International Programs
Activities in Indonesia
The Federal Court has developed a very strong relationship with the Supreme Court of Indonesia since 1999. Multiple training programs have been conducted in Indonesia and Australia to assist the Indonesian judiciary in achieving its aims of building a strong and effective judicial system. During 1999-2004 the Court delivered almost one hundred workshops to nearly one thousand judges in courts across the country, and one hundred Indonesian judges and court administrators benefited from the Judicial Training Program conducted in Australia.
In March 2004, the Federal Court signed the first five-year Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) with the Supreme Court with a view of assisting the Supreme Court of Indonesia to implement its 2003 Blueprint for Reform. This is believed to be the first MoU of its kind between two superior courts. Annexes to the MOU were signed in 2005, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2011, 2012 and 2014. A number of judicial collaborations occurred between the Federal Court and Supreme Court of Indonesia under the MoU, pursuant to the Australian government funded Australia-Indonesia Partnership for Justice.
The Court has supported several noteworthy programs with the Supreme Court, including the development and promulgation of Consumer Protection Regulations, a Budgeting & Financial Management Program, which equipped financial managers within the Supreme Court with the tools and skills to better present budget requests to government and account for expenditure. The Program also created a central court fee database used in over 700 courts across Indonesia and a Backlog Reduction Program, which resulted in a 7,000 reduction in case backlog over four years.
The Court has also supported the development of institutional frameworks for both class actions and mediation. This included the development of Supreme Court Regulations on Procedures for mediation, and class actions respectively.
The MoU was renewed in 2009 and 2014 each for a further five years, emphasising the effectiveness of collaborative relations between the courts. Delegates from the Federal Court attended the Supreme Court of Indonesia in 2016 to continue discussions on future activities under the MoU, including the prospect of establishing a Commercial Court and improving the ease of doing business with Indonesia, ahead of the signing of an annex to the MoU later in 2016.
Australian delegates visiting the Supreme Court of Indonesia, December 2013
