During the year under review the Court continued to achieve its objective of promptly, courteously and effectively deciding disputes according to law, in order to fulfil its role as a court exercising the judicial power of the Commonwealth under the Constitution. Through its jurisdiction, the Court applied and upheld the rule of law to deliver remedies and enforce rights and, in so doing, contributed to the social and economic development and well being of all Australians. The Court’s innovative approach to managing its work, and the way it operates as an organisation, brought continuing recognition of its leading role.
During 2006–07, the Court maintained its commitment to achieving performance goals for the Court’s core work while at the same time developing and implementing a number of key strategic and operational projects.
The Court’s eCourt Strategy is now entering its second stage of implementation involving the development and integration of electronic services to support the Court’s aim to provide judges, staff and legal practitioners with improved access to court services via the Internet. During the year the Federal Court, Family Court of Australia, and Federal Magistrates Court of Australia have collaborated to jointly develop a Commonwealth Courts Portal through which all their respective eCourt services will be delivered, including providing access to MyFiles (the Portal) across the three Courts. The services and information to be aggregated and delivered through MyFiles includes:
• eLodgment of documents;
• eSearching of court files;
• eCourtroom – interactive collaborative forums for interlocutory proceedings;
• On–line Orders – parties can submit drafts and the judge can post final orders;
• Judgments – integrated links to judgments from within the registry file;
• Transcript – integrated links to transcript from within the registry file; and
• eTrials (integration of the official court record with large scale collections of electronic evidence).
One of the most interesting aspects of the project is the ability for external users to engage with the court systems directly to submit information and documentation and search for information themselves without assistance from court staff.
During the year the Court along with the other jurisdictions has undertaken considerable work on the Portal project. The Chief Justice spoke in detail about the technology at the Seventh Worldwide Common Law Judiciary Conference in London in May 2007 and generated a great deal of interest in the concept. At a local level, presentations with the profession have raised awareness and helped to build support for the project. Work will continue and it is planned that the service will be launched in 2007–08.
During the reporting period the Court responded to amendments to the Native Title Act designed to promote better communication and coordination and remove duplication between the Court and the National Native Title Tribunal to ensure effective outcomes are delivered more expeditiously for all parties and encourage agreement–making, in preference to litigation.
In this context the Court reviewed its management of native title proceedings and on 8 June 2007 the Chief Justice issued a Notice to Practitioners relating to changes in the conduct of native title proceedings in the Federal Court. The approach outlined in the Notice builds on the Court’s current regional case management approach and reflects changes to the allocation of cases on a provisional and substantive basis. More details on the changes are discussed in Chapter 3 of the Report.
During the reporting year the Court undertook comprehensive planning exercises with both judges and senior staff. The outcomes of these processes led to a focus on new procedural efficiencies, new organisational efficiencies and jurisdictional improvements.
As part of this process in May 2007 the Court in Victoria launched a ‘Fast Track List’ as a pilot. The key elements of the Fast Track List are:
• to abolish pleadings – in the place of pleadings each party must provide a case summary;
• to arrange a scheduling conference approximately six weeks after filing to identify the principal issues in dispute, indicate the witnesses likely to be called and when the case will be set down for hearing;
• in all but urgent cases, interlocutory applications to be dealt with on the papers;
• a substantial reduction in the volume of discovery;
• trial times will be strictly monitored;
• the Court will endeavour to deliver judgment within six weeks and, in urgent matters, more quickly than that.
There has been extensive consultation concerning the Fast Track List with members of the legal profession in Victoria. The Court will closely monitor and review the implementation of the Fast Track List to ensure that it delivers on its key objectives of providing access to streamlined Court procedures and reducing the cost of litigation.
The cover of this year’s report highlights the Court’s maritime and admiralty work, which is an important area of the Court’s work. The Court has established a national arrangement for the jurisdiction which involves 13 judges and the Chief Justice being responsible for this body of work
at first instance and, as far as practicable, on appeal. There are at least two such judges in each registry of the Court, one of whom is a procedure judge dealing with urgent matters such as applications about arrests. These judges undertake an education program and regularly attend conferences on maritime law.
The Court’s role in this area often requires the arrest or sale of vessels which involves working with a range of local, national and international authorities. In recent years the Court has focused on the national management of this work and enhancing its procedures through new Admiralty Rules, communication with practitioners and litigants and work with the Government on legislative issues. In 2006–07 there were also a number of significant events, including the signing of the Memorandum of Understanding with the Association of Australian Ports and Marine Authorities Incorporated which sets out areas of mutual interest and assistance and underpins a number of initiatives to strengthen the relationship between the Court’s Marshals and port authorities in each State and Territory. The Court also welcomed the Attorney General’s announcement in April 2007 of the establishment of the Australian Maritime and Transport Arbitration Commission.
During the year there were 5,063 actions commenced in the Court and 12,740 in the general federal law jurisdiction – the combined workload of the Federal Court and the Federal Magistrates Court. The Federal Court’s registries provide registry services for the Federal Magistrates Court. This work has continued to grow since 2000, when the Federal Magistrates Court was established. In 1999–2000 the combined filings in the Federal Magistrates Court and the original jurisdiction of the Federal Court were 5,885, compared with 11,220 this year.
Migration Act matters form a substantial and increasing proportion of the Court’s appellate jurisdiction. In 2006–07, 71.84% of appeals and related actions concerned decisions under the Migration Act. This has increased from 56.4% in 2000–01. The Court has introduced a number of procedures to streamline the preparation and conduct of these appeals and applications, most of which are heard by a single judge rather than a Full Court. This is discussed in more detail in Chapter 3. It is important to note that rather than seeking additional judicial resources, the Court has implemented structural and procedural changes to facilitate the expeditious management of the migration workload.
The Court has two time goals for the performance of its work: the first goal concerns the time taken from filing a case to completion; the second goal concerns the time taken to deliver reserved judgments. The time goals assist the Court in managing its work to achieve the performance criteria. They do not determine how long all cases will take as some are very long and complex and others will, necessarily, be very short.
Time Goal 1: 85% of cases completed within 18 months of commencement
During the reporting year, the Court completed 92.2% of cases in less than eighteen months, compared with 91.1% in the previous year. As shown in Figure 5.5 in Appendix 5 on page 94, over the last four years the Court has consistently exceeded its benchmark of 85%.
The Court has a goal of delivering reserved judgments within a period of three months. Success in meeting this goal depends upon the complexity of the case and the pressure of other business upon the Court. During 2006–07 the Court handed down 2,161 judgments. While the Court’s reporting system for these statistics is still being refined, initial data indicates that 96.1% of appeals (both full court and single judge) were delivered within three months and 81% of judgments at first instance were delivered within three months of the date of being reserved.