Justice and Magistrates Court continue to work to implement the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019, the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) (Consequential Amendments) Act 2019 and the Restraint Orders Act 2019.

In addition to extensive work preparing new Rules and Regulations, aligning the implementation of the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019 with the development of new IT systems by the Department’s Justice Connect project has added a level of complexity as the detail of the transitional arrangements and new court processes are being developed and finalised.

A modern IT system will enable the full realisation of the Acts’ potential, and is required to ensure courts and Tasmania Police can fulfil their statutory requirements.

The combined IT solution is called Astria, and once complete, will provide for a significantly more efficient and effective justice system.

The courts and Prosecutions stream of Astria has experienced challenges that have also impacted the commencement of the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019. Work in the courts and Prosecutions stream has been slower than expected due to several factors, including:

• court and Prosecution process complexity, especially with designing processes to fulfil the requirements of the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019. Many future state processes and requirements for the Magistrates Court (Criminal and General Division) Act 2019 remain undefined, which has delayed the system build;
• lack of availability and the need for versatility of Subject Matter Experts (SMEs) from across the administration of justice system, including the courts, due to operational commitments and resource and skill shortages; and
• inability to recruit skilled resources in the current market shortage.

Question 3
I can confirm that there has been no direction by Tasmania Police to place disclosure of summary matters on hold in the Magistrates Court.

The Disclosure Units are under instruction to prioritise their workloads and on occasions this does directly see indicatable matters prioritised over summary matters. Conversely when there are time-critical summary matters the same level of priority is given to these matters.

Question 4
Currently, to obtain a copy of a police file (relating to offences a person has been charged with), a file service fee of $53.90 applies.        

The fee is waived where a defendant has obtained a grant of legal aid.

Waivers may also be considered in other exceptional circumstances upon application to the relevant Prosecution Service on a case-by-case basis.

There is no plan to cease this practice.

See more of Meg’s Questions to Parliament.