Presentation to VPELA

1. Presentation to VPELA President Justice Greg Garde, AO, RFD. 25 July 2012

2. VCAT: The Facts • Australia’s largest administrative tribunal with almost 89,470 originating applications and a budget of $45 millionin 2012/3. • VCAT has a staff of 441 including 15 judicial members, 34 full time members and 173 sessional members. • 3 divisions: Civil, Administrative and the Human Rights Division • 16 different lists under numerous enabling enactments • Up to 2 million Victorians have contact with VCAT in any one year. Victorians are more likely to interact with VCAT than any other jurisdiction. • Sits in a range of locations across the metropolitan area and in regional Victoria at venues such as Geelong, Ballarat, Bendigo, Shepparton, Morwell, Mildura, Warrnambool and Wangaratta.

3. VCAT’s Mission Statement • VCAT’s mission is to provide fair and efficient justice for all Victorians. • Its business is the achievement of justice through dispute resolution.

4. VCAT’s people • VCAT’s own people, its professional and administrative staff, are its greatest strength. • VCAT is dependent on both full-time and sessional members. • Given resources, VCAT can respond to greater demand by increasing the attendance of sessional members. Sessional members give VCAT ‘surge' capacity. • VCAT needs capable, highly experienced, and well reputed professional members, both full-time and sessional. • I invite heads of represented organisations to write to me or to the Attorney-General if they wish to make a recommendation.

5. VCAT’s caseload 2011/12

6. VCAT’s caseload 2011/12

7. Planning and Environment List (PE List) • VCAT’s planning and environment jurisdiction has great importance to the community. • At the present time, well over $1 billion of development proposals are the subject of proceedings in the PE List. • This year’s VCAT budget for the PE List is $8.1M. • VCAT was recently provided with an additional $1M in supplementary funding by the Minister for Planning. These additional resources provide VCAT with the equivalent of 1,000 more sitting or writing days for sessional members in the PE List. • As at 30 June 2012, approximately 25 per cent of this funding has been used to provide expedited or additional hearings. The balance of 75% will be used by the end of 2012.

8. Applications in the PE List 2011/2012

9. PE List – position as at 30 June 2012 • 3,873 cases were initiated in the PE list in FY 11/12. • 3,718 cases were finalised in the PE list in FY 11/12. • 1997 pending cases in the PE list. • $256,000 of the $1 million supplementation funding was expended by 30 June 2012. • Without DPCD supplementation funding, pending cases would have increased to 2217. • 97 cases initiated in the Major Cases List • 45cases finalised in the Major Cases List

10. Proposed measures to reduce delays in PE List • Funding • Introduce Special Appropriation Funding; • Continue supplementation funding; • Impose council levy to fund planning appeals; and • New fee regulations scheduled for December 2012. • Legislative measures • Applications to amend existing permits issued by VCAT to go to Responsible Authorities [s72(2)(a) & S87A] • (339 AMENDMENT CASES PER YEAR – 9% OF LIST) • Period for Responsible Authorities to decide applications to be extended to 90 days if the matter is certified as a complex case. The Responsible Authority is to pay Tribunal fees if the time limit is exceeded. • (340 FAILURE CASES PER YEAR – 9% OF LIST) • VCAT’s power to extend expired permits to be the same as that of Responsible Authorities [(s69(2), cl 62] • (338 EXTENSION CASES PER YEAR – 9% OF LIST)

11. Proposed measures to reduce delays in Planning and Environment List (cont..) • Procedural Measures • Expanded Major Cases list if the matter complies with the specified threshold criteria, or parties “opt in” or ‘Tribunal considers should go in’, subject to specified criteria such as substantial value, complexity and duration. • Major Cases List • Application for review to include proposed permit, permit conditions and plans to be certified by planner as complete and comprehensive and as including all necessary conditions and Referral Authority conditions. • Applicant to file PNPE2 information with VCAT. • Responsible Authority to check and confirm information provided. • Conditions Appeals (s.80) • Application for review must set out proposed substitute conditions in full in all cases. • Conditions appeals will be mediated to effect list reduction and hearing time savings. (AFFECTS UP TO 475 CASES PER YEAR – 12% OF LIST)

12. Legislative Reform • VCAT Act 1998 • Relocate power to enforce orders in s.114 of the PE Act into a comprehensive power to enforce in the VCAT Act. • Authorise VCAT to compel compliance with its own orders • Civil penalty provisions to be given to the Tribunal [eg as in the Competition& Consumer Act 2010 (Cth)]

13. Legislative Reform (cont..) • Planning and Environment Act 1987 • Section 69 - Expand Councils’ power to extend a permit so that it can be extended on amended conditions or on additional conditions (eg to update standards for extractive industry); and/or • Clause 62 of Schedule 1 – Reduce VCAT’s power to extend to be co-extensive with that of Councils. • Section 72(2) (a) – Applications to amend existing permits issued by VCAT to go to Councils. • Section 119 – Powers of the Tribunal in enforcement applications to be amended to enable the Tribunal to impose orders relating to land other than the subject land (eg to direct native vegetation offsets to occur on other land). • Section 125 – Repeal current provision with new enforcement power in the VCAT Act. • In the Regulations (Regulation 31), the 60 day time limit for determining all applications should be capable of being extended to 90 days in circumstances of a complex case. Tribunal fees payable by Councils in failure applications. • Land Acquisition & Compensation Act 1986 • Increase the Tribunal’s jurisdiction under s.81 of the Act for claims not exceeding $1M or higher if the parties agree.

14. ADR, IT & Accommodation • Alternative Dispute Resolution (ADR) • VCAT will continue to develop ADR processes and support dispute resolution opportunities in the PE list, particularly in relation to conditions appeals. • Information Technology • Information technology is of vital significance to VCAT. • VCAT launched new website in June 2012 • The greatest benefits to VCAT will occur through the development and use of straight-through processing of electronic information. Forms, evidence, expert reports and submissions should be filed and held electronically. • Use of broadband facilities for the conduct of video conferencing including live audio and video streaming of Tribunal hearings is being considered and will be used where appropriate. • Accommodation • The lease of VCAT’s building expires in July 2014. Work needs to be done to prepare plans and specifications for a new IT capable building for VCAT.

15. Conclusion • VCAT is a wonderful Victorian institution, increasingly emulated in other States and Territories. I look forward to its ongoing growth and development in providing fair and efficient justice for all Victorians. • Thank you to VPELA and Best Hooper for hosting and sponsoring this presentation.