Court Backlogs

The Hon. H.M. GIROLAMO (15:18): Happy birthday, Reggie. My question is to the Attorney-General regarding court backlogs. Can the Attorney-General update the chamber on his understanding of current court backlogs in South Australia and on any impact that it is having on the justice system?

The Hon. K.J. MAHER (Minister for Aboriginal Affairs, Attorney-General, Minister for Industrial Relations and Public Sector) (15:19): I thank the honourable member for her question. Comprehensive statistics are published each year, I think it's in February usually, and it's a comparison. They are not always apple-for-apple comparisons because there are differences in different courts and jurisdictions about which matters are heard in different jurisdictions, and there are not always completely analogous jurisdictions in different states.

There are two tiers of the courts system in the Northern Territory, for example, whereas many other jurisdictions have three tiers of the courts system, so a direct comparison is not always able to be made. In the Report on Government Services that comes out each February there is a comprehensive breakdown of statistics, of timelines for court figures. I am happy to go back—some were traversed during the estimates process this year—and provide a comprehensive look at those published figures for the honourable member in relation to the Report on Government Services figures.