Jacinta Collins (Victoria, Australian Labor Party, Shadow Cabinet Secretary) Share this | Hansard source

This bill, introduced last year and referred to the Senate Legal and Constitutional Affairs Legislation Committee, implements the merger of certain back office corporate services functions of our three federal courts: the Federal Court, the Family Court and the Federal Circuit Court. The merger of these functions—including finance, human resources, information technology and property administration—will save $9.4 million over the six financial years to 2020-21. It is expected to save a further $5.4 million annually in the years beyond. The bill will not alter the independence of the three courts, each of which will remain distinct bodies under their respective establishing acts. The courts will continue to be governed by their respective heads of jurisdiction.

Labor supports this measure. Where possible, we support removing duplication of back office functions so that funding can be best directed towards dealing with the core business of the courts and with meeting the needs of Australians who find themselves before those courts. While Labor supports this bill, no-one should be under any illusion that the relatively modest savings it will achieve will on their own solve the resourcing problems increasingly suffered by the federal courts, as we heard recently in Senate estimates.

Clearly, there are significant problems which demand the Attorney-General's attention and his action. Heads of jurisdiction have warned us of the consequences of the government failing to properly resource their courts. The situation is most dire in the Federal Circuit Court, a situation the government has inexplicably decided to make even worse by failing to appoint judges to vacancies in a timely fashion. Equally, fortunately, we can note some appointments occurred within the last fortnight to address some of those building pressures.

Of course, the management of tight court resources is also made much harder by the multiple rounds of cuts the government has now imposed across the legal assistance sector. Legal assistance services are not a luxury, as the Productivity Commission pointed out. They are integral to the smooth functioning of our courts. The timely provision of proper legal services can often avoid a matter going to court in the first place and, if it must, legal assistance will ensure that the matter proceeds as smoothly as possible, not clogging up the courts unnecessarily. This is a case where austerity can create more problems than it solves.

The government must act to ensure the courts are put on a stable financial footing into the future. The Attorney-General must release the KPMG report he commissioned into the funding of the federal courts in 2014 and explain to the courts, the profession and the Australian community how he intends to make sure that our courts are properly resourced into the future; but I commend this bill to the Senate.