Working meetings of Indonesian and Australian courts put judicial reform on the table

From 3-6 December 2012, Registrar the Hon Justice Bernard Murphy, CEO Warwick Soden, and District Registrar Sia Lagos from the Federal Court of Australia visited the Supreme Court of Indonesia. The working meetings aimed at improving access to justice and the delivery of judicial services, particularly for poor and marginalised communities.

The meetings followed the renewal of the courts Memorandum of Understanding on Judicial Cooperation. This renewal builds on a long history of working together to improve judicial services and access to justice in Indonesia.

During their visit, the Federal Court delegation exchanged information and experiences with their Supreme Court counterparts, including Chief Justice Hon Dr M Hatta Ali, SH, MH, on class actions, mediation, change management and leadership, code of ethics for registrars, and business process re-engineering. The purpose of the meetings was to develop work programs in these five areas for implementation in 2013-2014.

“The problems we face are very similar: how do we provide justice in less time, and make our services more accessible with the resources available to us? We need better court processes, better systems in place to offer effective case management,” said Justice Murphy.

AIPJ supports cooperation between the Supreme Court of Indonesia and the Federal and Family Courts of Australia, recognising that some of the most successful activities under Australian Government assistance to the law and justice sector have involved peer-to-peer linkages.