Where we are up to
There are now three dedicated Koori Hearing Rooms at VCAT Oakleigh, Frankston and Bundoora.
A Monitoring and Evaluation Framework has been developed. Work is being progressed on the new digital case management system, which will improve Koori data capture.
During Q2, the VCAT Koori Support team assisted 177 Koori parties across 185 VCAT matters. Although Residential Tenancies (RT) remains the busiest VCAT List for Koori people, the proportion of clients in RT fell from 77% in Q1 2022 to 63% in Q2. Goods and Services civil matters increased to 23% of our caseload, surpassing Guardianship and Administration matters (15%).
On 4 July, VCAT commenced a pilot program to increase listings for RT hearings, focused on the significant backlog of applications for possession for unpaid rent. As a result, more of these cases are proceeding to hearing each day (increasing from around 20 per day to around 60 per day by early August). The KST has also observed an increased number of instances this quarter where RT agreements were reached prior to hearing, resulting in the relevant matter being withdrawn.