Civil, Administrative and Disciplinary Division
The Civil, Administrative and Disciplinary (CAD) Division is led by Charmaine Malam and manages more than 200 pieces of legislation and applications under a wide
range of lists including:
- appeals
- body corporate and community management
- child care
- commercial building
- community services
- disability services
- domestic building disputes
- fisheries
- independent assessor - Prostitution Act 1999
- liquor reviews
- local government levee bank
- manufactured homes
- minor civil disputes
- occupational regulation and disciplinary lists across areas including teachers, architects, plumbers and drainers, doctors, nurses, vets, property agents, motor dealers, misconduct and legal practice
- residential services
- retail shop leases
- retirement villages
- right to information
- taxation
- transport
- victims of crime
- weapons.
Our cases
Cases before the tribunal include minor civil disputes, domestic and commercial building disputes, reviews of decisions of government agencies and professional disciplinary matters. Building disputes and professional disciplinary disputes make up the majority of cases dealt with by the registry.
Within this division, 118 appeals and eight applications for re-openings were processed. The avenue of appeal enshrined in section 142 of the Act provides a safeguard for parties. It is an important improvement of the practice of many of the previous tribunals which either lacked an appeal mechanism or contained only unwieldy and expensive appeal mechanisms which parties were reluctant to pursue.
The Health Regulation List overseen by our Deputy President saw major change this year with the introduction of the national standardised scheme for disciplinary proceedings against doctors, nurses and other health professionals.
The implementation of the Health Practitioners Regulation National Law 2009 saw great reform in introducing a national registration and accreditation scheme. This scheme which operates across state borders in Australia aims to protect the public by ensuring competence and ethics for practitioners.
Our clients
The CAD team works to create and sustain positive working relationships with a range of stakeholder groups and individual clients. Client groups range from government entities to individuals affected by building disputes or retirement village disputes. The CAD team works to meet the needs of these client groups by providing helpful information and advice about registry processes and procedures.
Our people
The team consists of the Registrar, Deputy Registrar and two Principal Case Managers who each supervise smaller teams of six case managers. Our case managers prepare matters for resolution by the tribunal across the various lists.
Our team brings a wealth of experience to the tribunal. Many staff have years of tribunal experience having worked in the Commercial and Consumer Tribunal, Retail Shop Leases Tribunal and the Racing Appeals Tribunal. Some staff have also worked within the Magistrates Court service. A number of our staff are working towards formal qualifications in law or other relevant disciplines.
Our team focuses on continuous improvement and has been able to identify and implement many opportunities to streamline and improve services to both internal and external clients.
Year in review
CAD staff engaged with the following key stakeholders:
- Department of Environment and Resource Management
- Industry Licensing Unit at the Department of Employment, Economic Development and Innovation
- Office of Fair Trading
- Queensland Tenants’ Union Inc
- Racing Queensland
- Victim Assist Queensland.
The team enjoyed sharing challenges and achievements with visiting delegates from tribunals in South Africa and Western Australia. These opportunities are an ideal way to learn collaboratively from the experience of our colleagues in other jurisdictions.
As QCAT evolves to meet the expectations and legal needs of the community new jurisdictions are added to the tribunal’s case load for example the Health Practitioners Regulation National Law 2009. Our team spent considerable time reviewing and responding to the Neighbourhood Disputes Resolution Bill 2009 which is expected to be introduced into QCAT in 2011.
A number of process improvements have been implemented by CAD staff including:
- providing easy to understand information to clients about their rights and responsibilities in coming before the tribunal
- development of suggested draft standard directions to improve processing times in the resolution of matters and to maximise the use of members and adjudicator’s time spent in hearings or other tribunal listed events
- working collaboratively with colleagues in Client Services to process minor civil dispute default judgments
- documenting processes to encourage efficient work practices within the CAD division
- streamlining the case management procedures for minor and more complex building disputes to assist parties to a timely resolution
- mapping obligations imposed by the more than 200 pieces of enabling legislation that impacts on QCAT service delivery
- attending regular meetings with the senior members supervising various lists to collaboratively improve service delivery to clients
- finalising a large number of callovers and clearing a significant back log of matters which were outstanding at the commencement of QCAT.
Case study
Homeowners had lodged a domestic building application with a wide range of disputes in the former Commercial and Consumer Tribunal (the CCT) in September 2007. All building works had stopped.
A defence and counter claim were filed by the builder denying the claim who also counter claimed for a number of other things including monies lost on the project.
A mediation took place in the CCT but it was unsuccessful. The matter then proceeded through a number of directions hearings where various orders were made for the exchange of evidence. There was an unfortunate history of delays with inspections and delivery of evidence.
The last order made by the CCT was in September 2009 again directing the exchange of experts reports, amended claim, counter claim and statements of evidence. On 1 December 2009 the CCT was amalgamated into QCAT and the matter was reviewed.
All parties were invited to attend an experts conclave and a compulsory conference. The experts conclave was held in April 2010 and a joint report was produced by the experts which identified rectification works that were required.
The compulsory conference was held less than seven days after the production of the report and a settlement was reached between the parties.
The settlement required the experts to produce a scope of works for the agreed rectification work. The builder was then required to carry out the rectification works within a fixed period of time and to the satisfaction of the Queensland Building Services Authority.
These new practices and procedures show the effective use and success in QCAT of experts conclaves and compulsory conferences to resolve building disputes quickly and efficiently.
