Court Lists in Australia: Find a Daily Court List in Every State

Court lists are the daily timetables Australian courts publish to show which matters are on, when, in which courtroom and before which judicial officer. This page covers where to find the list for every federal, state and territory court, when each list appears, how to search it, and what lists leave out. It does not cover reading judgments or inspecting a court file; for those, see the court records in Australia guide and the state guides linked below.

Where to find a court list in each state and territory

Every court runs its own list. Courts often use different names for the same thing: NSW calls them court lists, the Supreme Court of Victoria a Daily Hearing List, Queensland daily law lists, South Australia case lists, and Tasmania daily lists or law lists.

The table below summarises the official sources. Publication times are what each court states on its own page; where a court does not state a time, the table says so.

For the High Court of Australia, the Northern Territory Local Court, the County Court of Victoria and VCAT, check each court's own website. We could not confirm the format or timing of those lists from the court's own pages, so we have not described them here.

Federal courts

The Federal Court publishes lists for the next day of business on its Daily Court Lists page, with a separate list for each state registry. The court says the lists are updated at approximately 4.30pm and that details may change after they are posted. If a hearing is livestreamed, the link appears on the list.

For hearings further ahead, the Federal Court directs readers to Federal Law Search. You can also register to receive the daily lists by email soon after they are published. Corporations matters are scheduled under a separate Notice to Practitioners for each registry.

The Federal Circuit and Family Court of Australia (FCFCOA) publishes daily court lists for both family law and general federal law. The family law lists are grouped by registry, courtroom and judicial officer, with a time and the parties shown by surname and initials. The court does not state when its lists are published. The lists we examined covered the next sitting day for the main registries, and circuit lists ran further ahead.

The FCFCOA says hearings "can be observed by any member of the public", subject to a judge or registrar deciding that only certain people should be present in a particular case. Family law lists carry a warning about Part XIVB of the Family Law Act 1975, covered in the section on reusing lists below. For how family proceedings run, see our guide to the Family Court process in Australia.

New South Wales

NSW courts publish through the NSW Online Registry. According to the Registry, its court lists show the date, time and location of matters "up to three weeks in the future, and one week in the past", and can be searched by case number or party name. They cover the Supreme, District, Local, Land and Environment and Coroner's Courts, the Industrial Relations Commission, the Dust Diseases Tribunal and several NCAT divisions.

The official pages do not agree on the forward window. NSW Courts' court lists page and the Local Court say the online list covers two weeks in advance, while the Land and Environment Court and NCAT say three weeks. A matter two to three weeks away may not show yet.

Each NSW court except the Children's Court publishes a list. Printed PDF lists for the next day are uploaded to each court's website and updated at 3.30pm. Our NSW court lists guide covers each court, the mobile app and the terms of use in detail.

Victoria

The Supreme Court of Victoria's Daily Hearing List includes every matter scheduled for the day with times and courtrooms. It is available from 3.40pm, Monday to Friday, for the next sitting day, with updates every 15 minutes until 6.30pm, and is updated again at 8.30am, 9am and 9.30am on the day. You can filter by keyword, date, judicial officer and division, and download a PDF.

For the Magistrates' Court, use the CMS Portal Hearing Search, which the court says allows searches "by name, court and date". Enter your case number, or your surname in the defendant, accused or respondent field. From 30 June 2026 the portal replaced the criminal and civil components of the older EFAS system, and it uses a captcha.

Two gaps matter in Victoria. Family violence intervention order and personal safety intervention order hearings are not listed in the Magistrates' Court hearing search, and Children's Court daily lists are not available online "due to the prohibition on publishing any identifying details of those appearing before the Court". If your matter is in federal jurisdiction, the Magistrates' Court asks you to contact the court. For background on Victorian orders, see intervention orders in Victoria.

Queensland

Queensland's daily law lists are organised by location. Lists for the Supreme and District Courts, which include the Court of Appeal, the Mental Health Court, the Childrens Court (Judge) and the Planning and Environment Court, are updated no later than 6.00pm for the following day. Magistrates Courts lists are updated on the day at 6.45am and again at 8.45am, allowing for overnight arrests.

If you are a party to a criminal case in the Supreme, District or Magistrates Court, the criminal case lookup can show your upcoming court event. Some cases are not searchable online, including matters with legislative or court-ordered suppression of information such as domestic and family violence.

