Apple watches, overseas trips: Victorian judges in expenses splurge

Victorian judges have racked up tens of thousands of dollars in publicly funded international flights and hotels, judicial expenses records reveal.

The Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne. Picture: David Geraghty

Apple watches and business-class flights for partners are among taxpayer-funded expenses claimed by Victorian judges, who have also spent tens of thousands of public dollars on airfares and hotels attending legal conferences in Greece, New York, London, Hong Kong, Buenos Aires and Singapore.

Judicial expenses records, ­released to The Australian under Freedom of Information laws, reveal the state’s judges have also racked up expenses for ­conferences in Dublin, San Francisco, Amsterdam, Sao Paulo and Washington.

Two County Court judges, listed as 342616 and 320329, used their “professional development allowance” to bill taxpayers for Apple watches and Airpods costing the public $1061 and $1296.

The County Court said judges were entitled to claim “relevant technology expenses” under judicial entitlements.

“Many judicial officers use this entitlement to establish home offices to work out of hours and over weekends,” a court spokesman said.

Nine County Court judges billed taxpayers for business class airfares to fly partners to an interstate conference in 2017. The court declined to reveal the location of the gathering, which was attended by 27 judges.

“Judicial officers and their partners are entitled to business-class interstate travel for the purposes of a conference, where it is deemed to be in the interest of the court,” a court spokesman said.

A Supreme Court judge, listed as 328579, drew on the “protective clothing/uniform allowance” to claim $462.73 for a new suit in 2019. The court said the cost of the suit was covered because “the organisation was responsible for damage caused to a judge’s suit on court premises”.

Victoria’s Supreme Court judges earn $468,000 a year, while their County Court colleagues have $405,000 salaries.

The Supreme and County court judges have spent tens of thousands of dollars, according to more than 200 pages of expenses records from 2015-16 to 2019-20, on overseas and domestic flights and hotels.

Court Services Victoria, which manages the two courts, redacted the names and other identifying details of the judges from the data.

CSV indicated that if The Australian pushed ahead with its original request for the expenses claims to include judges’ names, the newspaper faced a protracted legal challenge over privacy issues in the Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

In releasing the transaction reports, CSV opted to use an anonymised “supplier” number unique to each judge.

The financial records reveal one judge, listed as 320323, claimed more than $4000 in 2019 for what was described as a “themes in democracy” conference in Greece. Another judge, E1007364, charged taxpayers $7970.62 to attend a conference in Greece in 2017.

Judge E1007365 claimed a $2800 expense in 2016 for what the documents describe as “Brazil conference” in Sao Paulo. Judge 320318 charged $3513.34 in 2018 for “Int Conf Buenos Aires”.

Taxpayers picked up a $10,978 airfare to fly a judge, identified as 320326, to New York for a conference in 2018, while “accommodation and daily allowance” cost another $1113 during the trip.

A Supreme Court judge, identified as 320073, billed taxpayers $9858 to attend a conference in New York and Hong Kong in 2018. An additional expense line for judge 320073 for “conference travel to HK and New York” lists a separate $7448 bill. Judge E154844 charged taxpayers $8094.42 for an airfare to London in 2016 to attend a conference, and in early 2017, the judge also billed taxpayers $9142.39 for another trip to ­London.

In the middle of 2017, another judge, listed as E1011574, flew to London for a conference, costing $9771.91. Victorian taxpayers were left with a bill of more than $5000 to fly judge 322600, “for meeting” in New Zealand in early 2019.

In a statement to The Australian, the Supreme Court said it supported judges attending legal conferences. “Judges attend legal conferences, including international conferences, for the purposes of professional development,” it said. “Professional development activities are an important part of ensuring judges are up to date in relation to legal developments and innovations in case management. They provide opportunities to discuss issues and share ideas and judicial techniques with ­judges and lawyers from other ­jurisdictions.

“Professional development helps judges to better serve the community. It also enables the court to improve its processes drawing on the experience of other jurisdictions.”

County Court judges made just two overseas travel claims during the five years. Judge 319723 billed taxpayers $6456 in 2019 to attend a conference. The destination is not listed. Judge E1004133 billed taxpayers $1974.55 in 2015 for what was described in the documents as “Airfares international”.

In addition to the money spent on overseas legal conferences, the judicial expense data reveals tens of thousands of taxpayers’ dollars have been spent by Supreme and County court judges attending legal conferences in Perth, Hobart, Darwin, Sydney and Brisbane.

“Professional development, including attendance at conferences, is an important part of a judicial officer’s work,” a County Court spokesman said.

“Such opportunities allow judicial officers to keep informed of legislative changes and share ideas with judicial officers from other jurisdictions.”

In 2016, more than 15 Supreme Court judges attended a joint Supreme and Federal court conference in Perth. At least 10 Supreme Court judges attended a conference in early 2019, with expenses of almost $20,000. Four Supreme Court judges – 328530, 320326, 319752 and 320309 – attended an unnamed conference in late 2019. Their combined expenditure topped $8000.

A joint Supreme and Federal court conference in Sydney was well attended by Victoria’s judges. One judge, listed as 319351, racked up costs of $6500 to attend the event. County Court judges also attended multiple conferences with a 2017 get-together costing taxpayers about $36,000.