TASCAT – Pioneering Digital Access to Justice in Tasmania

Justice

TASCAT – Pioneering Digital Access to Justice in Tasmania

The Challenge: Urgent Access to Critical Healthcare Directives

In late 2022, changes to Tasmania’s Guardianship and Administration Act introduced the ability for Tasmanians to register Advance Care Directives (ACDs) - documents detailing their healthcare preferences in case they’re unable to communicate them in future with the Tasmanian Civil and Administrative Tribunal (TASCAT).

This posed a unique challenge for the newly formed TASCAT. Under the updated Regulations, TASCAT was tasked with maintaining a secure register of ACDs and ensuring that healthcare providers - such as hospitals, nursing homes, guardians and emergency practitioners - could access these directives at any time, including outside business hours.

Manual processes, limited registry staffing, and the sensitivity of ACD data made this a high-stakes, time-sensitive problem. A digital solution was essential.

The Solution: Tasmania’s First Legal Services Portal

Working in close partnership with ReadyTech, TASCAT rapidly implemented the first online legal services portal in Tasmania, using the Ready Case platform and its Online Services (OLS) module.

The solution allowed approved users to search the ACD register securely, 24/7. Crucially, it also aligned with the legislation, which strictly limits who can access the register and under what circumstances.

Two tiers of user access were created:

Plenary access for institutions like hospitals, allowing ongoing access to the entire register.

Single access for individuals with a proper interest, such as doctors or guardians, providing one-time access.

Users submit a Register Inspection Request (RIR) via the portal, and their access is approved, recorded and managed through Ready Case.

Despite the legislative complexity and security demands, the entire project was delivered in just 16 weeks.

“There was a burning platform. We had to hit the ground running with very little time or funding. ReadyTech worked with us every step of the way.”

— James Goderick, Senior Business Analyst and Project Manager, Office of the Chief Information Officer, Department of Justice

The Impact: Secure, 24/7 Digital Access to Justice

With the TASCAT portal now live, health professionals can retrieve ACDs securely and immediately—even in the middle of the night. This is saving critical time in emergency situations, where treatment decisions can’t wait.

The portal’s functionality also lays the foundation for TASCAT’s broader digital transformation:

Supporting lodgement of future applications across guardianship, mental health and civil matters.

Enabling secure document uploads, payments, and remote access.

Reducing the need for in-person registry visits.

What began as a regulatory response has become a strategic platform - positioning TASCAT to lead the Tasmanian judiciary into a modern, cloud-based justice system.

“This is only the beginning. The portal has become the Tribunal’s digital front door for its jurisdiction in Tasmania.”

— Jarrod Bryan, Principal Registrar, TASCAT

What’s Next: Expanding Digital Services Across Jurisdictions

TASCAT has commenced the next stage of its Department of Justice Civil Case Management Enhancement Program, which will:

Expand the portal to include Guardianship and Mental Health applications, including fee payments.

Migrate all civil and tribunal jurisdictions to the Ready Case platform.

Integrate all current and future streams of TASCAT onto the single Ready Case platform to streamline services and digitise the whole of TASCAT

TASCAT’s portal is not just a product of rapid delivery—it’s a model of thoughtful, scalable transformation with citizen outcomes at the centre.