The Federal Court of Australia
is committed to providing information and services to
all citizens to assist them in the prompt resolution of
disputes according to law and is working to provide a
range of appropriate services online by 2001. Set out
below are particulars of the information the Court now
provides online and additional information which will
be provided online.
The Federal Court of Australia
Act provides that the Court consists of a Chief Justice
and such other judges as are appointed. The Chief Justice
is the senior judge of the Court and is responsible for
ensuring the orderly and expeditious discharge of the
business of the Court. Judges of the Court are appointed
by the Governor-General, by commission. The Registrar
is appointed by the Governor-General on the nomination
of the Chief Justice. The Registrar assists the Chief
Justice in the administration of the Court and has the
same powers as a Secretary of a Department of the Australian
Public Service.
The maintenance of the website
and the information services offered electronically is
coordinated by the Director, Library and Information Services.
The Court
The Federal Court of Australia, created
by the Federal Court of Australia Act 1976 began to exercise
its jurisdiction on 1 February 1977. It assumed jurisdiction
formerly exercised in part by the High
Court of Australia and the whole of the jurisdiction
of the Australian Industrial Court and of the Federal
Court of Bankruptcy. The Court is a superior court of
record and a court of law and equity. It sits in all capital
cities and elsewhere in Australia from time to time.
Objectives of the Court
The objectives of the Court are
to:
Decide disputes according to law -
promptly, courteously and effectively; and in so doing
to interpret the statutory law and develop the federal
law of the Commonwealth, so far as to fulfill the role
of a court exercising the judicial power of the Commonwealth
under the Constitution;
Provide an effective Registry service
to the community; and
Manage effectively the resources allotted
by Parliament.
Values
of the Court
The Court aims to be and to be recognised
as a world leading superior court, administering justice
with standards of service which reflect:
Courtesy and promptness
Accessibility and timeliness
Independence and integrity
Public trust and confidence
Quality in all aspects of service.
The
Court's strategic direction
The Court's strategic objectives and
direction are contained in it's Business Plan, which is
reviewed regularly.
The Court's
clients
The main client groups are: litigants,
the legal profession and other users of the Court's services.
The Court is proactive in providing information to the
community generally about the role of the justice system
and the function of the Federal Court. The Court also
has a role providing educational material for school students.
Relationships
with other organisations
The Court maintains close links with
other federal and state courts, Commonwealth agencies
and professional groups.
IT capacities
The Federal Court's IT environment
includes mainframe/mid-range bureau services currently
provided by two commercial service providers supporting
Case Management, Finance, Payroll, HR and Library Information
Management systems, access to legal research materials
online, a national WAN (Wide Area Network) linking LANS
(Local Area Networks) located in every capital city in
each state and territory constituting 8 sites in total.
Commercial service providers also provide secure remote
access, e-filing, eCourt virtual courtroom with secure
payment using encryption and firewall services.
The WAN computer service supports 15
file servers (Novell/GroupWise), 10 application servers
(NT/Citrix & Unix), fully managed and maintained,
and approximately 130 laptops and 370 desktops with the
hub of the network located in Sydney based in a fully
self-sustained computer room facility.
Communications consist of a national
frame-relay data network, voice and video supported by
a range of cross platform services.
Application development and support
together with some IT management functions.
IT challenges facing the Court
The Court is actively pursuing the furtherance
and integration of electronic services to improve accessibility
and availability of information and to achieve greater
cost efficiencies and effectiveness of services.
Functions
and services of the Court
Service
area
Description of the Court's services
Appropriateness for online service delivery
Status of online service availability
Accept
applications for commencing matters in the Court
Accept
and register matters filed with the Court. Matters
can be commenced in person, by fax, by mail or electronically.
Yes
Electronic filing
provided. Stage 2 - the return of documents electronically
is implemented. Further enhancements are planned
as stage 3 & 4. This is an additional service.
Filing in person, by mail or by fax will continue
to be available.
Accessibility to court buildings
All
court buildings have been recently surveyed in relation
to access for those with disabilities. All buildings
now have wheelchair access, TTY facilities, and
hearing loops in court rooms.
Partial
This
relates to improving physical access. Taking evidence
by video could be used in appropriate circumstances.
Advisory
services
Advice to the Attorney General regarding legislation
affecting the Court
Assistance to litigants in completing forms and
with inquiries the Court and its procedure.
No
Yes
Confidential
Guides to filling in the most commonly used forms
are available online. However Deputy Registrars
are still available to give in person advice re
forms and procedures. Forms are available for
download in PDF and RTF and fee tables are displayed
on the website.
