President's message
From its inception, QCAT has strived to increase access to justice for Queenslanders and to enhance the efficiency and quality of civil and administrative decision making.
QCAT’s jurisdiction reaches across a remarkably diverse range of the ordinary elements of a Queenslander’s life, from childhood to the needs of the elderly, racing, retirement villages, home unit dwellers and real estate agents, minor civil disputes to large building cases, review powers for administrative decisions, and an active role in the supervision of vocational standards for doctors, lawyers, surveyors, vets, teachers, police officers, and many more.
The work of setting up the tribunal was powerfully and sadly affected by an unexpected tragedy - the death of its first president Justice Peter Dutney, on 4 September 2009. Although QCAT was still taking shape at that time, Peter had already addressed its formation, membership and future operations with the intellectual force, enthusiasm and skill for which he was renowned.
Notwithstanding that loss the work continued apace. QCAT’s successes since it began owe much to the determination and devotion of QCAT’s Deputy President Judge Fleur Kingham, Executive Director Mary Shortland, Principal Registrar Louise Logan and their staff - and after 1 December 2009, QCAT’s new senior, permanent and part-time members and adjudicators.
From its commencement, QCAT has been busier than expected as the statistics contained in this report vividly illustrate. The workload placed upon members, adjudicators and staff has been onerous.
QCAT operates as a tribunal, not a court and the procedures it has developed are focussed on statutory requirements that it acts with as little formality and technicality, and with as much speed, as the proper consideration of the substantial merits of its matters permits.
Its members and staff work with a minimum of ceremony and formality. They also take an active and interventionist role in the conduct of proceedings to minimise delay, unnecessary expense and the distress which proceedings can cause to parties caught up in them.
QCAT sees its work as having the potential to contribute to a harmonious society and appreciates the need to inform Queenslanders about what it does and how it plans to do it. Members and senior staff have spoken to and consulted widely with many different interested groups and individuals whose understanding of these issues is important.
Central to the way QCAT has planned its new operations is the combined use of active case management to ensure matters do not languish, and alternative dispute resolution (ADR) processes. Judge Kingham has coined the term ‘actively fair’ to describe how these techniques fit QCAT’s statutory aims. In practice it means that QCAT members and staff are urged and expected to take responsibility for an actively fair and efficient process.
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Act 2009 (the Act) contains an emphasis on the avoidance of prolonged, adversarial, court-like proceedings and is in favour of using ADR. From the beginning, the tribunal has trained its members in these processes and techniques, and urged and guided parties towards them.
ADR offers parties the opportunity to develop solutions for their disputes to which they contribute to and have a say. This is in contrast with the traditional adversarial process in which parties largely surrender the outcome of their proceedings to an independent arbiter, are often obliged to adopt polarised positions and sometimes express a concern that the true nature of their dispute has been warped, or diverted from its essential elements.
In taking this course, QCAT is not unaware of potential difficulties. For example, the heavier workload and extra personal and professional demands that active case management and the wide use of ADR involve for QCAT members can be challenging. Additionally, until members fully develop their skills, in what are for many, new techniques and practices, matters awaiting resolution may increase.
I am confident however that with government support and adequate resourcing these risks can be overcome and that QCAT can attain the worthy aims and goals its governing legislation calls for.
That confidence is strengthened by the remarkable figures set out in this report. QCAT is very young but it has already received thousands of matters in numbers almost two-fifths higher than those previously attracted by former tribunals. It inherited a backlog of unresolved matters in some centres but the diligence and skill of its new adjudicators, in particular, has seen a dramatic improvement in waiting times for hearings - in one large region for example, from 12 weeks to less than four.
The emphasis on ADR and in particular compulsory conferences (see page 9 for more information) has resulted in just under a 50 per cent success rate. Every resolution completed by using this approach saves significant time and other economies. Economies where they can be found have proved critical.
The unexpected and dramatic growth in the new tribunal’s workload has meant that initial resources both human and material, have been no more than barely sufficient to meet the demands upon them. The tribunal’s limited hearing and conference space at 259 Queen Street has also restricted its ability to list hearings and ADR proceedings in as timely as fashion as it wishes.
Adequate funding for members, adjudicators, administrative and registry staff is a priority to ensure growing demands can be met, which is why it is necessary to begin planning now for the tribunal’s future accommodation needs.
While the large increase in the number of matters coming to the new tribunal has created heavy demands upon members and staff there is also of course a pleasing aspect to that growth.
It can fairly be interpreted to suggest that QCAT has been accepted by Queenslanders as a body which is readily accessible and which strives to meet its statutory objects of fairness, justice, economy, informality and speed.
