Premium Content Subscriber only Rockhampton’s District Court had a challenging year as a result of the coronavirus pandemic, recording the state’s lowest clearance rates for regional courts for criminal matters. The busy court had a clearance rate of just 69.8 per cent in the 2019/2020 period for criminal matters, with 341 new cases lodged and 238 cleared. It is a far cry from the 2016-17 financial year clearance rate of 103.6 per cent, meaning there was a 33.8 per cent drop in Rockhampton district court matters finalised. This is in comparison to the state’s other regional District Courts clearance rates – Beenleigh (99.5 per cent), Cairns (89 per cent), Ipswich (96.4 per cent), Maroochydore (80.6 per cent), Southport (91.1 per cent) and Townsville (88.1 per cent).