Legislative Council, Tuesday 30 May 2023

Ms FORREST (Murchison) - Mr President, I wish to speak briefly on adjournment and raise a matter of concern regarding equity of access to justice for families on the north-west and west coast, and seek a response from Government on this important matter. The matter relates to the Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia. They service the north-west coast of Tasmania by circuit to Burnie every four to six weeks.

The week starts with short procedural matters including adjournments, orders for documents to be filed, and orders for conferences to occur. The court then moves to interim hearings, urgent decisions that need to be made, often early proceedings, and the court then moves to trials. The FCFCOA has never had its own premises but relies upon the state or local government to provide the use of premises. It is not cost effective for the FCFCOA to purchase or lease standalone premises given the frequency of the circuits.

In the past, the FCFCOA has used the Devonport Magistrates Court, the Burnie Magistrates Court and the Burnie Supreme Court. None of these are now an option. More recently, the court has used the Burnie Civic Centre. This is being renovated and no longer available for court use. The issue here is that the FCFCOA no longer has premises available to offer the Burnie circuit. The court has approached the state and local government in Burnie and neither appear suitably motivated to find a location for the FCFCOA to sit. Procedural matters will be online and interim and final hearings trials will be in Launceston.

The impact of that, even the Burnie circuit has posed difficulties for many north-west coasters for those on a west coast and Circular Head through distance and lack of public transport that make travelling to Burnie difficult for many. It is not an accessible situation. Now, the people in the most financially disadvantaged region in Tasmania are faced with travelling to Launceston for any interim hearing even if it is just 30 minutes' worth and for any trial.

A large portion of the matters of the FCFCOA on the north-west coast involve legally aided parties and most often about children. Many litigants needing the assistance of the court do not have the financial resources to get themselves to Launceston, many do not have vehicles and those who do, struggle to afford petrol. Others must rely on public transport. Public transport options are sparse, and again, for many too expensive.

For those in Circular Head and beyond are from the west coast, even for a short interim hearing they would need to travel the day before and stay one or two nights. Some litigants are unable to make the trip. The majority of litigants who have to travel to Launceston will be required to stay overnight. For many this will be prohibitively expensive and for some, impossible. Tas Legal Aid do not fund accommodation; they fund legal support. This means some litigants, even if they could get to Launceston, would not be able to make the trip due to a lack of means to fund accommodation, unless they sleep in their cars.

The requirement to travel so far to access justice also has a significant impact on families and children. As I said, most north west cases are about children. With entire families required to travel, many will have to try to make arrangements for the care of their children for many days. For those with babies and infants, they will need to fund travel and accommodation and for someone to care for the children or child.

The people of the north west coast are already, as I said, Mr President, the most disadvantaged in Tasmania, both financially but also in terms of services and infrastructure, including transport available to them. The removal of the Burnie circuit will have significant impact and will be a real barrier to people accessing justice. Many will simply not be able to access the court. This will place a number of people and children at risk, as they simply will not be able to properly put their case to the court.

The solution is that there must be common will to ensure equity of access to justice for people on the north west coast and a collaborative solution based approach that places the needs of people first. State and Local Government have overarching responsibilities to constituents to be part of the solution and explore the co location opportunities.

My question to the Government is - and I hope the Leader can provide a response tomorrow on this is: will the Attorney General and Minister for Justice work with the Burnie City Council to ensure FC and FCOA matters can be dealt with in Burnie and actively seek a suitable location in Burnie to ensure equity of access to justice for all Tasmanians, particularly in matters related to families and children?

I am not suggesting it is an easy fix, but there are buildings and facilities that could be used. If the Pacific Centre was a suitable location until the renovations began, surely there are others

Mrs Hiscutt - While the member is on her feet, Mr President, I will not take that request to the Attorney General because I can tell you now that I am aware of conversations happening, but that is all I can tell you

Ms FORREST - I might ask the Leader a formal question about that then in order to understand what is happening. This is a serious equity of access to justice issue and we do need something clearer than, 'Conversations are happening'.