Seven retired judges recalled to reduce pressure on understaffed judiciary
SEVEN retired Supreme Court judges — the highest number ever — have been invited back onto the bench part-time by Chief Justice Chris Kourakis in order to prevent delays in major cases being heard.
AN unprecedented number of retired Supreme Court judges have been recalled to reduce pressure on the understaffed jurisdiction.
Two of the state’s most respected jurists — former chief justice John Doyle and former chief judge of the District Court Terry Worthington — are among them.
And Justice Michael David, who only retired last October, this week started preliminary hearings in what will be one of the state’s most sensational and protracted murder trials.
Others invited on to the recall list of auxiliary justices — and approved by State Cabinet — include Timothy Anderson, Malcolm Gray and royal commissioner Bruce Debelle.
Justice Kevin Duggan, who retired in 2011, has also been recalled for duty — the latest occasion just yesterday when he handed down judgments in the civil jurisdiction.
The seven auxiliary justices are called up when factors, including an extended trial, long service and annual leave, affect the roster of available Justices.
The Supreme Court roster is already under stress, operating with only 12 Justices.
While that is one fewer than the usual compliment of 13, Justice Greg Parker spends half of his time in the Civil and Administrative Tribunal, which means the jurisdiction is effectively down 1.5 positions. Another two are set to be vacated next year with the mandatory retirements of Tom Gray in February and John Sulan in April, when they turn 70.
Justice Sulan, the longest-serving Supreme Court Justice, said that while the jurisdiction was “coping under pressure’’ this may not be the case if the two positions were left vacant.
“If they were not replaced, that would place additional pressures on the court. It might then reach a position where cases do get delayed,’’ he said.
In the 2013/14 Courts Administration Authority annual report, Chief Justice Chris Kourakis stated the budget reduction for that year of $2.3 million had been met “primarily by the executive not making appointments to replace retiring judicial officers’’ in the Supreme, District and Magistrates Court jurisdictions.
Justice Sulan said that in 2003, there were 14 sitting judges, compared with today’s figure of 11.5.
“You don’t have to be an Einstein to work out that if you take 1.5 off any group of employees, that adds pressure to others,’’ he said.
The Advertiser revealed in March that 600 criminal cases were waiting to be tried in the District Court, with listing delays of a year. Supreme Court delays are not as extreme.
Justice Sulan said the average delay in the Court of Criminal Appeal from the date a matter was set down was four weeks; for Full Court civil appeals it was also four weeks; for criminal trials there was a 10-week delay for a 10 to 20-day trial; and in the civil jurisdiction, it is about 18 weeks for a 10-day trial and six to eight months for a 20-day trial.
Justice Sulan said while the auxiliary judges were on the list “it does not mean they are necessarily going to be called upon’’ but if the court had its full complement of Justices, the auxiliaries would be used “far less’’.
Bar Association president Andrew Harris, QC, said the retired judges who had been appointed to the auxiliary pool were of the “highest calibre’’.
“The issue is the use of this instead of appointing the proper number of Justices to run the court efficiently,’’ he said.
Law Society of SA president Rocco Perrotta said urgent attention was needed “and filling positions would be a good start’’.
“This is a courts system that has consistently been pushed to the bottom of the priority list and we are paying the price,’’ he said.
Attorney-General John Rau said Chief Justice Kourakis had not approached him for extra funding to employ more Supreme Court Judges, although he had asked for more District Court judges.
“The Courts Administration Authority has its own global budget and the way that budget is managed is a matter for the authority,’’ he said.
COURT LIST
JOHN DOYLE: Admitted to the bar in South Australia in 1970. Appointed as Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia in 1995, a position he held until his retirement in June 2012.
TERRY WORTHINGTON: Served as the Chief Judge of the District Court from 1997 until his retirement in April 2013.
MICHAEL DAVID: Accepted a position as a District Court judge in 1996. Retired as a Supreme Court judge in October last year.
TIMOTHY ANDERSON: Justice of the Supreme Court of South Australia from 2003 until his retirement last year.
MALCOLM GRAY: Served as Solicitor-General
for South Australia, Crown Advocate for NSW and Chief Counsel for the Legal Services Commission.
He finished his career as a Supreme Court judge in the ACT. He served from 2000 until his retirement
in 2011.
BRUCE DEBELLE: Became a judge of the Supreme Court of SA in 1990, serving for 18 years. He was an acting Supreme Court judge in NSW and SA until 2011.
KEVIN DUGGAN: Appointed a judge of the Supreme Court of SA in December 1988, following a career as a barrister and QC. Retired from the Supreme Court in 2011.