Prosecutors’ bans mean no action on child sexual assaults & proceeds of crime

Public Prosecutors in courts in New South Wales have voted to impose a range of bans and limitations as part of their on going campaign to boost a chronic lack of professional and administrative staffing in the Office of the Director Of Public Prosecutions.

The prosecutors are members of the Public Service Association of NSW.

This latest industrial action means:

• confiscation matters, that is efforts to acquire the proceeds of criminal activity, will not be processed;
• no action on child sexual assault matters referred by the police;
• all work will be done within contract hours (9 to 5) only and matters not completed within those hours will be returned to management;
• a ceiling of 25 active matters in the city and 20 active matters in the country with any overflow returned to management;
• level 1 lawyers in the Sydney metropolitan region will only instruct Crown Prosecutors/Trial Advocates in one trial per week;
• strictly limited numbers and types of matters will be handled on a daily basis.

"The action is specifically designed to demonstrate to management just how much work is done by our members over and above normal working hours." said PSA Industrial Officer, Stephen Spencer.

"In the process it should highlight all too clearly the desperate need for more staff to get the job done."

Previous ODPP Industrial Bulletin, May 19