Supreme Court of Queensland Law Courts Complex 304 George Street, Brisbane
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The cover depicts aspects of the interior of the replicated “smoking room” of the QGSY Lucinda established this Centenary of Federation year within the Supreme Courthouse. The Supreme Court of Queensland Law Courts Complex 304 George Street, Brisbane PO Box 167 Brisbane Albert Street 4002 Website: www.courts.qld.gov.au Registry: Telephone: 3247 4313 Court Administrator: Telephone: 3247 5015 Facsimile: 3247 5316 Facsimile: 3247 3186 CHAMBERS OF THE CHIEF JUSTICE SUPREME COURT BRISBANE FROM CHIEF JUSTICE PAUL DE JERSEY 12 October 2001 The Honourable R Welford, MP Minister for Justice and Attorney General 18th Floor State Law Building Cnr George and Ann Streets BRISBANE QLD 4000 Dear Attorney I enclose my report, under s 119 of the Supreme Court of Queensland Act 1991, on the operation of the Supreme Court for the year ended 30 June 2001. Yours sincerely The Hon P de Jersey AC Chief Justice TABLE OF CONTENTS THE CHIEF JUSTICE’S OVERVIEW ......................................................................................1 COMPOSITION OF THE COURT...........................................................................................15 COURT OF APPEAL DIVISION...............................................................................................17 WORKLOAD .................................................................................................................................... 17 ORGANISATION OF WORK ............................................................................................................ 22 REGISTRY........................................................................................................................................ 23 JUDGMENTS AND CATCHWORDS.................................................................................................. 23 SPEECHES OF THE JUDGES OF APPEAL ........................................................................................ 24 INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY ....................................................................................................... 24 THE JUDGES' LIBRARY .................................................................................................................. 25 INAUGURAL COURT OF APPEAL SITTINGS, CAIRNS.................................................................. 25 THE RETIREMENT OF THE HON MR JUSTICE C W PINCUS...................................................... 26 THE HON JUSTICE G N WILLIAMS.............................................................................................. 26 WAIVER OF PAYMENT FOR RECORD BOOK FEES (R 759(5) UCPR)....................................... 26 APPEALS FROM THE COURT OF APPEAL TO THE HIGH COURT ................................................ 27 CONCLUSION................................................................................................................................... 27 TRIAL DIVISION...........................................................................................................................29 CRIMINAL JURISDICTION - BRISBANE......................................................................................... 29 CIVIL JURISDICTION - BRISBANE ................................................................................................. 34 APPLICATIONS JURISDICTION....................................................................................................... 38 REGISTRAR’S COURT JURISDICTION ........................................................................................... 43 CENTRAL DISTRICT ....................................................................................................................... 48 NORTHERN DISTRICT .................................................................................................................... 51 FAR NORTHERN DISTRICT ............................................................................................................ 51 SOUTHERN DISTRICT CENTRES.................................................................................................... 53 TRIBUNALS...................................................................................................................................... 55 ADMINISTRATIVE SUPPORT.................................................................................................61 OFFICE OF THE COURT ADMINISTRATOR ................................................................................... 61 REGISTRIES...................................................................................................................................... 63 SHERIFF’S OFFICE .......................................................................................................................... 69 BAILIFF’S OFFICE ........................................................................................................................... 71 TECHNOLOGY...............................................................................................................................73 RELATED ORGANISATIONS ..................................................................................................77 STATE REPORTING BUREAU......................................................................................................... 77 THE SUPREME COURT LIBRARY .................................................................................................. 78 APPENDIX 1.....................................................................................................................................82 EXTRACT FROM CHIEF JUSTICE ’S REMARKS AT EXCHANGE OF CHRISTMAS GREETINGS CEREMONY, 13 DECEMBER 2000................................................................................................. 82 APPENDIX 2.....................................................................................................................................84 PRACTICE DIRECTIONS.................................................................................................................. 84 APPENDIX 3.....................................................................................................................................85 OPENING OF REPLICATED “SMOKING ROOM” OF THE QGSY LUCINDA, 30 MARCH 2001.. 85 APPENDIX 4.....................................................................................................................................94 REGISTRY SURVEY RE PROBATE.................................................................................................. 94 APPENDIX 5.....................................................................................................................................96 SUPREME (& DISTRICT ) COURT STAFF AS AT 30 JUNE 2001................................................... 96 The Chief Justice’s Overview The Honourable Paul de Jersey AC Chief Justice Introduction The Supreme Court continued to discharge with dedication and effectiveness its role to deliver justice according to law to the people of Queensland. What follows provides detailed support for that view. I commend the whole of the report to the reader. Those parts relating to the divisions of the court, the Court of Appeal and Trial Divisions, have been prepared by the President and the Senior Judge Administrator in consultation with the Judges of the respective divisions. In my following “overview”, as well as setting out some detail of the discharge of my role as Chief Justice, I draw attention to particular aspects of the operation of the court warranting public notice. It is unfortunate that expressions of concern about persisting inadequacy in the level of financial support provided for the court system by Executive Government should have had to become a regular feature of these reports. In last year’s report, I drew attention to two aspects which bear repetition: 1. the lack of proper funding for necessary, continual upgrading of the court’s technological resources, one particular manifestation of our current limited facilities being our inability “properly to carry out the rigorous statistical analysis necessary to evaluate the effectiveness of procedures and innovations”. It is, as I then suggested, “increasingly necessary to do so: to manage court resources efficiently, to be publicly accountable and, not least, to satisfy conditions in order to justify funding”; and 2. the absence of a “comprehensive plan in place, with assured funding, for redeveloping the fabric of the Supreme Courthouse, which becomes progressively less acceptable measured against a reasonable standard the people might expect to be met for this significant public centre.” Supreme Court Annual Report 2000/2001 # # # 1 Those long outstanding concerns remain substantially unsatisfied, although I am pleased to acknowledge the allocation of $1.2m in the State Budget 2001-02 for technology in the higher courts, and I am grateful to the Hon the Attorney General for his efforts in securing that provision. In my observations at the traditional ceremony for the exchange of Christmas greetings held in the Banco Court on 13 December 2000, I comprehensively reaffirmed those and other concerns. An extract of my relevant observations on that occasion appears as appendix 1 to this report. In those remarks I spoke among other matters of the inadequacy of the financial resources made available to the court to satisfy basic requirements for maintenance. Information recently provided shows that whereas the estimated cost (as at December 2000) of necessary maintenance across the