Magistrate’s Court of Queensland Annual Report 2007 – 2008 QUEENSLAND MAGISTRATES COURT THE OFFICE OF THE CHIEF MAGISTRATE 30 October 2008 The Honourable Kerry Shine MP Attorney-General and Minister for Justice and Minister Assisting the Premier in Western Queensland Level 18 State Law Building 50 Ann Street BRISBANE QLD 4000 Dear Attorney In accordance with section 57A of the Magistrates Courts Act 1921 I enclose the Report on the operation of the Magistrates Court for the year ended 30 June 2008. Yours sincerely, Judge Brendan Butler AM, SC Chief Magistrate Table of Contents Acknowledgements 1 Chief Magistrate’s reflections 2 Our Magistrates 26 Queensland’s Magistrates as at 30 June 2008 29 Acting Magistrates 32 Judicial Registrars 32 Magistrates’ appointments, retirements, resignations and milestones 33 Magistrates’ professional development and community involvement 44 Court profile 52 Our jurisdictions 58 Criminal jurisdictions 59 Civil jurisdiction 68 Childrens Court 73 Domestic and Family Violence 77 Commonwealth jurisdiction 80 Industrial Magistrates Court 82 Coroners Court 84 Innovative courts and programs 86 Homeless Persons Court Diversion Program Pilot 87 Special Circumstances List 88 Courts held in Indigenous communities 88 Community Justice Groups 89 Justices of the Peace 91 Murri Court 91 Queensland Indigenous Alcohol Diversion Program 94 Drug Court 95 Illicit Drugs Court Diversion Program 98 Queensland Magistrates Early Referral Into Treatment Program 99 Judicial and courtroom technology 100 Director of Courts report 106 From the desk of the Director of Courts 107 Multicultural understanding 109 Judicial support 109 Court administration 111 Registry operations – regional reports 113 Business information technology 117 Future Courts Program 117 New Internet Site 118 Staff Development 118 Our stories 120 Maryborough courthouse celebrations 121 Murri Court stories 123 The Court’s history project 131 Reconnecting with the Torres Strait Islanders 132 Doomadgee art reaches out 135 Farewell and thankyou to Major Bruce Buckmaster 136 Appendices 138 Appendix 1: Magistrates committees 139 Appendix 2: Practice directions 140 Appendix 3: Legislation commonly used in the Magistrates Court 141 Appendix 4: Magistrates’ participation in external bodies 145 Appendix 5: Professional development for magistrates and judicial registrars 146 Appendix 6: Magistrates involvement in legal education 149 Appendix 7: Community justice groups 153 Appendix 8: Explanatory notes 155 Appendix 9: Criminal lodgements 156 Appendix 10: Civil claims 159 Appendix 11: Domestic and family violence applications and orders 162 Appendix 12: Commonwealth lodgements 166 Appendix 13: Child protection applications and orders 168 Appendix 14: Jurisdiction throughput statistics 171 Appendix 15: Magistrates circuits 177 Appendix 16: Map of locations: Places for holding Magistrates Courts 178 WARNING: Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples are warned that this document may contain images of deceased persons. Due care has been taken to ensure that all images have been used with the appropriate consent. Acknowledgements This report was prepared with the assistance of the following people: • Magistrates who contributed to various sections of the report, in particular, Deputy Chief Magistrate Hine, Magistrates Barnes, Black, Callaghan(B), Cull, Dowse, Hennessy, Lee, McLaughlan, Osborne, O’Shea, Parker, Randall, Roney, Springer, Tonkin and Tynan and retired magistrate Mr G Dean; • Mr Paul Marschke, Director of Courts; • Members of the Court’s staff, in particular, Ms C Boast, Ms S Buttigieg, Ms K Chaczko, Ms F Craigie, Ms J Harris, Ms M Hoffmann, Mr B Hubert, Mr R Huisman, Ms J Irwin, Ms A Kirkegaard, Ms N Kendall, Mr P Kent, Mr L McDonnell, Mr P Macey, Ms R Monaghan, Mr P Mulder, Ms A O’Brien, Ms L Roughan, Ms L Ryle, Ms T Uele, Ms N Walker, Mr J Webb, Mr C White, and Mr G Wiman; • Ms Jeannie Donovan, Judicial Support Officer to the Queensland Magistracy; • Ms Lee Williams, Communications Officer, Queensland Courts Communications; • Ms Michelle Lodge, Communications Officer, Public Affairs Unit; • Ms Lucretia Ackfield, Senior Communications Officer, Queensland Courts Communications; • Ms Louise Vaughan, Editor. 1 Annual Report 2008 Magistrates Court of Queensland Australians are much more likely to have direct or indirect experiences of magistrates than of the higher courts and it is in the Magistrates Courts that Australians will form their views of the courts as a whole. Approximately 96% of all criminal matters in Queensland are dealt with in the Magistrates Court. This is a jurisdiction which is increasing in range and importance. For example, it can deal summarily with indictable offences punishable by up to 14 years imprisonment, subject to a defendant electing for trial by jury, though it is limited to imposing a penalty of no more than three years imprisonment. It also deals with civil claims of up to $50 000 and minor debts and small claims up to $7500. In addition, as Sir Anthony put it: The Court deals with a very wide range of matters, some on an exclusive