Judiciary highlights pressure on courts

JUDGES and magistrates used their annual Christmas message yesterday to draw attention to the rapidly increasing workload at the Gold Coast courts.

The Southport courthouse has long been under pressure with an increasing amount of work.

The Southport Magistrates Court is the second busiest in the state.

For more than a year, the Gold Coast legal fraternity has been calling on the State Government to significantly expand the court precinct by adding a Supreme Court, providing a fourth district court judge and increasing other facilities such as the Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal.

Judge Katherine McGinness, speaking as a representative of all three judges at the Christmas greeting ceremony at the courthouse yesterday, said there was “never-ending” work for the court.

“We had seen a growth and volume in complexity of sentences and also an increase in the number of lengthy trials,” she said.

Judge McGinness said there was also an increase in the number of civil matters and cases in the Planning and Environment Court.

Crown prosecutor Matt Hynes, head of the Southport branch of the Department of Public Prosecutions, said more than 150 trials had been listed and more than 500 sentences completed in the past year.

“The criminals in Southeast Queensland and the Gold Coast have kept us busy this year,” he said.

Magistrate Pamela Dowse, speaking as a representative of the 10 magistrates at Southport, said the case load was ever growing.

“And therefore the number of problems are growing,” she said.

The annual Christmas greeting exchange at the courthouse takes less than half an hour and allows the judiciary and legal fraternity to reflect on the past year.