Victoria’s new Attorney-General Jaclyn Symes has a lot of cleaning up to do to get on top of ballooning waitlists and long delays in Victoria’s justice system.
The Report on Government Services (Justice), released this morning, reveals a huge backlog in criminal matters in the Magistrate’s Court, with the pending caseload up more than 82 per cent since 2014-15 (from 45,762 to 83,260 in 2019-20).
The report also shows an alarming increase in the Victorian Children’s Court pending case backlog in 2019-20, up a staggering 105.5 per cent in just 12 months revealing the worsening crisis under Daniel Andrews (from 2607 cases to 5358 cases).
In addition to the delays, fewer victims are getting the closure they need.
The report shows a concerning reduction in the finalisation of criminal matters in Victoria in 2019-20, down more than 50 per cent from 267,646 in 2014-15 to 132,305 in 2019-20.
No wonder court wait lists are ballooning under Daniel Andrews.
The total recurrent cost of running all criminal courts in Victoria is up 18.1 per cent over the last two years, yet court delays and backlogs continue to get worse under Daniel Andrews.
Comment attributable to Shadow Attorney-General, Edward O’Donohue:
“Justice delayed is justice denied and victims and accused alike deserve a system that sees matters settled quickly and effectively.
“The court delays and problems this report highlights are likely to only get worse as our justice system simply doesn’t have the technology and capacity it needs to operate in a COVID-19 setting.
“The justice system has never been a priority for Daniel Andrews and today’s report reveals the consequences of years of neglect.”
