COURTS PERFORMANCE

The Hon. R.B. SUCH (Fisher) (14:33): My question is to the Attorney-General. Can the Attorney please inform the house about what the government is doing to reduce costs and improve efficiency in the courts and wider justice system? As the Attorney would well know, it costs the taxpayer a lot of money to run our courts and justice system, and it costs individuals a lot who get involved in it. I am particularly interested in the courts being able to deal with minor shoplifting, contested vehicle expiation notices and behaviour such as urinating in the park at midnight—not that it relates to me. Those sorts of low-level offences can be dealt with at less cost and more efficiently than the current system allows.

The Hon. J.R. RAU (Enfield—Deputy Premier, Attorney-General, Minister for Planning, Minister for Industrial Relations, Minister for Business Services and Consumers) (14:34): I thank the honourable member for Fisher for his question. Mr Speaker, as you know, the honourable member for Fisher has been a consistent and active advocate for all manner of law reform during my time in this parliament, and I would like to genuinely thank him for his interest in this area.

The Statutes Amendment (Courts Efficiency Reforms) Act, which was passed last year, introduces various efficiency measures to the courts which will reduce delay and the cost to parties. I will not go through all of them, because that would take us quite some time and you would stop me well before we got there, so I will just go through a few highlights.

One of the measures is to increase the jurisdictional limit of the Magistrates Court to $100,000 in civil matters. This will mean that more civil claims will now be prosecuted in the Magistrates Court rather than in the District Court. The Magistrates Court has a more restrictive costs scheme than the District Court, meaning that litigation will be cheaper for litigants.

Another of the measures (and this is one that I actually think we need to keep our eye on) is to increase the minor civil jurisdictional limit of the Magistrates Court. I realise that the Leader of the Opposition has been an advocate of this for some time, and he and I have agreed that it needed to change; however, we will keep our eye on it because it has gone from $6,000 to $25,000, which may prove to be too big a jump at once, but we will keep our eye on that and see how it goes. The government has also secured the passage of the guilty plea legislation, albeit without the help from those opposite, and the guilty plea reform will reduce inefficiencies—

Ms CHAPMAN: Point of order: not only is that a reflection on the members but it is also a statement about a vote that has been taken in this house, which is also a reflection.

The SPEAKER: Again, a very fine point. I am sure the Attorney will now refrain from even tangentially reflecting on previous votes of the house.

The Hon. J.R. RAU: Indeed; thank you, Mr Speaker. The guilty plea reform will reduce inefficiencies and delay in the system by placing a clear framework in place around the amount of sentencing reductions available when a guilty plea is entered. In particular, the reform intends to send a strong message that guilty pleas entered at the last possible minute—thereby not enabling the courts to reschedule, and costing a lot of money for the preparation of matters that don't go on—without reasonable excuse will not receive serious concessions. This is an important change.

Finally, the government is taking an active interest in the Chief Justice's push for law reform in the civil litigation area. The Chief Justice has made it clear that civil litigation must be reformed to make it less costly and more efficient. The government agrees with this sentiment and is looking forward to doing further work in this area. Again, can I add my very sincere thanks to the member for Fisher for his continuing interest and works in this area.