Minister tackles court waiting lists

Simple, more effective and less costly processes to address court waiting lists were outlined by Courts Minister Georgina te Heuheu when she appeared before the Justice and Electoral Law Reform Select Committee this morning.

The Minister said there was no single solution to improving court capacity to respond to increasing workloads.

‘Increasing resources to meet demand is only a partial solution when, for example, criminal cases in Auckland are forecast to rise 7% a year.’

Initiatives to address workloads in the shorter term include:

• Extending court operating hours - being piloted in Auckland this month.
• Additional courtrooms in Auckland District Court - completed by October next year.
• Locate a civil courthouse in the Auckland CBD, to free up space in the District Court building - currently under construction.
• Greater use of Community Magistrates to hear less serious criminal summary cases, freeing up judges to hear more serious cases – on track for January next year.
• Longer term initiatives include:
• Roll out of National Transcription Service, speeding up the taking of evidence resulting in faster trials.
• Progressing legislation that will enable the greater use of Audio Visual Links and an electronic operating model for courts.
• A major operational and policy project to reform, streamline and simplify criminal court process, reducing the overall case time.
• Develop an operating model with more flexibility and scalability for Auckland.

Mrs te Heuheu said many of these provisions relate to Auckland, but they have the potential to benefit courts across the country in the longer term.