George Mancini, who heads the South Australian Law Society's Criminal Law Committee

George Mancini, who heads the South Australian Law Society's Criminal Law Committee and sits on the Attorney-General's Criminal Justice Ministerial Taskforce, said the state needed independent law-reform and police integrity bodies, an independent commission against corruption and an independent judicial appointments board to ensure that itkept pace with other jurisdictions. "We're lagging well behind the expectations of a sophisticated, democratic community," Mr Mancini told The Australian. "The other states are well advanced in having professional, well-resourced bodies." Throughout the 1960s, 70s and 80s, Mr Mancini said, South Australia was a national leader in promoting justice and fairness and regularly presented precedent-setting cases before the High Court. But now, the state lagged behind the rest of the nation, Mr Mancini said. The Rann Government created the Criminal Justice Ministerial Taskforce in 2006 to examine mounting delays in bringing cases to trial and to recommend legislative changes. The taskforce presented a series of recommendations to the Government late last year, and a response has yet to be finalised. Mr Mancini also raised concerns about the decaying state of many of South Australia's court buildings, which has been a matter of concern within the judiciary for several years. "All communities have a high civic pride in their administration of justice, and that's reflected in the architecture of their court buildings," he said. "If you depreciate these institutions in terms of the resources, that reflects a misplaced sense of confidence in the institutions." Attorney-General Michael Atkinson said there was no need for an independent commission against corruption, as the state already supported a Police Complaints Authority, a police anti-corruption branch, a Government Investigations Unit and an ombudsman with the powers of a royal commissioner. And Mr Atkinson maintained there was no need for a law reform commission.

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