Tweed Heads Local Court: what to expect

Everything that is different because it is NSW

This is the part that matters. A Gold Coast client charged at Tweed walks into a system that looks familiar and is not.

The charge document is a Court Attendance Notice

In Queensland you get a notice to appear. In New South Wales the equivalent is a Court Attendance Notice, a CAN, and proceedings are commenced by issuing and filing it under the Criminal Procedure Act 1986 (NSW). Summary procedure sits in Chapter 4 of that Act. The document looks different, it is served differently, and the police facts sheet that comes with it is not called a QP9.

Sentencing options are a different statute entirely

Queensland practitioners reach for section 19 of the Penalties and Sentences Act 1992. That provision does not exist here. New South Wales sentencing runs on the Crimes (Sentencing Procedure) Act 1999 (NSW):

• Section 10 dismissal. A court that finds a person guilty may order that the charge be dismissed, discharge the person on a conditional release order, or discharge them on condition they participate in an intervention program. A section 10(1)(a) dismissal means no conviction is recorded at all.
• Section 9, Conditional Release Order. Instead of imposing imprisonment or a fine, the court may make a CRO discharging the offender. A CRO can be made with or without a conviction, and a CRO without conviction is the closest NSW equivalent to a Queensland good behaviour bond with no conviction recorded.
• Section 8, Community Correction Order. Available instead of imprisonment, but note the threshold: a CCO requires a conviction, where a CRO does not.
• Section 7, Intensive Correction Order. Structurally different from anything in Queensland. The court must first impose a sentence of imprisonment, then direct by ICO that it be served by intensive correction in the community.

Drink driving has five ranges, not three

Queensland works in three tiers. Under section 110 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) there are five named ranges: novice (any reading above zero for a learner or provisional driver), special (over 0.02 for a special category driver), low (0.05 to under 0.08), mid (0.08 to under 0.15) and high (0.15 and above). The categories are not the same shape as Queensland's and neither are the penalties.

Police can suspend your licence on the spot

Under section 224 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW), police may suspend a licence immediately, or within 48 hours, where a person is charged with specified offences. NSW Government material states plainly that police can immediately suspend your licence for a low, special or novice range drink driving offence.

You can appeal a suspension, but the test is hard and the clock is short

This is a right Queensland does not give you, and it is easy to lose by doing nothing. Under sections 266 to 268 of the Road Transport Act 2013 (NSW) a licence suspension can be appealed to the Local Court. You have 28 days from receiving the notice of suspension to lodge it.

Two things make it harder than it sounds. Section 268(5) requires the court to find exceptional circumstances before varying or revoking a suspension, and it prohibits the court from considering the circumstances of the offence when deciding the appeal. So arguments about how the offence happened, or how minor it was, are not available to you. You also must not drive while the appeal is on foot unless the court orders otherwise.

Appeals from this court go to the District Court

A Local Court sentence is appealed to the District Court of NSW. Legal Aid NSW publishes the timeframe as 28 days from the date of the order, after which you need an application for leave to appeal, which must be lodged within three months of the original order.

The four week circuit, and the week three trap

Tweed Heads shares a circuit with Murwillumbah on a four week cycle, running one courtroom. The pattern published by the Local Court is worth reading before you book a day off work.

• Monday is the charge list in every week of the cycle. If you have a first mention, it is a Monday. That consistency is unusual for a circuit venue and it is the single most useful thing on this page.
• Tuesday is defended hearings, in all four weeks.
• Wednesday in weeks 1, 2 and 4 carries the mixed list: civil, family law, general list, traffic list, sentences, and domestic violence and AVO matters.
• In week 3, the magistrate sits at Murwillumbah from Wednesday to Friday.
• Friday of week 2 is the DPP list.

The week three arrangement is where people come unstuck, because the Childrens Court sits at Tweed Heads on exactly those days, running its crime list and hearings, and its care and education list, as part of the Northern Rivers Circuit. So in week three the building is open and busy, and the adult magistrate is thirty kilometres inland at Murwillumbah.

