That judges are public servants and therefore accountable both to the public and the parliament I believe is correct. Other department that have this “privilege”, but are accountable to the parliament.
However, the system’s structure is to make the judicial system autonomous and independent of political interference. This has failed as the appointees are often political appointment.
This is the public concern. VCAT is a typical case in point.
Originally setup to as the adjudicator in cases where there were community concerns.
It has now been high jacked by the legal profession and has almost become as costly as the normal judicial system, failing its original objective.
One major flaw is that decisions are generally made on points of law and not really on public concern. While some people sitting on the bench have legal training, most have limited knowledge or understanding of the issues being raised. One could argue that those who have a certain expertise, it originated when they first qualified and they have not updated their knowledge.
As a community Advocate, cases where I have been involved, resulted in legal decisions, not social justice decisions. The public concerns were given little credence and basically ignored and the companies' application approved. Later these public concerns proved to be correct.
Until the law is changed to provide the same weight for community concerns as for legal argument, otherwise, it fails to provide justice.
VCAT has become too costly for the little people; Companies employ "big gun" lawyers and barristers at a cost beyond the average people.
Even the government has stepped in, in favour of those who can pay, with departments playing an obstructive role when the public request information, citing the "commercial and confidential clause", misusing the FOI or increasing fees and charges.
The result is the developer/company gets what it wanted despite council and community objections.
Many council appear to avoid making decisions of importance to local government planning and the community interests, knowing that a decision not favourable to the vested interest will go to VCAT and likely overturned in favour of the company or developer.