basis, including Domestic and Family Violence cases (unhappily an increasing jurisdiction), Family law, Industrial Relations. It also sits as a Coroners Court and as a Drug Court and as Chief Magistrate Judge Marshall Irwin with Deputy Chief Murri Courts. It exercises jurisdiction on Commonwealth Magistrate Brian Hine laws and it conducts various programs. I mentioned Chief Magistrate’s reflections these matters simply to emphasise the point that the Magistrates Courts, here and else where in Australia, by His Honour Judge Marshall Irwin are the principal point of contact between the court system and the people. I have commenced the past four Annual Reports with a review of the previous twelve months. As I enter my final The extent and complexity of this broad jurisdiction is three months as Chief Magistrate, it is a good time to highlighted in Appendix 3 which lists the legislation reflect not only on the past 12 months but also on the commonly dealt with by magistrates. Information about journey of the Queensland Magistrates Court over the past our jurisdiction can be found in the Court Profile at five years and into the future. page 50. As the Chief Justice of Queensland said during the year: The Queensland Magistrates Court is a grass roots people’s court which reaches out to the community The reality is the Magistrates Court is a massively through its many innovative programs that are directed to important court, and it is also the court where most addressing social problems which are often the causes of people of Queensland from day-to-day see the Judiciary the offending that bring them (often not just once) before at work. our courts. In keeping with this observation, the former Chief Justice Therefore, the theme of this year’s report is: of Australia, Sir Anthony Mason said in the keynote Reaching out address to our 2008 annual conference: 2 Our people welcomes that few visitors receive – as well as being presented with local symbols of peace and justice. Magistrates The support by the Attorney-General for this initiative is With six new magistrates positions created in the past appreciated, as was his support for the creation of an three and a half years, there are now 87 magistrates (of additional coroner’s position in Brisbane, taken up by whom two are part-time) appointed to 31 different places Magistrate Lock from 1 January 2008. This is one of three and who circuit to 83 more locations in this fast-growing, new coroners’ positions created in the past year, bringing geographically vast and decentralised state. the total number of specialist coroners to five. Two of these new positions were created during this The other new coronial positions were created by reporting period. On 13 August 2007, a new position was reorganising the Court’s resources. These positions are the created for a Cairns-based magistrate to circuit to eight Cairns-based Northern Coroner and the Southport-based additional Torres Strait Islands and for an enhanced Cape Southern Coroner. York circuit. This role will be rotated through all Cairns- based magistrates. The Northern Coroner was created from the previous Northern (Relieving) Magistrate position in Cairns. The As a result, we are able to spend more time in Indigenous Southern Coroner has been created by transferring a communities. In addition to the eight new Torres Strait Brisbane vacancy to Southport following the retirement of Island circuits to Boigu, Darnley (also known as Erub), a Brisbane magistrate. Mer (also known as Murray), Moa, Saibai (also known as Kumag), Warraber (also known as Sue), Yam and Yorke Magistrate Priestly was appointed to the North (also known as Masig) Islands, we have now opened the Queensland position on 6 March 2008. The area he first courts at Hopevale and Wujal Wujal. services extends from Proserpine, north to the Papua New Guinea border, and west to the Northern Territory border. We are no longer fly in/fly out magistrates for Cape It contains a diverse range of communities, including communities and their much-sought-after ‘access to the large urban centres of Cairns and Townsville, the justice’ is at last being delivered to the deserving people Whitsunday Islands and coastline, the industrial centre of Queensland’s remote Torres Strait Islands. of Mount Isa, and the communities of Cape York and This is eloquently described by Magistrate Black (on page the Torres Strait. So it is a truly diverse and challenging 130), whose determination and passion to reach out to role. He will travel widely to serve the needs of those the Island communities through the creation of these communities and he can expect more than 500 reportable circuits has been rewarded by these developments. deaths to be referred to him each year. One of the great pleasures of the past five years has The Southern Coroner, who is likely to be appointed been the warm welcome extended by the Island people to in the near future, can expect to have a similar number Magistrate Black and I at the opening of the new courts of reportable deaths to be referred to him from within in these remote communities.