hourn said:
just wondering when the next victorian or federal elections are. i'm pretty sure the next federal elections and you can bet that every single political candidate in this country will ensure this guy is sentenced before election day.
well this is supposed to be a federal election year......but the Pollies may not be able to do anything about speeding up the Judicial process - they'll have to be content to rattle their swords and have a go at the legislation for the industry.........after all that is what they are part of the legislative assembly for - to write, debate, vote on & pass legislation, or not as the case may be.....
we must not forget that it is their ITAB that has set these national standards for the Industry, and that Vic was one of several states govt bodies who vetoed the National Training Authority's attempts to get national standardisation & recognition of training & qualifications (and NOT because the Vic licensing / training requirements were any better than the national requirements)........
but the time it takes to get to trial is normal for the Judicial process....
eg everything starts in the lower Courts and then gets promoted to the higher Courts who hear the serious offences..........that alone can take several weeks depending on how busy the Court calendars are........
once it gets to the higher Court where it will eventually be heard the process starts over again and then a date is set for what is basically a trial without the Jury or voideux (sp?) this is to hear the evidence, make sure it is all correct & legal, and to determine if there is a case for the Defendant to answer b4 a Jury.......
the point to remember is that in Jury Trials it is the Jury that determines guilt of innocence, the Court acts as the venue & makes sure everyone obeys the rules.........this is all part of the process designed to try and give every defendant a fair trial.....
the date for the voideux hearing is again deterined by how busy the Courts are and the anticipated length of the hearing, which could be weeks or even months depending on how complicated the case is (although in this instance I would not anticipate any more than 3 - 5 days depending on defence strategies)...........
once the voideux hearing is completed a Trial date is then set for the case to go b4 a Jury and the same requirements apply re time frames...........
Supreme Court hearings are usually backed up months in advance .............it's not uncommon for a defendant to have been remanded in custody for more than 12 months b4 his case gets to trial!!!
bugger - I didn't want to make this appear so complicated........
