CALL FOR MORE JUDGES AS BACKLOG GROWS

THE Townsville District Court has one of the state’s lowest clearance rates.

A total of 413 new defendants faced the court last financial year and the court finalised 434 cases in the same 12 months.

There are 148 cases still active from previous years. The 2016- 17 District Court of Queensland Annual Report shows the court has a 105.1 per cent clearance rate which is higher than Cairns, Maroochydore and Mackay but lower than Bowen, Bundaberg and Innisfail.

The Townsville Supreme Court dealt with 140 cases in 2016- 17 and finalised 116. It still has 46 active cases from previous years and one of the state’s lowest clearance rates at 82.9 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.

“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.