COURTS PERFORMANCE

Ms BETTISON (Ramsay) (14:36): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney-General please inform the house about the performance of South Australia's courts in 2012?

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:36): I thank the honourable member for her question. She has shown a continuing interest in the performance of our courts. Statistics for South Australia's courts show improvement in the 2013 Report on Government Services. The annual report from the Productivity Commission measures performance of all courts across Australia in all jurisdictions. In South Australia, criminal finalisations in the Supreme Court increased by 33.3 per cent in 2011-12 which is, by any measure, impressive. Finalisations in the Coroner's Court increased by 14.3 per cent. Criminal and civil clearance rates, which are an indicator of the disposals keeping pace with lodgements—in other words, cases in, cases out—for the Magistrates Court exceeded the baseline rate of 100 per cent.

Civil clearance rate in the District Court and clearance rate in the Coroner's Court also exceeded the baseline. The Youth Court, which is a criminal court, and Supreme Court criminal appeals exceeded the baseline. Overall, South Australia's net expenditure on the courts increased from $75.1 million in 2010-11 to $77.8 million in 2011-12. The government remains committed to reforming the courts to make the most efficient use of them and to perform the best in the nation. Performance is set to continue to improve through government reforms, and I point in particular to the guilty pleas legislation which was finally passed last year after a serious delay in another place, and which will improve efficiency in South Australia's criminal courts.