Victims of crime\u00a0will benefit from\u00a0accelerated access\u00a0to justice in the Local Court, with\u00a0the 2021-22 State Budget\u00a0investing $56.1million over the next four years to appoint eight\u00a0extra\u00a0magistrates\u00a0and boost resources for prosecutors and Legal Aid.\u00a0The number of magistrates will reach a record total of 149.
\nAttorney General and Minister for Prevention of Domestic\u00a0and Sexual\u00a0Violence Mark Speakman said\u00a0the\u00a0NSW Government\u2019s investment in\u00a0additional\u00a0Local Court magistrates will\u00a0deliver more efficient justice\u00a0in both regional and metropolitan NSW.
\n\u201cThe extra\u00a0magistrates\u00a0will\u00a0help to reduce the\u00a0trauma\u00a0of waiting for hearing dates and attending court on\u00a0victims,\u00a0witnesses\u00a0and families. We\u2019re committed to easing that burden felt particularly by those involved in domestic violence\u00a0cases,\u201d\u00a0Mr\u00a0Speakman said.
\nMr\u00a0Speakman said the increase in magistrates would also enable the Coronial Case Management Unit (CCMU)\u00a0pilot\u00a0to become permanent.
\n\u201cThe\u00a0CCMU\u00a0helps\u00a0ensure\u00a0grieving families\u00a0can lay their loved ones to rest sooner and receive better and more timely information.\u00a0 Led by coroners, the unit is a successful collaboration between police, forensic pathologists, medical specialists and counsellors,\u201d Mr Speakman said.
\nTreasurer Dominic Perrottet said the investment recognises the critical role of the Local Court in the NSW justice system.
\n\u201cAs NSW continues to grow, we need to ensure the local court system is equipped to meet the challenges of the future and deliver justice to victims as quickly and efficiently as possible,\u201d\u00a0 Mr Perrottet said.
\nNSW\u00a0Chief Magistrate Judge\u00a0Graeme Henson\u00a0AM said\u00a0the additional magistrates\u00a0will further\u00a0improve\u00a0Australia\u2019s most efficient court.
\n\u201cThese additions to the Local Court bench\u00a0will be invaluable for boosting the capacity of\u00a0NSW\u2019s busiest jurisdiction, particularly in larger regional areas. Increased access to timely justice will benefit\u00a0all court users and indeed\u00a0the\u00a0whole\u00a0community,\u201d\u00a0Judge Henson\u00a0said.
\nToday\u2019s announcement complements more than $150 million committed in the 2020-21 Budget of November 2020 to digitally transform NSW courts and upgrade regional and metropolitan courthouses.
\nThe vast majority (96\u00a0per cent)\u00a0of all criminal cases in NSW\u00a0are finalised in\u00a0the\u00a0Local Court,\u00a0with\u00a0139 locations across\u00a0NSW.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Victims of crime\u00a0will benefit from\u00a0accelerated access\u00a0to justice in the Local Court, with\u00a0the 2021-22 State Budget\u00a0investing $56.1million over the next four years to appoint eight\u00a0extra\u00a0magistrates\u00a0and boost resources for prosecutors and Legal Aid.\u00a0The number of magistrates will reach a record total of 149. Attorney General and Minister for Prevention of Domestic\u00a0and Sexual\u00a0Violence Mark Speakman said\u00a0the\u00a0NSW Government\u2019s investment … Continue reading “Budget 2021-22 swifter justice with eight extra local court magistrates”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11778","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorised"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11778","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11778"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11778\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11778"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11778"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.16news.com.au\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11778"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}