Chief Justice Blow made the claim in the court’s 2016-17 annual report which was tabled in Parliament on Tuesday.

The number of new cases in the Supreme Court increased by 449 to 512 over the period while 437 cases were finalised.

New drug cases rose by 62 per cent, from 58 to 94.

The number of cases pending in the court for more than 12 months had increased from 110 in 2016 to 130 in 2017.

Mr Blow said the court had made arrangements for two part-time judges to be stationed in Hobart and one in Launceston to assist with the caseload.

“However, it became apparent that, because of limited resources, the Director of Public Prosecutions was not able to get enough cases ready to make full use of all the judicial sitting days that had become available,” he said. 

The criminal case clearance rate for first-instance matters dropped in 2016-17 to 85 per cent from 97 per cent.

Justice Minister Elise Archer said the government had implemented strategies to deal with case backlog including the extension of the eight criminal sittings each year, the use of acting judges and tighter case management involving direction hearings.

Other strategies include prioritisation of cases that had been before the courts for longer than 12 months and discussion over possible legislative changes which divide the Magistrates Court and Supreme Court.

“By national comparison, the age of Tasmania’s pending caseload is mid-range, below both New South Wales and Victoria,” Ms Archer said.

​“The backlog figures by age of case are also distorted by the unique preliminary proceedings procedures that operate in Tasmania.”