No 5 of 2000 - Statutory Adjournment Court - Hobart

The Statutory Adjournment Court has now been in operation since September 1999 and a review of the effectiveness of these courts has identified a number of issues:

  • Solicitors are arriving too late for their clients to be transferred to the Statutory Adjournment Court.

  • The transfer of court files and prosecution files is at times cumbersome and at times Defendants have had to be directed back to Court 2.

  • The late arrival of Defendants has meant that they could not be transferred to the Adjournment Court because court had already commenced.

It is estimated that 22 per cent of Court 2 matters are not being transferred because of late arrival of the defendant or their solicitor.  In order to address these problems the Police have been advised that from 1 May 2000 they are to bail defendants to Monday sessions at 9.30 am (instead of 9.45am), and in future the Adjournment Court will commence as soon thereafter as possible in Court 2.

From 1 May 2000, please ensure that you arrive at the court before the Adjournment Court starts if you wish to represent your client at a first appearance.

Jim Connolly
Administrator of Courts

5 April 2000