Highest court comes to town

THE Supreme Court will visit the Gold Coast for the first time in more than 10 years with a two-week stay in late August.

The circuit sitting has been welcomed by Gold Coast lawyers who are hoping the move becomes permanent to save on costs and travel time.

A call-over will be held this afternoon to determine which cases will be heard, but it is understood the court is hoping to schedule a high-profile trial as well as a number of criminal sentences and civil applications.

The higher court was last in Southport in 2007. Since then all Gold Coast-based Supreme Court matters have been heard in Brisbane.

A Supreme Court is based in Brisbane, Rockhampton, Townsville and Cairns and circuit sittings are held across the state, including in Mt Isa, Maryborough, Toowoomba and Bundaberg.

The Supreme Court deals with the state’s most serious charges including murder and manslaughter, drug trafficking and possession of large quantities of drugs.

Recent high-profile cases in Brisbane include Lionel Patea’s sentencing for the murder of Tara Brown, Chris Carter’s trial where he was acquitted for two charges of murder, and the trial of Gable Tostee, also acquitted of murder.

“It’s a lot more convenient for everyone involved,” Jodi Allen, director of Buckland Allen, said on a Supreme Court on the Gold Coast.

For a Supreme Court trial prosecution, she said defence lawyers, witnesses and defend- ants would have to travel from the Gold Coast to Brisbane for each sitting day, increasing costs and traffic congestion.

Ms Allen said travel costs for lawyers acting for defendants under the Legal Aid scheme was charged back to the taxpayer.

She said there was enough work on the Gold Coast to warrant a regular sitting.

“If it wasn’t full-time they could at least come one week a month,” she said.

“We would have enough matters, whether it is sentences or bail applications.”

Defendants who are denied bail in the Magistrates Court are able to appeal that decision in the Supreme Court.

Moloney MacCallum Abdelshahied Lawyers director Campbell MacCallum said it was costly to lodge a bail application in the Supreme Court in Brisbane and it could cause delays.

“People can sometimes stay in custody for three to four days longer due to the fact that there is affidavits that need to be signed by a person on the Gold Coast and filed in Brisbane,” he said.

Potts Lawyers director Bill Potts said the Southport Courthouse was already the second busiest in the state and it made sense for the Supreme Court to be held on the Coast.

“I urge local practitioners to get behind this development to ensure that the circuit judge is welcome and that the work of the court process is supported,” he said.

A spokeswoman for the Supreme Court said future circuit sittings were not guaranteed.

“It will depend if there are sufficient matters to warrant a circuit sitting,” she said.