The Snitch: NSW courts resemble Mad Max amid COVID-19 restrictions
The usually busy courthouses pretty much now resemble the post-apocalyptic scenes from a Mad Max movie. And, if that wasn’t bad enough, lawyers and judges trying to conduct hearings via audiovisual hook-ups, are describing it as “a nightmare”.
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The empty NSW court system is starting to resemble the post-apocalyptic scenes from the 1981 movie Mad Max 2.
Only, instead of leather-clad marauders roaming the wastelands killing people for petrol, we have half-dressed lawyers and judges desperate for internet bandwidth for audiovisual court hook-ups.
“It’s really bizarre. I was presiding over a matter where it was just me in an empty courtroom and everyone else was on a screen,” one judge told us.
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The new system has thrown up some new problems, such as internet capabilities. A solicitor described the hook-ups as a nightmare.
“The internet connection is so flimsy that it always drops out, so it is hard to get a hearing done,” they said.
Another said: “I can’t bang on the bar table and the judge can press mute on listening to me at any time.”
We’re told most magistrates and judges are trying to be patient, like one Sydney District Court judge recently. During a recent technology failing where a screen went blank during a hearing, the lawyer told us they exclaimed: “I can’t hear a f … ing thing.”
The judge replied: “Well, we can hear you loud and clear.”
Another lawyer told us they couldn’t speak to their client in jail because all the facilities were being used for court appearances.
“It’s hard to prepare for a bail application or a case because you can’t even talk to them,” they said.
But there are a few upsides for lawyers appearing in court via video link from their home or office.
“I’ve been wearing the old news anchor outfit,” one lawyer said.
“Business shirt above the desk for the camera and a pair of footy shorts underneath.”
LEGAL DRAMAS
It seems the legal fraternity aren’t immune to feeling the pinch of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Private criminal firms have reported having to sack junior lawyers while barristers have been hit particularly hard.
With most trials being canned until at least October, their earning capacity has dried up. We’ve even been told of one barrister in a high-profile chamber writing to the floor’s committee asking to waive their floor fees (their fee to work in the chambers).
We’ve been told to not be surprised if there are several closures of firms or chambers once thought to be invincible.
BUNNY GOOD BLOKE
Police Association of NSW organiser Jon Goddard copped a raised eyebrow from a Big W shop attendant on Thursday night when he walked in and asked for almost 500 Cadbury Easter bunnies.
Toilet paper panic was one thing but this was a pandemic first.
He packed the fragile load into his boot and on Good Friday, he and several other PANSW blokes played Easter bunny to Operation COVID-19 officers stationed at 20 quarantine hotels stretching across the city.
“Of course police officers aren’t strangers to working on holidays that you might normally share with family and friends, like Easter,” PANSW president Tony King said.
“But being thrown into these unusual duties in the middle of a pandemic and from all areas of the force is especially hard on everyone.”
He stopped short of sporting a pair of fluffy bunny ears.
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