The following organisations have advised of their holiday closure arrangements:
Queensland Courts
Queensland Courts has advised that its registries will be closed from Monday 21 December 2020 to Friday 1 January 2021 inclusive, for designated court holidays pursuant to Supreme Court Practice Direction 18/2020, District Court Practice Direction 8/2020 and Magistrates Court Practice Direction 1/2020.
Access information on summer arrangements for the Supreme Court from the Queensland Courts website.
District Court of Queensland
The Chief Judge has announced arrangements that will come into effect at 4pm on Friday 18 December 2020 and conclude on Monday 25 January 2021.
1 The vacation judge available to hear urgent applications in the planning and environment jurisdiction from 4pm Friday 18 December to 4pm Friday 15 January 2021 will be Judge Rackermann.
The vacation judge available to hear urgent applications in both criminal and civil jurisdictions from 4pm Friday 18 December to 4pm Friday 25 December 2020 will be Judge Muir.
From 4pm Friday 25 December until 4pm Friday 1 January 2021, Judge Barlow QC will hear urgent applications in both criminal and civil jurisdictions.
From 4pm Friday 1 January 2021 to 4pm Friday 8 January, Judge Burnett AM will hear urgent applications in both criminal and civil jurisdictions.
From 4pm Friday 8 January to 4pm Friday 15 January 2021, Judge Sheridan will sit in the applications jurisdiction.
From 4pm Friday 15 January until 4pm Friday 22 January 2021, Judge Everson and Judge Muir will sit in both the applications and planning and environment jurisdictions.
2 In the week commencing 11 January 2021, Judge Dick SC, Judge Reid and Judge Burnett AM will sit in the criminal jurisdiction.
3 In the week commencing 18 January 2021, Judge Dick SC, Judge McGinness, Judge Reid, Judge Burnett AM and Judge Rosengren will sit in the criminal jurisdiction and Judge Porter QC and Judge Barlow QC will sit in the civil jurisdiction.
4 Unless special arrangements are made in advance with the approval of a judge, Auscript staff will not be available for transcribing outside normal court hours.
Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court
The Brisbane Magistrates Court building will be closed from 21 December until 1 January 2021. During this period, Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court (QDAC) teams will continue to operate in a modified form.
In order to ensure that QDAC participants meet the requirements of their treatment orders, the QDAC team will continue to operate with reduced service during the court closure period. This includes convening review team meetings and court sittings as required. QDAC treatment order agencies will also deliver services to program participants in line with their core responsibilities to the program.
Penalties and Sentences Act 1992 section 151ZB Warrant apprehensions
Section 151ZB warrant apprehensions will be adjourned to the next QDAC sitting day with no provision for bail as per paragraph 27 of Practice Direction No.1 of 2018 (amended). The first QDAC sitting day after the closure period is 2pm on 11 January 2021.
If you have any questions, please do not hesitate to contact Will Thirkill, Operations Manager or Bret Sammut, Court Co-ordinator, Queensland Drug and Alcohol Court, on 3738 7111 or via email at DrugandAlcoholCourt@justice.qld.gov.au.
QCAT
The Queensland Civil and Administrative Tribunal (QCAT) has advised that its Brisbane registry will be closed from Monday 21 December to Friday 1 January 2021 (inclusive), reopening on Monday 4 January 2021.
Magistrates Court registries throughout Queensland also process QCAT matters. Pursuant to Magistrates Court Practice Direction No.1 of 2020, these registries will be closed for the same period.
Access QCAT practice directions.
Legal Services Commission
The Office of the Legal Services Commission will close from Friday 25 December to reopen on Monday 4 January 2021. The office, telephones and emails will be unattended during this time.
Anyone wishing to contact the Commission during this time, should email lsc@lsc.qld.gov.au, or telephone 07 3564 7726 and leave a message. All emails and phone messages will be responded to as soon as possible following the return of staff.
If the matter is urgent, please email lsc@lsc.qld.gov.au and include ‘Urgent’ in the subject line. Urgent matters will be prioritised when the Commission reopens.
Titles Registry
The Titles Registry, including all lodgement offices, will close during the 2020-2021 Christmas-New Year holiday period from Friday 25 December 2020 to Friday 1 January 2021 inclusive. During the closure period, documents cannot be lodged with the Titles Registry.
The Brisbane Titles Registry office will close at 4pm on Thursday 24 December 2020 and reopen at 9am on Monday 4 January 2021. Information regarding available services and business hours for other offices is available.
Although lodgements cannot be accepted during this closure period, eLodgement users and eConveyancing subscribers will still be able to access the relevant systems to prepare documents intended to be lodged from 4 January 2021. Further information about using these services can be found via the eLodgement and eConveyancing link
Supreme Court Library Queensland
https://www.sclqld.org.au/Supreme Court Library Queensland will be closed from Monday 21 December 2020 to Friday 1 January 2021 inclusive.
Queensland Law Society
QLS will close at 3pm on Thursday 24 December and reopen at 8.30am on Monday 11 January 2021.
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