Queensland does not offer alerts when lists change; the court suggests a third-party browser extension, without endorsing one. Calendars for each court are linked from the same page.

Western Australia

The WA eCourts Portal provides listings for all courts in Western Australia. You can search by surname or organisation, jurisdiction and building, after acknowledging the portal's Conditions of Use. The WA Government notes that some listings "will not be publicly displayed due to legislative or court requirements" and asks you to contact the relevant court if you cannot find your listing for today.

The Supreme Court of Western Australia also publishes its daily list as a PDF showing the presiding judge, court number, case title and number, hearing type and time. You can subscribe to the daily list by email or RSS. The District Court's lists show the judge and courtroom for each matter, with name search and future listings on the eCourts Portal.

South Australia

CourtSA publishes case lists for each court and jurisdiction: Supreme, District, Environment, Resources and Development, Adelaide Magistrates, suburban and country courts, the Youth Court and the Coroner. The criminal lists show the participant, case number, judicial officer, date and court, with a details link for each row.

In the lists we examined, the list for a Monday was online on the Sunday, and Youth Court entries showed initials rather than full names. If a criminal matter scheduled for that date does not appear, CourtSA asks you to contact CourtSA Registry Services.

Tasmania

The Supreme Court of Tasmania publishes daily law lists by registry and courtroom, showing the judge, jurisdiction, time, hearing type (for example, for mention, for sentence, for trial or a bail application) and the parties. The Magistrates Court says its lists are published at approximately 4.30pm each day.

Some Tasmanian Magistrates Court entries carry a note that the defendant's name has been withheld under section 194K of the Evidence Act 2001, because publishing it may lead to the identification of a witness or victim.

Northern Territory

The Supreme Court of the Northern Territory publishes a single PDF daily court list for its sittings, listing each judge, courtroom, time, case title, hearing type and file number. Some criminal entries show initials only. The Local Court has a daily court lists page on its own website; check that site for how its lists are delivered.

Australian Capital Territory

The ACT Supreme Court publishes a daily list in a calendar view, one link per sitting day. The ACT Magistrates Court's hearing dates and times page holds "the next 365 calendar days of matters listed". You set a start and end date, and results show the case number, name and hearing date, with quick filters for today, tomorrow, the coming week and the coming month.

On that page, many rows show "Suppressed" in place of a name. The page does not explain which matter types are suppressed, so if your matter is not visible, ask the registry.

What court lists do not show

Lists are built for the people who need to be in court, not as a public register of everyone charged or sued. Several categories are routinely withheld or anonymised:

• Children's matters. NSW does not publish Children's Court lists, and Victoria does not publish its Children's Court lists online. South Australian Youth Court entries we saw used initials.
• Family violence and protection orders. Victoria leaves intervention order hearings out of the Magistrates' Court search, Queensland's criminal lookup excludes domestic and family violence matters subject to suppression, and the ACT Magistrates' list shows many entries as "Suppressed". For how these orders work in each state, see AVO laws across Australia.
• Family law parties. FCFCOA family law lists use surnames and initials.
• Suppressed names. Courts can make orders restricting publication. In Victoria, for example, sections 17 and 18 of the Open Courts Act 2013 let a court make a proceeding suppression order restricting disclosure of "any information derived from a proceeding", on grounds that include protecting a person's safety and avoiding undue distress or embarrassment to a complainant or witness in a criminal case involving a sexual or family violence offence.
• Matters not yet listed. Most printed lists cover only the next sitting day, so a hearing next month will not appear yet.

Queensland's daily law lists page says that every effort has been made to comply with suppression orders and statutory publication bans, but that "the onus remains on any person using material from court files to ensure that the intended use of that material does not breach any such order or provision". Treat any list the same way.

If your matter is missing or the details look wrong

Lists change. The Federal Court and the Supreme Court of NSW both warn that details may change after a list is posted, and NSW suggests checking the night before or on the morning of the hearing. If you cannot find your matter:

1. Check that you are looking at the right court and registry, and at the list for the correct date.
2. Search by case number rather than name if you have one; names are often spelt or ordered differently.
3. Consider whether the matter is a type the court does not list publicly.
4. Contact the registry of the court named on your notice. The WA Government, CourtSA and the Victorian Magistrates' Court all direct people to the court in this situation.

If you are on bail, a missing listing does not change the date on your bail undertaking or notice. Confirm with the registry or your lawyer, and see our overview of bail laws in Australia.

