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Legislative Council Estimates B PARLIAMENT OF TASMANIA TRANSCRIPT LEGISLATIVE COUNCIL ESTIMATES COMMITTEE B Hon. Elise Archer MP Tuesday 24 November 2020 MEMBERS Hon Rosemary Armitage MLC Hon Ivan Dean MLC Hon Jo Palmer MLC Hon Tania Rattray MLC (Chair) Hon Jo Siejka MLC Hon Josh Willie MLC WITNESSES IN ATTENDANCE Hon. Elise Archer MP, Attorney-General; Minister for the Arts; Minister for Corrections; Minister for Environment; Minister for Justice; Minister for Racing Ms Ginna Webster, Secretary, Department of Justice Ms Kerrie Crowder, Acting Deputy Secretary, Corrections and Justice, Department of Justice Mr Gavin Wailes, Director of Finance, Department of Justice Ms Penelope Ikedife, Administrator of Courts, Supreme Court, Department of Justice Ms Ann Owen, Manager, Births, Deaths and Marriages, Department of Justice Mr Nick Evans, Deputy Secretary, Regulation & Service Delivery, Department of Justice Ms Catherine Edwards, Manager, Victims Support Services, Department of Justice Mr Andrew Hawkey, Tasmanian Electoral Commission, Department of Justice Mr Daryl Coates, Director of Public Prosecutions, Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions Mr Michael Varney, Director, Crown Law, Department of Justice Ms Amber Mignot, Director, Child Abuse Royal Commission Response Unit, Department of Justice Ms Brooke Craven, Director, Strategic Legislation and Policy, Department of Justice Mr Wayne Johnson, Director, Monetary Penalties Enforcement Service, Department of Justice Mr Nick Evans, Deputy Secretary, Regulation & Service Delivery, Department of Justice Ms Amanda Russell, Acting Deputy Secretary, Corporate, Strategy and Policy, Department of Justice Mr Michael Easton, Chief Executive Officer, Integrity Commission Mr Richard Connock, Ombudsman, The Office of the Ombudsman Ian Thomas, Director of Prisons Emily Chase, Manager, Safe at Home, Department of Justice Robyn Pearce, Executive Director, WorkSafe Tasmania, Department of Justice Peter Graham, Executive Director, Consumer, Building and Occupational Services Tim Baker, Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Louise Wilson, Deputy Secretary, Office of the Secretary, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Ester Guerzoni, Senior Executive Officer, Executive Services Heritage Tasmania, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Jason Jacobi, Deputy Secretary, Parks and Wildlife Service, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Gary Davies, Director, the Royal Tasmanian Botanical Gardens, Department of Primary Industries, Parks, Water and Environment Janet Carding, Director, Tasmanian Museum & Art Gallery David Sudmalis, Director, Arts Tasmania Alex Sangston, Executive Manager Screen, Screen Tasmania PUBLIC The Committee met at 9.00 a.m. DIVISION 6 Department of Justice CHAIR (Ms Rattray) - Good morning everyone. Welcome to you, Attorney-General, and your team. This is Estimates Committee B, and I invite you to introduce your team at the table. If you need some interchange during the day, there are two clean chairs there, but if anyone else comes, please take a chair from those in the corner and then just swap them over. We are COVID-19 safe and looking to meet all those requirements, Attorney-General. We will, as always, invite you to provide an overview. Before we do, I just want to say that we will be breaking at 11.15 a.m. for morning tea, no matter where we are in the output groups. Then we will come back at 11.30 a.m. with the DPP, to facilitate his part of the hearings. We will then continue on after that. Over to you, Attorney-General. Ms ARCHER - Thank you, Chair. With me I have my Department Secretary, Ginna Webster, and also Acting Deputy Secretary, Kerrie Crowder for Corrections and Justice. At the table, you will notice I have a number of departmental staff behind me; I thank them for their presence today and, indeed, their perseverance. We will call up those members as we require. Just as an overview, which I will try to keep as short as possible, because I know you like to get into your many and varied questions, I always feel extremely privileged to appear before the House - indeed, our committees, and this particular committee - as Attorney-General and Minister for Justice. The seniority of that role is never lost on me in terms of the duties and functions that I carry out as First Law Officer of this state. I will, throughout the hearing today, outline significant funding commitments contained in the 2020-21 State Budget that will continue to improve access to justice and to support victims, something that has been a key focus of mine since taking on these essential portfolios. It is, in fact, partly due to the difficulties posed by the COVID-19 pandemic, and the Government's agile response, that I can detail that we have put $1.8 million in funding over two years for new or replacement