Courts in Australia

In Australia, you have the right to:

• go to court
• take part in a fair trial.

Court is a place where a place where a judge and/or a jury solve legal problems.

A trial is a legal way to work out:

• if someone took part in a crime
• what happens after someone has committed a crime.

People go to court for many different reasons, such as to:

• claim money someone owes them

• ask to be kept safe from violence

• tell your side of the story if the police think you took part in a crime

• be on a jury in another person’s court case

• find out if the government will take your child away from you to keep them safe

• work out who will have custody of a child if you have separated from their other parent.

If you have custody of your child, it means you are the main parent taking care of them.

In Australia, we have different courts to deal with different things.

We have:

• federal courts for Australian laws

• state and territory courts for state and territory laws.

We explain these in more detail below.

Federal courts

There are 4 federal courts.

1 – High Court of Australia

This court deals with issues about the constitution.

The constitution is a set of rules for running the country.

The High Court also deals with issues the other courts can’t deal with.

2 – Federal Court of Australia

This court deals with issues about businesses, like when they don’t pay their tax.

3 – Federal Circuit Court of Australia

This court also deals with issues about businesses.

And it deals with some issues about:

• people who move to Australia to live

• families

4 – Family Court

This court deals with family issues, such as:

• divorce – ending a marriage

• family violence

• child custody

State and territory courts

There are 5 main types of state and territory courts.

1 – Local Courts

These courts deal with most cases where people want to claim money less than $40,000.

They also deal with crimes such as:

• theft

• drink driving

2 – Magistrates Courts

These courts deal with:

• issues with children

• people who owe money

• issues at work

Some states also have Magistrates Courts just for Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander peoples.

3 – Children’s Courts

These courts deal with crimes:

• against children
• that children do

4 – District Courts

These courts deal with appeals from Magistrates Courts.

An appeal is when someone asks for a decision to be:

• looked at again
• changed.

They might do this because they don’t like the decision a court made

District Courts also deal crimes such as:

• robbery

• sexual violence – when someone forces you to do something sexual without you saying it’s ok.

5 – Supreme Courts

These courts are the highest level of courts in each state and territory.

They only deal with very serious crimes.