Case
Management System
The
Court has implemented an innovative and world-class
case management system known as the Individual Docket
System. Judges are actively involved in managing
the entire lifecycle of a case and specialist cases
are also assigned to specialist panels of judges.
Partially
See
information under video-conferencing. Technology
courtrooms are also being established that can be
used at the request of parties. The new case management
system will permit parties to view their court files
online (2002/2003).
A full electronic trial is being piloted in June
2001. Court rooms are equiped with multi-media projectors
and several have been cabled for electronic trials.
Consultation with users to develop appropriate policies
The
Court provides and seeks feedback from stakeholders.
Problems and/or issues of concern to the Court's
users are received, reviewed and resolved.
Yes
Feedback
from users is available online via email and via
the Court's website.
A member of staff has been appointed to action comments
and issues of concern to users.
Determination of disputes
The
Court has established a standard to dispose of 85%
of cases within 18 months of commencement. However,
many cases are completed in much shorter times.
Partially
See
case management system and video conferencing for
information regarding status of this service.
Judgments
of the Court
The
orders made by the judge(s) and the reasons for
the decision are published by the Court. For the
years 1977-1998 judgments in the "General Distribution"
category (ie the most important judgments) are on
the website. From 1999 all judgments of the Court,
except confidential ones, are provided electronically
via the website.
Yes
Judgments are available on the website shortly
after delivery. Several important judgments have
been delivered via live audio visual streaming
via the website.
A media archive of noteworthy decisions is maintained
on the website. This archive has recently been
enhanced by the provision of broadband videos
and redigitisation of narrowband to improve the
quality.
Electronic
ordering of goods and services
The Court is implementing an Electronic Procurement
strategy. The first step is to pay all suppliers
electronically if they want to be paid that way.
The next step is to ensure that all "simple procurement"
suppliers who wish to deal with the Court electronically
will be able to do so.
Yes
Suppliers can now be paid electronically.
December 2001.
The Finance 1 system is being modified to permit
orders to be emailed.
Grants
administration
The
Court administers AusAid funding to provide assistance
to Pacific and Asian countries in regard to judicial
training, court practice and library services.
No
Personal
contact is an important component of this assistance.
The client group often lacks appropriate technology
to deliver this service electronically.
Information provision about the jurisdiction and the practice
and procedure of the Court
The Court's website has been used since 1996
to provide information the Court and its procedures.
The Court has produced several brochures in the
areas of human rights, bankruptcy, mediation and
native title, which are all available to read
or print from the website.
The annual report of the Court is reproduced
on the website and can be downloaded in part or
in whole.
Yes
Yes
Yes
Information on the Court, its jurisdiction, practice and
procedure, forms, fees, locations, community information
and other important documents are available on the
Court's website.
Information for community groups and educational resources
The
Court has a specific program to foster greater understanding
of its operation, the role of the judiciary and
the legal system generally.
Yes
A
considerable amount of information is available
on the website. Further information will be added
progressively. A curriculum has been developed in
conjunction with the National Curriculum Development
Corporation on Federal courts. This along with a
video has been distributed to schools throughout
Australia.
Interpreter
service
The
Court will arrange for interpreters for hearings
if required.
No
Interpreter
services require physical presence in the courtroom.
Information about this service is available on the
Court's website.
Mediation
service
The
Court provides registrars who are legally trained
to conduct mediation conferences to assist in the
speedy resolution of disputes
No
Face
to face is the most effective delivery for this
service. Mediation on occasion may be suitable to
conduct by video conference and these facilities
are available. Information about this service is
available on the Court's website.
Regulatory
functions
The Federal Court Rules Committee advises the
Chief Justice on the rules of Court. These are
then drafted by the Office of Parliamentary Counsel.
The Chief Justice also issues practice notes
from time to time relating to the procedure in
hearing cases.
Similarly, District Registrars from time to time
issue practice directions relating to procedure
in a specific registry.
Yes
All
regulatory information is available on the website
and new rules, etc., are added as soon as they are
made and approved.
Secretariat
services for tribunals
The
Court provides registry support for the the Australian
Competition Tribunal, Copyright Tribunal, Federal
Police Disciplinary Tribunal and Defence Force Discipline
Appeal Tribunal.
Partially
Information
about the Tribunals, contact details and recent
decisions are available on the Court's website.
Earlier decisions are not in electronic format.
Technology
courtrooms
To
assist in the prompt hearing of complex cases appropriate
technology is being introduced across the Court
Yes
Computer
facilities, data projectors and other equipment
is being installed in a number of courtrooms.
