The use of video conferencing is an increasing phenomenon in the Supreme Court, with accused persons and sentenced prisoners appearing by video from custody, witnesses appearing to give evidence from all parts of the world, and the public being invited to view proceedings or sentencing without having to travel to Perth to do so.
The Supreme Court has six courts equipped with video conferencing facilities (Courts 2, 3, 6, 7 and 9 in the heritage listed Supreme Court building, and Court 14.1 at 111 St Georges Terrace). Two of these courts (3 and 7) are equipped with a multi-site facility which allows the court to link to up to three locations simultaneously.
The procedures for establishing links are covered by various pieces of legislation; the main portions of which are appended hereto. The following notes outline issues involved in organising the video conference.
Any person calling evidence for presentation to the court can seek an order that the witness be allowed to give that evidence by video link from another location. The circumstances where this may be appropriate vary considerably, but one of the most common reasons would be to save the expense and inconvenience of the witness travelling to Perth.
In any event, there must be an order for the evidence to be so received. There are two ways this can be arranged. In the first instance a formal application can be made on notice, at a directions hearing or during the course of the trial itself. In the latter case, the person calling the evidence must have everything set to go, which requires a certain degree of planning and co-operation from the opposing party.
The steps to be completed to set up a video link for this purpose, are:
NOTE: If planning to make the formal application during the trial, the applicant should liaise with the associate to the trial judge and the opposing counsel to ensure there is no opposition to the application. If there is opposition, it is preferable to hear the application before the trial. If all is in accord, it can be set up and the application made at trial.
In the event of a witness in a criminal matter being a child or otherwise classified as a special witness whether by legislation or by order, the evidence can be received by either CCTV from the remote witness room, or video link from a remote location. In the case of CCTV, it is necessary to ensure that there is no conflict of booking as there is only the one facility. There is no conflict if the evidence is to be given by video link so long as the matter is listed in a court with video link facilities.
These arrangements are normally made by the Director of Public Prosecutions through the associate to the trial judge, but may necessitate involvement of the CTO to facilitate the link, or to host a preliminary visit by the witness to view the CCTV room and become familiarised with the set-up. In that event, the CTO will be contacted by (usually) victim support to make that arrangement.
Increasingly, counsel and others in remote areas utilise video technology in preference to briefing metropolitan counsel for directions and other interlocutory appearances. Self represented litigants can incur significant expense travelling for those hearings and so can benefit from being able to appear by video link. They are able to do this with leave, and that leave can be set up administratively through the judge's associate. In those cases, counsel or the litigant in person is liable for the relevant fees and should complete the application form prior to the date of the link.
By using the multi-site conferencing feature in courts 3 and 7, counsel can appear from one location, and the party represented (or indeed another counsel) can appear from a different location. The multi-site facility allows for simultaneous connection to up to three locations.
It is the routine practice of the court, subject to exceptions, for accused persons in custody to be 'brought up' and to appear in court via video link rather than being physically transported to the court. Accused persons in custody can appear by video for all purposes other than trial, although commonly they will appear in person for sentencing.
The fees for video link are prescribed in the Evidence (Video and Audio Links Fees and Expenses) Regulations 1999. They consist of a booking fee, an hourly fee, and the user will be on-billed for the connection costs incurred in the actual link. Depending on the speed of connection, the connection cost approximates to six times the ISD or STD (peak) rate for telephone calls.
The booking fee is to be paid on lodging the application form whilst the balance of hourly fee and connection costs will be invoiced subsequent to the link.
In all cases, fees are payable unless otherwise waived or varied. It is generally the case that fees do not apply in circumstances where the link is on the court's motion as in instances of prisoners or remanded accused persons being linked from prisons. Other circumstances which may lead to the waiver of fees relate to the financial circumstances of parties or otherwise in the interests of justice. Circumstances in which there is a likely saving to the parties as in either time and/or travel costs of counsel or witnesses are unlikely to attract a waiver. These principles apply in the civil, criminal and appellate jurisdictions. In all cases, persons wishing to apply for a waiver of the fees should approach the relevant court and complete the necessary application.
There is a wide range of legislation providing the discretionary framework enabling the use of a video link facility in court proceedings. Whilst not exhaustive, the links below represent those Acts and regulations most commonly relied upon.
| 1. Booking fee | (1) Intrastate link | $66.00 | (2) Interstate or overseas link | $98.50 |
| 2. Hourly fee | |
| Per hour or part of an hour | $52.50 |
