Our courts are working under load
THE Toowoomba District Court has one of the state’s lowest clearance rates.
A total of 221 new defendants faced the court last financial year and 222 cases were finalised.
There are 48 cases still active from previous years.
The 2016-17 District Court of Queensland Annual Report shows the court has a 100.5 per cent clearance rate which is higher than Cairns, Maroochydore and Southport but lower than many other centres.
Most district courts in Queensland have clearance rates above 100 per cent.
The Toowoomba Supreme Court dealt with 62 new cases in 2016-17 and finalised 84.
It still has 15 active cases from previous years and a clearance rate of 135.5 per cent.
In her annual report to parliament, Supreme Court Chief Justice Catherine Holmes said case backlogs showed there was a need for more judicial officers to be appointed.
“The inability to reduce the active pending matters ... highlights the need for additional judicial resources to meet the increasing demand,” Justice Holmes said.
Queensland Law Society deputy president Bill Potts called on the State Government to appoint five more district court judges, three more supreme court justices and 10 more magistrates.
A spokeswoman for Attorney General Yvette D’Ath said the Attorney General would “continue to work with” Chief Justice Holmes and the District Court of Queensland chief judge and the chief magistrate on resource allocations.