Video
conferencing
The
Court introduced video conferencing to facilitate
the hearing of disputes principally involving witnesses
who are located in remote areas and overseas. The
video conferencing facilities are made available
on a fee basis to other organisations.
Yes
This
service has been available since 1994. It is upgraded
from time to time as necessary.
Implementation Strategies
Status of online
service availability
Case management
system
The new case management
system is currently being implemented.
2002
Electronic filing
E-filing stage
1 & 2 operational. Stages 3 & 4 will permit
remote access to information held in the Court's
case management system.
A security audit
was completed in 1999/2000. A DSD rated firewall
is provided by 90 East.
Authentication
A solution has
been designed for the e-filing project. This will
be assessed to see if it is appropriate for online
ordering and payment of supplier invoices.
IT infrastructure
Budget restrictions
may limit the extent of technology takeup. Generally
suitable infrastructure is in place.
Existing business
practices
Use of new electronic
services such as e-filing and eCourt online Forum
will increase over time as clients develop their
own infrastructure. Litigants-in-person may find
it inappropriate and therefore existing service
delivery mechanisms must be retained.
Client access
to/usage of the Internet
A large proportion
of the legal profession have access to and will
use the Internet. Individual litigants may be more
restricted depending on their access to computer
technology.
IT support and
service levels
Current levels
of support and service are regarded as appropriate.
Staffing and training
Staff are given
training as new services are introduced. As the
Court has to also retain paper based service delivery,
new electronic services do to some extent increase
workloads.
Standards
The full implementation
of free exchange of court documents and files electronically
will require open system formats. Use of Legal XML
requires the implementation of standard DTD's (document
type definitions). This will require consultation
with other courts and the legal profession. It is
therefore a process which will take some time. The
Court has joined an online discussion group to facilitate
the exchange of information and hasten progress
in the area of XML as applied to legal documents.
Reviews of legislation
to permit electronic service delivery
Date of amendment
Federal
Court of Australia Act, Regulations and Rules, Federal
Court Corporations Rules and Native Title Rules.
The Federal Court
of Australia Act, Regulations and Rules have been
reviewed to see if they contain any impediments
to providing services electronically. The Rules
required amendment to permit e-filing. Rules have
been further amended in relation to the use of electronic
seals and stamps.
Amended
March 2001
Standards and guidelines
adopted by the Court
Privacy
"Guidelines for
Commonwealth Information Published in Electronic
Formats" and Privacy Commissioner's recommendations
have been followed for all information provided
electronically. Additional information relating
to e-filing encryption has been added to the website.
Implemented February
2000
Amended March 2001
Secure communications
for communication of confidential data and credit
card payments
An encryption
and credit card payment system has been introduced
for the e-filing project.
Electronic payment of suppliers.
"Simple procurement" suppliers to deal with Court
electronically.
Implemented
August 2000
Implemented January 2001
Email orders acceptable
Online information
service obligations
Forms under the
Rule and Regulations are all available online. More
specific forms and guides to how and when to use
them are also available online.
October 2000
Metadata
AGLS metadata
standard is used for the website. Metadata has been
extended to all significant subject areas. Harvest
control list completed.
Implemented 1999
Enhanced 2001
Accessibility
standards
W3C "web content
accessibility guidelines" and "techniques for
Web content accessibility guidelines".
HREOC Disability Discrimination Advisory Notes
on Web Access.
"Guidelines for Commonwealth information published
in electronic formats".
http://www.useit.com (Jakob Nielsen's web useability
site).
"Bobby approved"
since 1998
Vision Australia partial accreditation 2001
Electronic publishing
"Guidelines for
Commonwealth information published in electronic
formats"
Implemented 2000
Record keeping
and archiving
E-Permanence standard.
The Court is moving toward implementing a document
management system that will address all the issues
of this standard.
2001/2002
Security
Australian Communications
Security Instructions are adhered to by the Court.
Responsibility
for complying with these instructions is taken by
the firewall provider 90 East.
Information provision
The Online Information
Service Obligations are adhered to by the Court
Implemented
Address of the Court
Federal Court
of Australia
Principal
Registry
Level 18 Law Courts Building
Queens Square
Sydney NSW 2000
Tel: 02 9230 8111
Fax: 02 9223 1906
Web location of
Online Action Plan
URL:
http://www.fedcourt.gov.au/aboutct/goap.html
Available
on website September 2000
Contact details
of the person preparing this plan
Imelda Payne,
Director Library and Information Services
Tel: 02 9230
8345
Fax: 02 9223 7706
Imelda.Payne@fedcourt.gov.au
Contact details
of the person responsible for the implementation
of this plan
