Published March 2025
National data shows that South Australia’s criminal court backlog is the worst in Australia and the worst in a decade – with the Productivity Commission’s Report on Government Services revealing that the backlog of criminal cases greater than 12 months for the District Court was 40.5 per cent, with hundreds of cases over two years old.
Shadow Minister for Community Safety, Jack Batty said justice delayed is justice denied for thousands of South Australians impacted by Labor’s mismanagement of this system.
“Victims of crime cannot move forward with their lives when they are left waiting in limbo, in some cases they wait years for justice to be served,” Mr Batty said.
“These delays are simply unacceptable and it’s coming at a cost to community safety here in South Australia.”
Since Labor came into Government, the District Court criminal backlog has skyrocketed from 21.1 per cent in 2020-21 to 40.5 per cent in 2023-24. The national benchmark set by the Productivity Commission is 10 per cent.
“Labor’s scramble on youth crime last week shows they have completely dropped the ball on crime and safety. It’s clear our justice system is at breaking point and Labor has no plan to fix it,” Mr Batty said.
“Labor’s failure to get serious about crime and safety over the last three years means the courts will face even greater workload pressures in the future.”
The Productivity Commission reported that Youth Court backlogs in South Australia also increased significantly from 2018-19 to 2023-24, with cases in the system longer than six months rising from 144 to 302, and those over 12 months surging 113 per cent from 37 to 79.
This follows data from the South Australian Courts Administration Authority which showed a 50 per cent increase in youth crime matters since 2021.
“While we welcome Labor’s new interest in addressing youth crime, it’s time for them to put their money where their mouth is,” Mr Batty said.
“They announced a new Youth Crime Task Force but forgot to give it any extra police officers or funding. They announced a new Youth Offender Plan but forgot to introduce any legislation to implement it. They deny the system is broken but forget we have the worst courts backlogs in the country.
“Over the last three years, we have seen the system reach crisis point under this Government. This is no doubt having an impact on community safety, with record increases in breaches of bail by both young and adult offenders. These are all symptoms of a system imploding.”
Under Labor, bail breaches by young offenders have increased by 60 per cent and by adult offenders by 20 per cent since 2021.
“We have been calling on the Government to review bail laws for some time now. Their decision to do so at the eleventh hour with no real plan shows that community safety is an afterthought for Labor,” Mr Batty said.
“This was confirmed by the Attorney-General’s Department yesterday, who admitted it had only been instructed by the Government to look at youth crime measures in the last month.”
Productivity Commission data also revealed a rise in young offenders returning to sentenced supervision within 12 months, with South Australia’s rate rising from 37.7 per cent to 52.1 per cent for 10 to 16-year-olds.
“Our justice system has become a revolving door under this Government, with over half of young offenders returning to supervision within a year of being released,” Mr Batty said.
“There just doesn’t seem to be any focus on actually breaking the cycle of youth offending at the moment.
“These statistics show Labor is not only failing victims, but our hard-working police and courts who are left to pick up the pieces when offenders continue to be let out into the community only to reoffend.
“A court system under pressure impacts victims, law enforcement and ultimately community safety. Our justice system is currently a house of cards which could be blown over at any time due to Labor’s incompetence.”
Media Contact: Gretel Mead 0449 500 844
