‘Air miles’ judges hit Victorian taxpayers with hefty $130,000 travel bill

Victorians billed to fly judges — and sometimes their spouses too — around the nation and overseas for ‘professional development opportunities’.

The Victorian Supreme Court in Melbourne. Picture: NCA NewsWire / David Geraghty

Fifty Victorian County Court judges spent more than $130,000 in taxpayers’ funds on flights and hotels attending interstate legal conferences in a single year.

County Court expenses for 2022-23, released to The Australian under Freedom of Information laws, reveal almost two thirds of the court’s judges billed taxpayers for events the court has described as “professional development opportunities”.

Victorian Supreme Court expenses reveal judges flew overseas to destinations including Los Angeles and New Zealand for legal gatherings, costing taxpayers tens of thousands of dollars.

Nineteen Supreme Court judges attended a judicial conference in New Zealand and 15 spouses accompanied them, some at the expense of taxpayers.

“The legislation for remuneration of judges provides that ­travel expenses on approved conferences for accompanying partners can be met,” a court spokesperson said.

“Court policy limits this to one conference a year. Fifteen partners attended the NZ conference – most, but not all, had some expense met.” Expense records listed some of the “spouse flights” as costing up to $2779.

The taxpayer bill for the Supreme Court judge attending the LA conference was $11,500 in “travel, personal and entertainment” expenses.

It cost more than $16,000 for another judge to attend a separate “professional development program” in the US.

Another Supreme Court judge was due to attend a judicial conference in Paris, costing taxpayers $11,000, before the event was cancelled due to rioting in the French capital. The funds were reimbursed.

The Supreme Court defended the travel bill. “Proposed attendance at all international judicial conferences is assessed for suitability and value by the court,” a spokesperson said.

“Attendance for these conferences were approved based on the multi-jurisdictional insight they provided in areas of judicial practice where there is greater experience overseas than in ­Australia.”

The court spokesperson said the New Zealand meeting was the principal annual conference for Supreme and Federal court judges from across Australia and New Zealand, and that this year, it would be hosted in Melbourne.

“The vast majority of professional development is undertaken locally and within Australia. Professional development activities are an important part of ensuring judges are up to date in relation to legal developments and innovations in case management,” the spokesperson said.

The County Court has defended the fact that 50 of its 88 judges travelled interstate for the conferences, noting that regular events rotate between states, which can lead to spikes in travel.

The court did not release a complete list of the destinations, nor the number of business days the judges were away for.

“Judicial officers are encouraged to engage in a range of professional development activities, which can include attending certain legal conferences,” a court spokesperson said.

“Professional development is an important part of maintaining a modern, informed judiciary for the benefit of the community.

“Conferences offer opportunities to hear from judicial officers and legal experts in other jurisdictions about law reform, new technologies, case management and other important issues.”

The County Court’s 2022-23 annual report reveals that there are 850 pending criminal trials in Melbourne.

The report states that the projected trial listing for a new case was expected to be between 12 to 14 months in 2023-24, which the court said was an “improvement” on the 14 to 16 month wait in 2022-23.

The identities of the judges was redacted from the expense records released to The Australian by Court Services Victoria.