L T A R OF AUSTRALIA FAMILY COURT COURT FAMILY 2011–2012 REPO ANNU FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011–2012 4675 DESIGN DIRECTION4675 FAMILY COURT OF AUSTRALIA ANNUAL REPORT 2011–2012 ISSN: 1035-9060 © Commonwealth of Australia 2012 The Family Court of Australia provides all material (unless otherwise noted and with the exception of the Coat of Arms) with Creative Commons (CC) Attribution-NoDerivs 3.0 Unported licensing. Material may be distributed, as long as it remains unchanged and the Family Court of Australia is credited as the creator. More information can be found at: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd/3.0/. If you have any questions about Creative Commons or licensing generally, please email [email protected] Enquiries If you would like to comment on this annual report, or have any queries, please contact: Janelle McLoughlin Family Law Courts National Communication Family Court of Australia GPO Box 9991 CANBERRA ACT 2601 Ph: +61 2 6243 8690 Fax: +61 2 6243 8737 Email: [email protected] Alternative formats This annual report is available electronically at: http://www.familycourt.gov.au/wps/wcm/connect/FCOA/home/about/publications/annual/ The online version contains links to the 2011–12 Attorney-General’s Portfolio Budget Statements. Acknowledgments This report reflects the efforts of many people. Special thanks go to the Court staff involved in contributing and coordinating material, as well as the following specialist contractors: Editing: Foulsham & Munday Pty Ltd Design and typesetting: Design Direction Printing: Bluestar Print This annual report is printed on Impress Silk Artboard (cover) and Impress Silk (inside pages). Made from elemental chlorine free bleached pulp sourced from well-managed forests. It is PEFC certified and is manufactured by an ISO 14001 certified mill using renewable energy sources. ii Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 iii iv Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 Contents Letter of transmittal iii Contents 1 Reader’s guide 6 Acronyms and abbreviations 7 Glossary of court-specific terms 8 PART 1: THE YEAR IN REVIEW 11 The Court's year in review 13 PART 2: OVERVIEW OF THE COURT 19 About the Court 21 Portfolio Budget Statements outcome and program 23 Strategic initiatives in the Portfolio Budget Statements 25 Changes in financial results 29 Outlook for 2012–13 29 International cooperation 29 Court service locations 31 Initiatives of the Family Court 33 PART 3: REPORT ON COURT PERFORMANCE 43 Outcome and outputs 45 Historic performance against KPIs 45 Judicial services 46 Summary of performance 47 Registry and National Enquiry Centre services 65 Client feedback and complaints management 71 PART 4: APPEALS 75 Appeal Division 77 Appeals 77 Full Court sittings 78 Appeals to the High Court of Australia 83 PART 5: SIGNIFICANT AND NOTEWORTHY JUDGMENTS 85 Significant and noteworthy judgments 87 Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 1 PART 6: MANAGEMENT AND ACCOUNTABILITY 95 Corporate governance 97 Fraud control certification 117 External and internal scrutiny 119 Management of human resources 124 Financial management 135 Services provided free of charge 137 Purchasing, consultants and contracts 138 Legal services expenditure 139 Assets and property management 141 Correction of material errors in 2010–11 report 143 PART 7: FINANCIAL STATEMENTS 145 PART 8: APPENDICES 199 Appendix 1 Agency Resource Statement 201 Appendix 2 Expenses and Resources for Outcome 1 202 Appendix 3 Staffing profile 203 Appendix 4 Work health and safety 213 Appendix 5 Advertising and market research 215 Appendix 6 Ecologically sustainable development and environmental performance 216 Appendix 7 Grant programs 221 Appendix 8 Committees 222 Appendix 9 External involvement 226 Appendix 10 Judicial activities 235 Appendix 11 International visitors 240 Appendix 12 Contact details 243 PART 9: INDEXES 249 List of requirements 251 Alphabetical index 254 2 Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 Tables Table 2.1 Registered users of the Commonwealth Courts Portal, 2008–09 to 2011–12 26 Table 2.2 Documents eFiled in the Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court, 28 2008–09 to 2011–12 Table 2.3 Family Court of Australia service locations 31 Table 3.1 Summary of performance—judicial services 47 Table 3.2 Appeal caseload 2007–08 to 2011–12 61 Table 3.3 Summary of performance—client services 66 Table 3.4 National Enquiry Centre performance, 2008–09 to 2011–12 70 Table 4.1 Notice of appeals filed, finalised and pending by jurisdiction, 79 2007–08 to 2010–11 Table 6.1 Categories of Family Court expenditure 136 Table 8.1 Agency Resource Statement—2011–12 