Drug trafficking cases have nearly doubled in the Supreme Court of Tasmania in the past year.
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Case figures were revealed during budget estimates on Wednesday as Justice and Corrections Minister Elise Archer was grilled about the rising court backlog.
The total number of Supreme Court cases is expected to reach 570 by the end of this financial year.
That is an 11 per cent increase from last year, despite five acting judges being appointed for two years to assist with the workload.
Independent Windermere MLC Ivan Dean questioned why the backlog was continuing to increase after funds had been allocated last year to solve the issue.
“We were told last year with the employment of these five extra judges that we would see that list dropping,” he said.
“So I ask the question, with the increase, just what has been going on?”
The minister referred the question to Supreme Court registrar Jim Connolly, who described the backlog as “complex”.
“There are so many different causes contributing to it that we can’t … put our finger exactly on a single cause and say ‘that’s what we need to fix’, it’s a far more complex question than that,” Mr Connolly said.
“The reality is the backlog has increased, but I could put the question in reverse, if we did not have the five acting judges we would be in an even worse position than we are now.”
Mr Dean also referenced the state government’s promise to employ extra front-line police, which he suggested would see even more cases coming through the court.
“One can assume we are reaching a stage where … there has got to be some strong action taken to get on top of this,” he said.
Mr Connolly agreed there could be a further increase.
“With more police officers funded in the budget, some of those will be engaged in apprehending criminals, and so we would expect that there would be a further increase,” he said.
Referring to the Magistrates Court of Tasmania, Ms Archer could only provide figures up until June last year.
During the 2016-17 financial year, the minister said more than 18,000 cases had been lodged.
Of those cases, one thousand were more than a year old, more than 12,000 were less than a year old and more than 5000 were less than six months old.
Melissa Mobbs
A journalist with more than a decade of experience, Melissa Mobbs currently works as the Deputy Editor for The Examiner Newspaper in Launceston, and has a strong background in reporting on crime and the justice system. Send tips to Melissa.Mobbs@examiner.com.au or on Twitter via @melissamobbs.
A journalist with more than a decade of experience, Melissa Mobbs currently works as the Deputy Editor for The Examiner Newspaper in Launceston, and has a strong background in reporting on crime and the justice system. Send tips to Melissa.Mobbs@examiner.com.au or on Twitter via @melissamobbs.
