A months-long campaign to relieve chronic backlogs in Wollongong’s overloaded family court system appears to have fallen on deaf ears, with Attorney-General George Brandis telling a senate estimates hearing he had not heard from local MPs.
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Labor Senator Jacinta Collins on Tuesday quizzed Senator Brandis about the growing problems at Wollongong’s Federal Circuit Court, which lawyers say now has a backlog of more than 600 cases.
When asked about representations made to him by Illawarra MPs, he answered: “The only politician who has raised the issue of Wollongong [Federal Circuit Court judicial services] is Senator Fierravanti Wells.”
This has outraged the region’s Labor MPs, Sharon Bird and Stephen Jones, who have sent several letters to Senator Brandis – and received replies from his office –about the broken system. Liberal MP Ann Sudmalis has also advised him of the court’s problems as recently as last week.
Despite Senator Brandis’ purported lack of knowledge about the campaign for a full-time judge in Wollongong, there could be some relief for Illawarra families now forced to wait up to three years for their cases to be resolved.
At present, a Sydney-based judge – Tom Altobelli – is allocated to hear Wollongong cases on an almost full-time basis. However, Senator Collins was told a second judge would be tasked to the region “from time to time” operating from a state courtroom.
“There won’t be a resident judge,” Senator Brandis said. “But effectively there will be a judge at all times sitting in Wollongong.”
However, Ms Bird and Mr Jones said this “falls short of what the community needs”, saying they had been told of “additional stress, even suicide, because of [the court] delays.”