Court lists, judgments and court files are different things

A court list tells you what is scheduled: the time, the courtroom, the judicial officer and the case. It says nothing about the outcome. Judgments are published separately and selectively; NSW Caselaw, for example, publishes "selected judgments and decisions", so a case appearing on a list does not mean reasons will ever be published.

Documents on the court file have their own access rules, which differ by court and by who you are. Our state guides cover judgments, file inspection and fees:

• Court records in NSW
• Court records in Victoria
• Court records in Queensland
• Court records in Western Australia
• Court records in South Australia
• Court records in Tasmania
• Court records in the Northern Territory
• Court records in the ACT

Limits on reusing court list information

Looking up a list for your own purposes is what lists are for. Republishing them is where the law and the courts' terms come in.

Family law lists. Section 114R of the Family Law Act 1975 makes it an indictable offence to communicate to the public a list of proceedings under that Act "identified by reference to the names of the parties", with a penalty of imprisonment for one year. The offence does not apply to the court publishing its own list, or to a communication approved by a court or made under the Rules of Court. Under the Act, a communication is not made to the public if it goes to a person with a significant and legitimate interest that is substantially greater than, or different from, the public's, and a private communication between a party and their family or friends is also excluded. Section 114Q is a separate offence for publishing an account of proceedings that identifies people involved.

NSW lists. The NSW Online Registry's terms prohibit downloading, reproducing, communicating and other uses of court lists, particularly commercial uses, without written permission, except for personal non-commercial use, use within your organisation, and other uses permitted by law that are fair, accurate and not misleading. The NSW court lists guide explains what to do if your listing is being republished by a third party.

WA lists. Access to the eCourts Portal is conditional on acknowledging its Conditions of Use; read them before reusing anything you find there.

Suppression orders apply to everyone, whether or not the list itself mentions them. If you plan to publish anything about a case you found on a list, check for orders first.

Frequently Asked Questions

How do I find out if someone has a court date in Australia?

Start with the court in the state or territory where the matter is likely to be heard. Several lists can be searched by name, including the NSW Online Registry, the Victorian Magistrates' Court CMS Portal Hearing Search, and the WA eCourts Portal. A name search only shows matters that court has published, so a nil result does not prove there is no case.

What time are court lists published?

Most courts publish the list for the next sitting day in the afternoon. The Federal Court updates its lists at approximately 4.30pm, the Supreme Court of Victoria from 3.40pm, NSW printed lists at 3.30pm, Queensland Supreme and District Courts no later than 6.00pm, and the Tasmanian Magistrates Court at approximately 4.30pm. Queensland Magistrates Courts lists are updated on the day at 6.45am and again at 8.45am.

Are court lists free to view?

Courts publish their lists on their own websites for anyone to view. The Federal Court, Supreme Court of Victoria, Supreme Court of Western Australia and Supreme Court of the Northern Territory lists, for example, can be opened without logging in or paying. Some portals add a step first: the WA eCourts Portal asks you to acknowledge its Conditions of Use, and the Victorian Magistrates' Court and Queensland criminal case lookup use a captcha.

Why is my case not on the court list?

Common reasons are that the list for that date has not been published yet, the matter is in a different court or registry, the name is spelt differently, or the matter is a type the court does not list publicly. Children's matters, some family violence matters and suppressed matters are often withheld. Contact the registry of the court that sent you the notice and ask them to confirm the date, time and courtroom.

Can I share or republish a court list?

It depends on the list and the use. Republishing a family law list that identifies parties by name to the public can be an offence under section 114R of the Family Law Act 1975, with a penalty of imprisonment for one year. NSW lists carry terms that prohibit downloading, reproduction and commercial use without permission, apart from personal, non-commercial and other permitted uses. Suppression orders can also restrict what you may publish about a proceeding.

Is a court list the same as a court record?

No. A list tells you what is scheduled before a court: the time, courtroom, judicial officer and case. Judgments, orders and the documents on the court file are separate and have their own access rules, which our state court records guides explain.

How far ahead can I see a hearing date?

It varies. Most printed daily lists cover only the next sitting day. The NSW Online Registry says it shows matters up to three weeks ahead, while NSW Courts' court lists page and the Local Court say two weeks. The ACT Magistrates Court hearing page covers the next 365 calendar days, and the Federal Court points to Federal Law Search for future hearing dates. If your date is further away, the court registry or your notice is the reliable source.