Page 347 - Week 01 - Thursday, 17 February 2011
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(7) All legal services are provided to ACT Government agencies by the ACT Government Solicitor unless, with the agreement of the Chief Solicitor, it is determined that another law firm should be engaged.
(8) (a) Mentally ill persons charged with criminal offences in the ACT are protected by the provisions in Part 13 of the Crimes Act 1900. Under rule 275 of the Court Procedure rules 2006 a person with a mental disability cannot start, defend or carry on proceedings without having a litigation guardian appointed. If a party to a civil proceeding in the Magistrates Court or Supreme Court becomes a person with a mental disability during a proceeding rule 231 of the Court Procedure rules 2006 requires the leave of the court to be obtained before any further steps may be taken in the proceedings. The court does not provide any special assistance to persons with a mental disability but as with any court user will provide appropriate assistance to ensure that the person may exercise his or her rights in the courts.
(b) Under the Evidence Act 1971 a person from a non-English speaking background is entitled to have an interpreter assist him or her in proceedings if he or she unable to communicate effectively in English. The Evidence Act provides that in criminal matters the cost of the interpreter is borne by the prosecution and in non-criminal matters the person requiring the assistance of the interpreter is liable for the cost of the interpreter. The Evidence Act defines a proceeding as a matter or inquiry, whether civil or criminal, heard or conducted by a court in which evidence is, or may be, received’ and ‘court’ includes a tribunal. The court will engage an interpreter to assist a non-English speaker in dealings with the court where necessary. The court is currently developing a policy on the engagement of interpreters by the court.
(c) There are no additional protections in place for an indigenous person appearing before ACT Courts. The Magistrates Court has however established the Galambany Circle sentencing Court for the purpose of assisting in the sentencing of indigenous offenders. Indigenous offenders must consent to having their matter go before the circle sentencing court. As with persons who have a mental disability the court does not provide any special assistance to indigenous people accessing court services but will apply appropriate assistance to ensure that the person may exercise his or her rights in the courts.
(9) The Court does record this data, but the case management system used by the Court is not currently programmed to provide the level of detail required in report format. I am not prepared to authorise the considerable use of resources that would be involved to provide the data in the form requested. The clearance rate in the Magistrates Court for criminal matters was 102.7% and for civil matters was 109.4%. In the Supreme Court the clearance rate for non-appeal criminal matters was 84.6% and for non-appeal civil matters was 107.5%. In the Court of Appeal the clearance rate for criminal matters was 68.6% and for civil matters it was 116.7%.
(10) Average clearance time for matters is not available from other jurisdictions. The ACT and other jurisdictions report publicly through ROGS on clearance rate for all matters but do not report on average clearance times. In comparison to the Australian average the ACT’s clearance rate of 105.1% for all matters compares favourably to the Australian average of 96.6%.
The clearance rate is a simple, easily understood and useful index of productivity. It indicates whether a court is keeping up with its workload.
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