201 Table 8.2 Expenses and Resources for Outcome 1 202 Table 8.3 Staff by location 203 Table 8.4 Staff by gender 204 Table 8.5 Staff by attendance status 205 Table 8.6 Ongoing staff by location and classification 206 Table 8.7 Non-ongoing staff, by location and classification 206 Table 8.8 Total number of judges, 30 June 2012 207 Table 8.9 Workforce turnover 208 Table 8.10 Family Court employees covered by the Federal Magistrates Court of Australia 209 and Family Court of Australia Enterprise Agreement 2011–14 Table 8.11 Employees covered by other agreements 210 Table 8.12 AWA minimum and maximum salary ranges by classification 211 Table 8.13 Classification structure and pay rates 212 Table 8.14 Comcare premium rates, 2007–08 to 2011–12 214 Table 8.15 Family Court and Federal Magistrates Court environmental impact/usage data 216 Table 8.16 Judicial committees, 30 June 2012 222 Table 8.17 Senior management governance committees, 30 June 2012 224 Table 8.18 Conferences attended and papers delivered by the Chief Justice, 2011–12 235 Table 8.19 Chief Justice’s speaking engagements, 2011–12 236 Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 3 Figures Figure 3.1 The Family Court’s outcome and program 45 Figure 3.2 Applications filed, 2011–12 48 Figure 3.3 Issues sought on Final Order cases, 2011–12 49 Figure 3.4 Attrition and settlement trend in the Court’s caseload, 2007–08 to 2011–12 49 Figure 3.5 Cases finalised at first instance trial, 2007–08 to 2011–12 50 Figure 3.6 Number of judges, 2007–08 to 2011–12 51 Figure 3.7 Final orders applications, 2007–08 to 2011–12 52 Figure 3.8 Applications in a case, 2007–08 to 2011–12 52 Figure 3.9 Consent orders applications, 2007–08 to 2011–12 53 Figure 3.10 All applications, 2007–08 to 2011–12 53 Figure 3.11 All applications, clearance rates, 2007–08 to 2011–12 54 Figure 3.12 Age of pending applications, 2007–08 to 2011–12 55 Figure 3.13 All applications, time pending, 2007–08 to 2011–12 55 Figure 3.14 Reserved judgments outstanding (pending) less than 3 months, as at 56 30 June 2007–08 to 2011–12 Figure 3.15 Time for reserved judgments outstanding (pending), at 57 30 June 2007–08 to 2011–12 Figure 3.16 Applications finalised within 12 months, 2007–08 to 2011–12 58 Figure 3.17 All applications, time to finalise, 2007–08 to 2011–12 58 Figure 3.18 Reserved judgments delivered within three months, 2006–07 to 2008–09 59 (final judgments only) and 2009–10 to 2011–12 (all judgments) Figure 3.19 Reserved judgments, time to deliver, 2006–07 to 2008–09 60 (final judgments only) and 2009–10 to 2011–12 (all judgments) Figure 3.20 Total judicial services complaints, 2007–08 to 2011–12 61 Figure 3.21 Proportion of litigants representation status, finalised cases, 62 2007–08 to 2011–12 Figure 3.22 Proportion of litigants representation status, trials, 2007–08 to 2011–12 62 Figure 3.23 Notices of child abuse or risk of family violence filed, 2007–08 to 2011–12 63 Figure 3.24 Proportion of final order cases in which a notice of child abuse or risk of 63 family violence is filed, 2007–08 to 2011–12 Figure 3.25 Magellan cases, 2007–08 to 2011–12 64 Figure 3.26 Administration complaints issues 2011–12 72 Figure 4.1 Notice of appeals, 2007–08 to 2011–12 79 Figure 4.2 Proportion of notice of appeals filed by jurisdiction of decree, 80 2007–08 to 2011–12 4 Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 Figure 4.3 Notice of appeals finalised by type of finalisation, 2007–08 to 2011–12 80 Figure 4.4 Proportion of notice of appeals finalised by type of finalisation, 81 2007–08 to 2011–12 Figure 4.5 Proportion of appellants by gender, 2007–08 to 2011–12 81 Figure 4.6 Proportion of appellants’ representation status, 2007–08 to 2011–12 82 Figure 4.7 Months to finalise appeals, 2007–08 to 2011–12 82 Figure 6.1 Organisational structure of the Family Court of Australia, 30 June 2011 98 Figure 6.2 Family Court Expenditure, 2011–12 136 Figure 6.3 2011–12 Expenditure resources shared with the Federal Magistrates Court 138 Family Court of Australia—Annual Report 2011–2012 5 Reader’s guide The purpose of this report is to inform the Attorney-General, the Parliament, court clients and the general public about the performance of the Family Court of Australia in the 2011–12 reporting year. Prepared according to parliamentary reporting requirements, the report outlines the goals stated in the Court’s Portfolio Budget Statements and relates them to the results achieved during the year. It provides information on the Court’s performance in relation to its stated outcome: As Australia’s specialist superior family court, determine cases with complex law and facts, and provide national coverage as the appellate court in family law matters.