Australian Government: Attorney-General's Department
Australian Government: Attorney-General's DepartmentAchieving a Just and Secure Society

Annual Report 2007-08 Performance Reports - Outcome 1

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Chapter 5

Outcome 1

An equitable and accessible system of federal civil justice

Overview

In order to achieve Outcome 1, the Attorney-General’s Department provides a diverse range of legal services and policy advice.

The Department’s responsibilities cover courts and tribunals, alternative dispute resolution, administrative law, bankruptcy, classification, constitutional policy, human rights, evidence and procedure, family law and related services for separated families, legal assistance, international law, information law, Indigenous justice, native title and personal property securities law.

The Department provides specialist support for the Attorney-General as First Law Officer, promotes Australian legal services internationally, and drafts and publishes legislative materials.

In working to achieve this outcome, the Department is also responsible for administering payments for the provision of legal aid, family relationships services, Indigenous law and justice programs, community legal services and financial assistance towards legal costs and related expenses. The Department works in cooperation and consultation with many other organisations. These include government agencies (Commonwealth, State and Territory), advisory bodies, task forces, professional associations and community interest groups.

During 2007–08, we made significant and substantial progress towards achieving Outcome 1, with developments being the establishment of a more transparent judicial appointment process, legislation developed to provide equality for same-sex couples and their children, reforms to legal services purchasing arrangements, further development of reforms to personal property securities, and the delivery of night patrol services in an additional 50 remote Indigenous communities in the Northern Territory.

Performance reports for each output contributing to Outcome 1 are presented in this chapter.

Resource summary

Outcome 1—An equitable and accessible system of federal civil justice
  (1) Budget* 2007–08 $’000 (2) Actual expenses 2007–08 $’000 Variation (column 2 minus column 1) $’000 Budget 2008–09 $’000
Administered expenses (including third party outputs) 516,396 514,118 (2,278) 545,186
Special appropriations 25,875 56,550 30,675 26,750
Total administered expenses 542,271 570,668 28,397 571,936
Price of departmental outputs
Output 1.1 Family law, federal courts and tribunals, civil procedure and alternative dispute resolution 25,827 25,730 (97) 25,109
Output 1.2 Support for the Attorney-General as First Law Officer, constitutional policy, personal insolvency and international legal services 6,594 12,626 6,032 6,430
Output 1.3 Information law and human rights 18,648 15,456 (3,192) 17,065
Output 1.4 International law 6,231 6,219 (12) 5,769
Output 1.5 Legislative instruments 10,989 10,874 (115) 10,872
Output 1.6 Native title 5,557 5,405 (112) 5,751
Output 1.7 Indigenous law and justice and legal assistance 18,428 18,249 (179) 17,957
Output 1.8 Personal property securities 4,717 4,089 (628) 17,867
Total price of outputs 96,991 98,648 1,657 106,820
Revenue from Government (Appropriation) for departmental outputs 91,575 90,648 (927) 97,964
Revenue from other sources 5,416 5,486 70 8,856
Total departmental revenue 96,991 96,134 (857) 106,820
Total for Outcome 1 (total price of outputs and administered expenses) 639,262 669,316 30,054 678,756
  2007–08 2008–09
Average staffing levels 595 581

* Full-year budget, including additional estimates.

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