The recent creation of two types of specialised courts in Melbourne aims to bring better justice to specific sectors of our community while at the same time benefiting the wider population.

In March this year, Melbourne's first Koori court was opened at the Broadmeadows Magistrates' Court. The Court joins the Shepparton Koori Court, which opened last September, and forms part of a two-year pilot program aimed at lowering the number of indigenous people in the criminal justice system. The Koori Court is a government initiative aimed at addressing the over-representation of indigenous people in the criminal justice system. Indigenous Victorians are 11 times more likely to be imprisoned than are non-indigenous Victorians. By working with the Aboriginal community to achieve more cultural relevance in dealing with offenders, it is hoped that this rate of over-representation can be reduced.

The Koori Court sits once a fortnight and, while the Magistrate is the ultimate decision-maker, an Aboriginal person is available to advise the presiding Magistrate on the cultural aspects of matters brought before the court. An Aboriginal justice worker is also available to assist with case management, together with a community correction officer, a police prosecutor and a defence lawyer.

Another specialist court, Victoria's first drug court, opened at the Dandenong Magistrates' Court in May last year. In recent years, most Australian states have taken the initiative and opened courts to specifically deal with the growing problem of drug use and drug-related crime in Australia. The court is specifically designed to deal with those cases which have been referred for judicially supervised drug treatment and rehabilitation programs.

The broad aim of the drug court, as outlined in section 18X of the Sentencing Act 1991 (Vic), is to 'facilitate the rehabilitation of the offender by providing a judicially- supervised, therapeutically-oriented, integrated drug or alcohol treatment and supervision regime'. The use of a specialist court recognises the effects of drug use and dependency on a person and its relationship to criminal activity. The court aims to provide a holistic response for the individual with the desired result that criminal activity will be reduced and health restored.

These specialist court initiatives aim to deal with very different but equally complex social issues - the relevance of criminal justice outcomes on a specific cultural group, and the ongoing problem of drug use in our society. While neither of these social issues have quick fix solutions, initiatives like specialist courts do go some way towards recognising the complexities involved and for providing opportunities for the use of a more holistic response.