Clearing the courts COVID backlog will need creative solutions

The depth of the crisis in our court system will need drastic and creative solutions or risk another nail in the CBD’s coffin.

The Supreme Court is in danger of losing big commercial cases.

Desperate times call for desperate measures.

As reported by the Herald Sun in recent days, most new criminal cases are unlikely to be heard until 2023.

The figures released on Monday by the Department of Justice show the depth of the crisis.

In the Magistrates’ courts the number of outstanding criminal matters has increased by 50 per cent and the number of family violence matters by 45 per cent since the pandemic began.

Waiting lists at VCAT, where a lot of small scale commercial disputes are heard, have jumped by 138 per cent.

Things are better in the County Court because good management has allowed much of the civil caseload to be moved online.

But looks can be deceiving.

The County Court is likely to be swamped when the Magistrates’ court resumes operations.

When the Magistrates’ courts start holding committals again, the criminal lists of the County will quickly become swamped.

Fixing the problem in the Magistrates’ courts is going to take creative thinking from the Government.

As anyone who has spent a day at the Melbourne Magistrates’ Court can tell you, there is simply no way the building can function at any other than a fraction of its capacity while maintaining social distancing guidelines.

To clear the backlog either closed suburban court houses will need to be reopened or temporary capacity built.

Let’s face it, it’s not as though there’s shortage of office space in the CBD.

The courts should also encourage retired magistrates to come back to help get through the backlog.

The Supreme Court is a different case.

The frustration here from several well-placed legal figures is that Chief Justice Anne Ferguson is not doing more to get judges back into court.

The vast majority of this court’s work is commercial and the fear is that as long as it remains effectively closed to face-to-face hearings large scale commercial litigation will migrate interstate.

That would be a disaster for Melbourne’s already struggling CBD.

The Government will doubtless blame this mess on Melbourne’s COVID disaster.

But the Federal Circuit Court and Family Courts also operate in Melbourne and they have not seen an explosion in caseloads.