Court system 'in a shambles' after transcription service goes bust

There are fears mass redundancies at Australia's main transcription service could leave court cases around the country in limbo after it was revealed VIQ Solutions would be wound down.

The ABC understands all VIQ Solutions court transcribers are expected to be made redundant and no further orders for transcripts will be accepted through its portal.

However, the Federal Court said contingency plans were being worked on.

VIQ Solutions was embroiled in controversy earlier this year after the ABC revealed sensitive court files were being transcribed in India in breach of the company's multi-million-dollar government contract.

Administrators McGrathNicol were called in on March 16 to urgently assess the company's viability, four weeks after the breach was made public.

VIQ Solutions was responsible for transcription services for the family and federal courts, the South Australian Employment Tribunal, as well as the courts and tribunals in Queensland, New South Wales, Victoria and Western Australia.

A spokesperson for the Federal Court of Australia said it was taking "all necessary steps" to ensure control of court data and recordings.

"The contingency arrangements involve a panel of on-shore transcript service providers, and a panel of transcriptionists managed in-house," the spokesperson said.

"Longer-term arrangements will be focused on a low-cost model for transcript services for all litigants, including those most disadvantaged or at risk, at the core of its design."

However, one VIQ transcriber, who wished to remain anonymous, said staff at VIQ Solutions were left in the dark about what the future held.

"We have had no renewed contracts or reassurances from the courts … that work will continue. Nothing has been extended. The only opportunities we are coming across to date are those we are chasing ourselves," the transcriber said.

They said staff were told at a weekly briefing that orders for transcripts would cease as of today and staff would finish up from Friday June 12th.

"The morale has completely dropped and this is impacting everyone's ability to continue working through to tools down next week. It honestly feels like we're flogging a dead horse now, with no hope for the future.

"I am hopeful that cases currently relying on transcripts will be redirected on an urgent basis … There are hundreds of us willing to continue this work and do so around the clock if given the opportunity."

They said they were "incredibly heartbroken" and felt the winding up of the company and sacking of staff "never had to happen".

'A matter of public confidence'

Director of Justice Family Lawyers, Hayder Shkara said if transcripts were delayed the impact on cases "could be devastating".

"In my view, the Attorney-General should be closely monitoring the situation. The courts must remain independent, but the proper resourcing of the justice system is a matter of public administration and public confidence," he said.

"If transcript services are at risk of disruption, that should not be left to drift.

"Lawyers need to know how transcripts will be ordered, who will prepare them, what turnaround times will apply, what urgent options exist, and what safeguards are in place to protect confidential court material.

"The courts were aware of the problems that were plaguing VIQ Solutions, so I would think that a plan would've been put in place to ensure that there is a backup system ready to go."

The court spokesperson said audio files of recent and upcoming hearings would be stored "to facilitate transcription by alternative providers where required".

The spokesperson said further information on the new arrangements would be published on the court's websites and provided to the legal profession "in due course".

'Court system in a shambles'

Greens Senator David Shoebridge, who sits on the legal and constitutional affairs committee, said the federal courts' reputation had been damaged.

"This kind of essential public service should never have been privatised in the first place, and now that the monopoly corporate provider is exiting it leaves the court system in a shambles," he said.

"Let's be clear about the impact of this, transcripts are not a 'nice to have' for court proceedings, they are essential and are often required to be produced in real time for high stakes legal proceedings.

"Based on their actions to date, I have zero confidence that the Federal Court entity has either the skills or experience to effectively undertake this complex task.

"The millions still budgeted for VIQ here should now be repurposed to begin a permanent public transcription service, not just handed to the next private operator chasing the lowest margin.

"Whoever signed and oversaw this contract needs to front Senate Estimates and explain what due diligence they did on a company that has offshored private information, now gone broke and seriously damaged the reputation of our Federal Courts."

Last week, Senate estimates heard almost 150 court matters were caught up in the data breach that saw court files transcribed in India.

However, court representatives said it was impossible to verify the exact number of cases that were potentially compromised due to a lack of cooperation from the parent company of VIQ based in Canada.

Today the parent company issued a statement saying it had "now received notice from the administrators that the sale or recapitalisation process related to VIQ Australia was unsuccessful".

It said the administrators would begin taking steps to "conduct an orderly wind down of the VIQ Australia business".

In a statement, Rob Smith from the administrators, McGrathNicol confirmed VIQ Australia would be wound down.

"We understand the particular impact this decision will have on VIQ staff around Australia," he said.

"We are actively working with stakeholders on the timeline for the wind down process, with the objectives of minimising disruption to courts and providing certainty to staff as soon as possible."