CSV launches 15-year plan to transform Victoria’s Courts and Tribunals

9 February 2017

Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, the Honourable Marilyn Warren AC, today released a landmark infrastructure reform plan to ensure Victoria's courts and tribunals are safe and able to meet growing demand.

The Strategic Asset Plan proposes a 15-year development program to address longstanding issues facing courts and tribunals across Victoria - including the need for specialised facilities such as those highlighted in the Royal Commission into Family Violence - and to meet future service demand.

With only 16% of Victoria's court buildings currently meeting infrastructure benchmarks, the Strategic Asset Plan provides a holistic approach to lifting the standard of courts across the state.

Chief Justice Warren, Chair of the Courts Council, said the plan was a blueprint for a modern, technology-enabled, 21^st century court and tribunal network to meet the needs of Victoria's expanding population.

"This Plan is unprecedented in Victorian court history and will serve to ensure our court and tribunal buildings are functional, safe, secure and sustainable - now and into the future," Chief Justice Warren said.

"This is a blueprint for investment for the next 15 years. It presents a cohesive, interconnected model across the state to guide investment to resolve the infrastructure issues facing Victoria's court and tribunal buildings," she said.

The plan recommends the development of new courts, including immediate priorities of Bendigo and Werribee Law Courts. 

The Plan identifies a number of priorities that have broad implications for ensuring the ongoing delivery of modern court services in Victoria, including:

1. Ensuring that specialist court needs, including those identified in the Recommendations from the Royal Commission into Family Violence to better protect victims, are supported by appropriate infrastructure.
2. Ensuring safe, secure and sustainable courtroom facilities, including addressing the overall poor condition of court infrastructure, and the provision of fit-for-purpose IT systems to support information sharing and security technology.
3. Delivering Melbourne growth corridor development priorities.
4. Ensuring that court and tribunal buildings  in metropolitan Melbourne and regional Victoria are able to deliver modern court services
5. Continuing to develop the Melbourne CBD legal precinct into an internationally-renowned centre of legal excellence.

The Plan is informed by a Service and Infrastructure Study that included a comprehensive audit of current court facilities, benchmarking of best practice and service trends, and projections of future service demand.

CSV Chief Operating Officer, Mr Brian Stevenson said, "The study found that Victoria's courts are not equipped to meet the forecast growth in population and demand, and it highlighted dramatic disparities in the quality of court infrastructure across Victoria."

"Our courts are beset by ageing infrastructure, with some buildings not equipped to adequately deliver modern court services."

"The Plan will enable prioritisation of investment over the next 15 years, with solutions ranging from major developments through to delivery of specialist services, maintenance and upgrade works," Mr Stevenson said.

More information about the Plan is available on the Strategic Asset Plan page of this website.