JUSTICE SYSTEM

The Hon. R.D. LAWSON (15:43): Justice delayed is justice denied. Everyone accepts this adage, and I imagine many in the past have accepted it by interpreting the phrase as connoting that a fair trial to an accused person is undermined by delay. However, delays affect more than just the accused; in particular, delays affect victims, especially if they are also witnesses. Many victims of crime, particularly crimes involving violence, cannot obtain what is now popularly known as 'closure' until the trial is complete and the sentence commenced. These victims cannot get on with their lives and are further victimised by delays; they can also be victimised by the court process itself.

Witnesses are also affected if a trial is not brought on. Their recollection of events fades, and they worry about it. Many of these witnesses may be victims, but they may also be citizens or professionals such as police officers. Once again, a police officer may not suffer any emotional difficulties about a delay but there are factors such as recollection and the like that are reduced by delay.

In South Australia we are renowned as having a criminal justice system that is, if not the slowest in the nation, certainly one of the slowest. Delays between the initiation of criminal proceedings and the holding of trials are endemic in our system, and that has been the case for some time. I do not believe that the current South Australian Attorney-General has shown sufficient leadership on this matter, nor has the Rann government. The government has been paralysed. It has established committee after committee but it still has not come up with any satisfactory conclusion.

Soon after the Attorney was appointed, he established a committee which was chaired by Justice Duggan. Justice Sulan, Judge Paul Rice, the then acting DPP, Wendy Abrahams, Gordon Barrett QC, and a representative of the Attorney's office were on that committee. It had reported by June 2005. The Chief Justice then appointed two former heads of the Attorney-General's Department (Kym Kelly and Bill Cossey) to look at how the courts handle criminal trials and to see whether practices could be changed to make them quicker.

Later on, Judge Paul Rice was commissioned to prepare a report, and he delivered a detailed report to the Chief Justice and the Chief Judge. Then the Attorney-General, in November 2006, established a Criminal Justice Ministerial Task Force to consider the report of Judge Rice. That task force is chaired by the Solicitor-General. It is still examining its proposals. There is still no resolution to this issue.

In the meantime, an obvious solution, one that has been referred to by the Chief Justice from time to time—namely, the establishment of additional courtrooms and the appointment of additional judges–has gone unanswered by the government. Recently, the courts said that they would like to reactivate two courts that were established in Sturt Street a number of years ago, which have not been used for many years, in order to address this backlog. However, there has been no answer from the government as to whether that project will be funded. The Attorney-General is more interested in blaming the former Howard government's attorney-general Philip Ruddock for not making commonwealth courts available. The time for talk and the time for committees is over. It is time for this government to show some leadership and ensure that our criminal lists are cleared quickly.