videoconferencing and recording equipment at the Magistrates Court and the Supreme Court, at their facilities, and also the Tasmania Prison Service. These facilities will make it easier, and indeed safer, for the people to access our courts, and ensure we remain agile as well. The entire legal profession, including our courts, our tribunals, our legal assistance sector, and indeed our private practitioners, adopted new ways of working during COVID-19, to maintain those high levels of service through innovative solutions, if you like. I take this opportunity at the outset to thank them all for their tireless work over this period, and as they continue to do over the course of the year, and in particular the past six months. Their work has been exemplary, as has my department as a whole. I do hope we get an opportunity to go through our response to COVID-19 within the department because it Legislative Council Estimates Committee B 1 Tuesday 24 November 2020 - Archer PUBLIC truly has been extraordinary and I am very proud of their efforts, particularly in our prisons when we get to that later. Alongside our investment in technology, significant funding will also be available to improve court infrastructures, specifically in Burnie. In the 2018-19 Budget the department provided funding of $15 million for the Burnie Court Complex. In this Budget, $2.9 million is provided in the 2020-21 year so that work can start on developing that new court precinct at Mooreville Road. Meanwhile, the legal assistance sector has been provided with $640 000 per annum which equates to $2.6 million over four years in additional operational funding to assist the Tasmania Legal Aid and the state's Community Legal Centres to maintain their core service levels under the Australian Government National Legal Assistance Partnership Agreement. That is the top-up funding. Additional funding of $2.3 million over four years has been provided to Tasmania Legal Aid for its serious cases' fund - namely, complex criminal trials. That will help reduce the backlog of complex criminal cases waiting to be processed through the Supreme Court. Meanwhile operational funding of $3 million over four years, or $750 000 per annum, has been provided to the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions within its separate Budget allocation to assist them to deal with workload pressures essentially. An additional operating services funding of $550 000 per annum has also been provided for Crown Law legal risk management to enable Crown Law to meet increasing demand for its services from the Government and agencies. That is specifically in response to our massive infrastructure build which relies heavily on Crown Law services both in the Office of the Solicitor-General and more so in the Office of the Crown Solicitor. They are just a few tempters in the overview of what is contained in the Budget, but I am very pleased even with a difficult budget in our recovery from COVID-19, that our essential legal services have received additional funding and we continue to embark on our major infrastructure spend also in the area of Justice. CHAIR - Thank you very much, Attorney. Are there any questions members on the overview? Obviously, we will get to all those output groups. Mr DEAN - There are many questions. CHAIR - We might never get into the output groups. Ms ARCHER - I love how you go into the output groups. It is very orderly. Output Group 1 Administration of Justice 1.1 Supreme Court Services Ms ARCHER - We would like to get the Registrar of the Supreme Court to the table if we could because no doubt some of your questions might be assisted by his help. That is Jim Connolly, the Registrar of the Supreme Court. Legislative Council Estimates Committee B 2 Tuesday 24 November 2020 - Archer PUBLIC CHAIR - Welcome Jim. Always lovely to have you at the table. Mr DEAN - You mentioned the backlog in the Supreme Court and that is not a bad place to start. We were told going back a number of years ago now that the relief judges brought in would fix that problem or would certainly see a decrease. It hasn't. In fact, the numbers have sadly blown out a lot in this last year again and quite a few old cases as well within that court. How can we be satisfied an extra judge is going to help with that decrease because the workload currently coming into the Supreme Court, as I understand it - and correct me if I am wrong - is increasing, not decreasing. However, we have passed recent legislation which may assist when that is proclaimed and working. Where are we with the Supreme Court? What is the real situation? Ms ARCHER - Thank you for your question, Mr Dean. As members know, there are a number of causes for backlogs, not least of all this year with COVID-19. We did have a period where the courts needed to restrict their activities as much as any other area.
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