Elise Archer,Attorney-General
The Tasmanian Liberal Government is committed to working closely with the State’s courts during these challenging and rapidly changing times.
Though it remains the case that the daily operation of the courts is a matter for the judiciary, our Government is ensuring the courts have the most recent health advice to inform and support their decisions on how to respond to COVID-19.
Tasmanian courts have now been provided with special authorisation to conduct proceedings remotely where required, by way of telephone or audio-visual link, to reduce the potential risk of exposure to COVID-19 through people being present at courts.
I have issued Notices under the COVID-19 Disease Emergency (Miscellaneous Provisions) Act 2020 following requests from the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court and the Chief Magistrate.
For the Supreme Court, the Notice will allow a sentence to be imposed for an offence in a court that is not open to the public, and allow sittings of the criminal jurisdiction of the Supreme Court and sittings of the Court of Criminal Appeal to be held remotely.
In addition, an appellant will not be required to be physically present at an appeal being heard by the Supreme Court, and will be able to attend by telephone or audio-visual link where necessary.
For the Magistrates Court, the Notice will similarly allow a sentence to be imposed for an offence in a court that is not open to the public, and also for court proceedings to be held without an open court.
A range of measures are being taken by the courts to support these changes, and many of these have already been put in place.
The Supreme Court will permit journalists to attend courtrooms subject to social distancing and publish any comments on sentencing on the Supreme Court website.
The Magistrates Court has put in place measures to provide access to the media to listen to proceedings through an audio-visual link.
These Notices will enable the courts to operate in ways which reduce the risk of the spread of COVID-19 in Tasmania while upholding, to the greatest extent possible, the principles of open justice.
