The ACT's chief magistrate has slammed Industrial Court cases as being "abysmally run" and plagued by a "lack of diligence" after prosecutors had to abandon a hearing on Tuesday.
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Chief Magistrate Lorraine Walker described the case as "a mess" and said it had left the defendant at a "significant disadvantage" after taking more than two years to come to trial.
Qantas contractor Star Aviation is being prosecuted after a worker allegedly injured his back when he fell backwards from a service door as he mopped the cabin of a Q400 turboprop aircraft parked in the airport's QantasLink hangar on January 30, 2014.
Star Aviation pleaded not guilty to failing to comply with health and safety duties and the matter was set down for hearing on Tuesday.
But the hearing was abandoned when it emerged defence lawyers and prosecutors still had not agreed on details of the allegations and particulars of the charges the company faced.
The confusion prompted Ms Walker to blast the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution's workplace health and safety cases, such as the Star Aviation matter, as "abysmally run".
"This is a mess," she said.
Ms Walker described the charge as "defective" and said the defendant was left trying to clarify the matters that would be explored at hearing, while the prosecution was not ready to proceed more than two years after the alleged offence.
"It's improper for the prosecution not to prosecute these matters properly," Ms Walker said.
"The purpose of having a dedicated industrial court is to deal with these matters efficiently.
"I'm really at a loss as to what to do. The defendant is at a significant disadvantage."
"It seems to me we come to a hearing of the matter more than two years later and it's pretty clear to me that no-one knows what they're doing."
Star Aviation's defence lawyer, David Chitty, urged the court to dismiss the prosecution.
But prosecutor Melanie Moss, who had only taken on the case several days ago, asked the court not take that course and said there was significant community interest in prosecuting the "fall from heights" matter.
She argued the defendant was aware of the allegation it had to answer to and the particulars adequately outlined the charge.
Mr Chitty contended the company had been a "model defendant" and was forced to work its way through the facts in the case and narrow the issues - "almost on behalf of the prosecution, can I say".
"If it is that important and serious it possibly should have been prosecuted in a more proper and diligent manner than it has been," he said.
Ms Walker responded: "I think that's a fair comment."
She said while it wasn't her role to cast blame, the prosecution of work health and safety matters in the ACT continued to be attended by "a lack of diligence".
Ms Walker said those problems continued to plague the Industrial Court, which had been set up for the benefit of the community, and magistrates continued to have to deal with such matters, often at the eleventh hour.
She adjourned the case to look closely at the relevant legislation and formulation of the charge as she considered the defence's application for the case to be thrown out.
The matter returns to court on Thursday.