Check the daily list before you travel. NSW court lists are published on the NSW Online Registry, not on the Queensland Courts website. If you have been looking for a Queensland style daily law list PDF and failing to find one, that is why.

Daylight saving, which is a genuine trap

The Local Court publishes its start times in AEST, and unless otherwise stated everything starts at 9:30am.

New South Wales observes daylight saving. Queensland does not. So from early October to early April, a person driving down from the Gold Coast is crossing a time zone on the way to court. A 9:30am listing at Tweed Heads is 8:30am on your phone if your phone is still on Queensland time, and the reverse mistake, arriving an hour after your matter was called, is the one that produces a warrant.

Set the alarm to the destination, not to home. Twenty minutes of driving does not feel like a border crossing, which is exactly why this catches people.

Getting there and parking

The courthouse is at 50-52 Recreation Street, Tweed Heads. Tweed Shire Council publishes that there is free timed parking in the main business areas of Tweed Heads, and notes overnight restrictions in some zones with no parking between 11pm and 5am. Council does not publish anything specific to Recreation Street, so read the signs at the bay you take.

Public transport into Tweed Heads runs through the Tweed Mall interchange on Wharf Street. Surfside Buslines route 600 runs Banora Point to Tweed Heads West via Tweed Mall and Coolangatta, which is the practical route from the southern Gold Coast, and route 601 runs from Tweed Valley Hospital via Kingscliff. NSW TrainLink coach routes 161 and 162 connect Casino and Tweed Heads.

The court publishes a fax number with a Queensland (07) area code, which is a fair summary of the place. It is a NSW court sitting inside a Queensland telephone district, on a border where most of the population on one side works and shops on the other.

What happens on the day

The registry counter opens at 9:00am, closes for an hour from 1:00pm to 2:00pm, and shuts at 4:00pm. The telephone line runs 8:30am to 4:30pm. That midday closure is not something Queensland registries do and it will strand you if you were planning to file something over lunch.

Legal Aid NSW advises turning up an hour before your matter if you want to see a duty lawyer. There is one courtroom, so everything queues through one magistrate.

A first mention on the Monday charge list is short. The magistrate wants to know whether you have a lawyer, whether you have the police facts sheet, and what you propose to do. You are not required to plead, and asking for an adjournment to get legal advice is a normal request.

The court has Audio Visual Link and remote witness facilities, which matters on a circuit venue where witnesses, and sometimes defendants in custody, are not physically present.

Getting help at Tweed Heads

Legal Aid NSW has duty lawyers at all Local Courts. They can advise on your matter, explain what is likely to happen, and assist with adjournments and urgent applications. There is no appointment system, so arrive an hour early. Advance advice is available from LawAccess NSW on 1300 888 529, 9am to 5pm weekdays.

Note that Legal Aid NSW's online "request legal help" service, JusticeHub, covers only Bankstown, Blacktown, Mount Druitt, Penrith and Sutherland Local Courts. It does not cover Tweed Heads, so LawAccess or turning up early are the routes.

If you are affected by domestic violence, the Northern Rivers Women's Domestic Violence Court Advocacy Service covers Tweed Heads and can be reached on (02) 6621 1044. The statewide line is 1800 WDVCAS, 1800 938 227.

Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander people can get help from Legal Aid NSW duty lawyers or from the Aboriginal Legal Service (NSW/ACT). The nearest ALS office is at Lismore, on (02) 6623 4400 for criminal law. Anyone under 18 can call the Youth Hotline on 1800 10 18 10.

Why we appear here

A great many of our clients live on the southern Gold Coast and get charged across the border. Coolangatta and Tweed Heads are a single built up area with a state line running through it, and the line decides which criminal law applies to you.

We appear at Tweed Heads and in Sydney matters. The value in having the same firm on both sides of that border is that a lot of people have matters running in both jurisdictions at once, and the interaction between a NSW licence disqualification and a Queensland licence, or between a NSW AVO and a Queensland domestic violence order, is not something to work out on the morning of a court date.

If you have a Tweed matter, the first fifteen minutes by phone cost nothing. Call 07 5522 5777.