Four South Australian courts to shut under cost-cutting measures
South Australia's Chief Justice has confirmed four magistrates courts will close across the state as part of cost-cutting measures.
Chris Kourakis said the Courts Administration Council had proposed to progressively close Port Adelaide, Holden Hill, Mount Barker and Tanunda magistrates courts.
Port Adelaide and Holden Hill courts will close by the middle of next year, while Tanunda and Mount Barker courts will operate as circuit courts until their closure over the 2017/18 financial year.
Shadow Attorney-General Vickie Chapman blamed the closures on Government mismanagement and said it must take responsibility for not making adequate provision in the budget for the courts.
"The Attorney-General is the first law officer of the state and it's up to him to determine what resources we have," Mrs Chapman said.
"The decision now for the Holden Hill and Port Adelaide Courts to close, I think is an indictment in relation to the mismanagement of the Government."
But Attorney-General John Rau issued a statement reiterating that the decision to close the courts was out of his hands.
"Any issue regarding proposals to close courts is within the control of the Courts Administration Authority not the Government," Mr Rau said.
"I reject the claims ... that simply chucking money at a problem is a solution.
"In the end this is their decision and questions about it should be answered by them."
The case loads of the closed courts will be redistributed across the remaining magistrates courts.
Any closure will also allow properties to be sold and could reduce wage bills and other expenditure.
Access to justice limited
Lawyer Stephen Ey said he was shocked and concerned to hear about the closures which he said would put more pressure on an already burdened court system.
Mr Ey said there was no consultation with practitioners.
"I'm very disturbed and concerned to hear of this, clearly it's going to affect defendants," Mr Ey said.
"There has already been a centralisation of major indictable matters into the city, but it means that doing away with these courts is going to put extra delay extra pressure on the Adelaide Magistrates Court.
"It's going to cause problems for potential witnesses, alleged victims, not least the defendants themselves having to travel into the city.
"There aren't enough courts as it is in the Adelaide Magistrates Court now."
Mr Ey said defendants who were refused police bail and were housed in police cells next to the suburban magistrates court would also be affected.
"Importantly what's going to happen when people get arrested? They are already using Holden Hill as a remand cell as I understand it, does that mean that all people who get arrested and get refused police bail are going to have to be brought into the city."
Mr Ey said the court system was already overloaded, and would struggle to cope with the changes.
Meantime the Victim Support Service said the closures would have a significant impact on victims of crime.
Chief Executive Julian Roffe said reducing the number of courts in South Australia would only add to the existing pressure on the justice system.
"It will increase the number of matters heard in Adelaide, Elizabeth and Christies Beach, which means victims will have to travel further to exercise their right to attend criminal proceedings," Mr Roffe said.
"Victims living in suburban areas will soon experience the same barriers to participating in the justice system as victims living in country areas."
A statement from the Courts Administration Council said it acknowledged the closures would "burden and inconvenience many parties, witnesses and lawyers".
However, it said the proposal was a necessary response to a range of pressures and competing demands on the council's resources.
"The recent transfer of staff from the courts administration to the fines enforcement and recovery unit in the Attorney-General's department has affected the sustainability of registry teams in suburban courts," the statement said.
"Some restructuring is necessary so that the authority does not have too few staff in too many buildings. Savings would also be achieved through decreasing the number of buildings the authority is required to maintain and repair."
