Family Court Backlog in NSW - Mirror Image of Departmental Calamity

In an unprecedented move to clear case backlogs at the Family Court in NSW, various judges from around Australia will fly in during September to hear cases. The Sunday Herald reports:

"The cases, some more than four years old, have built up after five judges left the court's busiest registry and only one was replaced."

Notice that there is a shortage of judges. The Family Court of Australia is administered at the Commonwealth level of government.

Journalists in legal affairs also need to turn the spotlight on the state courts in NSW. The entire court system in NSW is in crisis due to under-resourcing, with staff stretched beyond the limits. The behind the scenes picture in NSW belies the rhetoric and PR of the NSW Attorney General's Department about how efficient and quick everything is, how better service exists etc. If journalists will start digging they will soon discover the catastrophic state of affairs that exists in the NSW Attorney General's Department in its entirety (including every single agency that is controlled by it). The public policies and practices that exist under Mr John Hatzistergos' watch and that of his senior departmental advisors are the root of the problem.