Key facts:

The focus of this chapter is the court administration functions of Australian and State and Territory courts. Data are reported for the Federal Court, the Family Court of Australia and the Federal Circuit Court, the criminal and civil jurisdictions of the supreme courts (including probate registries), district/county courts, magistrates' courts (including children's courts), coroners' courts and the Family Court of WA.

• In 2017-18,  in the criminal jurisdiction of the supreme, district/county, magistrates’ and children’s courts, approximately 791 216 cases were lodged, and 800 454 cases were finalised.
• In the civil jurisdiction of these same courts approximately 419 765 cases were lodged and 427 208 cases finalised.
• In the Australian courts, approximately 122 463 cases were lodged, and 121 495 cases finalised.
• Total court administration recurrent expenditure less income (excluding fines) by the court authorities covered in this chapter was approximately $1.5 billion in 2017-18, comprising $1.29 billion for the State and Territory courts and $222.4 million for the Australian courts.

Courts aim to safeguard and maintain the rule of law and ensure equal justice for all. Court services support the courts and aim to encourage public confidence and trust in the courts by enabling them to:

• be open and accessible
• be affordable
• process matters in a high quality, expeditious and timely manner.

Governments aim for court services to meet these objectives in an equitable and efficient manner.