Thursday, 26 May 2022

Victorian Civil and Administrative Tribunal

Mr ONDARCHIE (Northern Metropolitan) (12:21): My question is to the Attorney-General. Attorney-General, Brad vacated a rental property in Fairfield in April 2021. The agent lodged a claim against Brad for the full bond, claiming he was at fault for sun damage to the property’s floorboards, without providing any evidence. The next month, in May, VCAT told Brad he would have to wait 12 months, a whole year, for his case to be heard. Brad really needs his money. He needs his bond money urgently. He is experiencing financial stress and has appealed to VCAT several times for an earlier hearing, but each time his request has been denied. Is it government policy that it is acceptable to have VCAT delays spiral so out of control, leaving thousands of Victorians just like Brad waiting in unbearable limbo for far too long with unresolved disputes?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:22): Thank you, Mr Ondarchie—the best question from you guys today. There is a lot going on in this space. It is an important issue. There are backlogs at VCAT. The paper-based systems that existed in this organisation for a long time did not stand up to impacts from the pandemic. We are certainly aware that these matters are impacting Victorians like Brad. It is something that we are working hard to achieve, and it is not easy. Our efforts are focused on doing it. We are trying to get through the backlog.

I am speaking regularly with Court Services Victoria and the president of VCAT, Michelle Quigley, about these matters, looking at a number of measures that can help get VCAT back to normal. We have instituted a backlog recovery program particularly focusing on the residential tenancies list, which you have referred to, so that we can find cases that can go to mediation, and we have also deployed additional member resources to that task. We have got mediators from the Dispute Settlement Centre of Victoria that have gone across to VCAT to provide expert dispute resolution services to the residential tenancies list and additional support to help members get through these cases as quickly as possible. The additional mediators have been complemented by a new deputy president to coordinate VCAT’s recovery efforts, and there is a team that is focused on triaging that list.

VCAT have finalised more than 47 cases in the 10 months to April this year and have a clearance rate of 84 per cent. It has been a difficult task, Mr Ondarchie. I acknowledge that there are people that are waiting unacceptable times for their cases to be heard. I acknowledge that a lot of members in this place get constituency questions about the matters, and by all means continue to send them into my office and we will do our best to work with the members at VCAT to really help people in situations like Brad.

Mr ONDARCHIE (Northern Metropolitan) (12:24): Attorney-General, thank you. On 17 May 2022, just nine days ago, Brad was told he will have to wait another 12 months—that is two years in total—for the VCAT hearing, which is unacceptable. He needs his money. Indeed in a decision last year refusing to transfer a matter from her court to VCAT, County Court Judge Burchell said:

In my view, given the current under-resourcing of VCAT … The backlog of matters and shortage of resources at VCAT currently means that this matter in fact could not be heard by VCAT.

Attorney-General, when will Brad’s case be heard?

Ms SYMES (Northern Victoria—Leader of the Government, Attorney-General, Minister for Emergency Services) (12:24): I thank Mr Ondarchie for his question. I am disappointed to hear that Brad has been advised of a further delay. If you want to provide me with some details in relation to Brad, I would be happy to raise that with VCAT and see if they can do better than that.

In relation to your points about resources, this is an organisation that has been supported by our government through significant funding in recent budgets. Last year there was almost $57 million invested for digitally enabled services transformation. As I indicated, this is an organisation that was predominantly paper based, so being able to operate in a pandemic with the health restrictions and an inability for people to come face to face was extremely challenging. They did move to phone hearings and the like, but it did slow down issues and it did lead to the delays that you have identified. Importantly this year’s budget had $21 million to increase the number of members of the tribunal to address the backlog. So the digital investment and the new members are going to get on top of these backlogs, but it is a challenge.