A Supreme effortto clear logjam

AN aim to drive down the backlog of complex criminal cases waiting to be processed in the Supreme Court is behind more funding for Tasmania’ s courts.

State budget papers show criminal cases older than 12 month spending in the Supreme Court grew to 38.8 per cent in 2019-20, up from 30.6 per cent thep revious year.

The government has set a 35 per cent target across the forward estimates. The budget shows $2.3m committed over the next four years to Tasmania Legal Aid’s Serious Cases Fund to support work in reducing the backlog of complex criminal cases before the Supreme Court.

A further $2.6 mover the next four years will go to the legal assistance sector to maintain core service levels under the government’s Legal Assistance Partnerships2020-25.

There is $80.9m allocated in this budget for law and order infrastructure projects —7.5 per cent of the government’s total infrastructure spending.

Projects include the $38.4m new Southern Remand Centre, the $9m S or ell Emergency Services Hub and $5.5 m to upgrade police housing. Forward estimates show more than $214m allocated to correctional infrastructure facilities.

Along with the rise in pending Supreme Court cases, Magistrates Court cases older than six months grew from 36 per cent last year to 38.5 percent.

In addition to justice infrastructure, the state government pledged $33m to the justice sector for a range of measures including increased prisoner numbers and costs relating to staffing, hospital and transport.

State budget papers show prisoner recidivism rates grew marginally over the past year to 56.6 percent, up 5.6 percent.

Justice Minister Elise Archer said the budget reinforced the government’s commitment to building the controversial Northern Regional Prison with $111m allocated to complete stage one of the $270m project.

“These investments… will future- proof our facilities for many years to come ,” she said.