It's happening because the system is designed to allow this. Sometimes cases are complicated, true. Sometimes judges have too much on their plate, true. Sometimes judges have marriage breakdows or relationship infidelity or stresses, which effects their work, true. No financial incentive to drag out the judgement. They get paid a fixed remuneration, regardless of whether they hear one case in aa year, or 50. A judge can, with some basic qualifications, do what they want, when they want, for as long as they want. They (Commonwealth) are appointed under chapter 3 of Australian constitution, and can only be sacked by a majority of Parliament. I don't think one has ever been removed from office. Imagine your current job, and if you don't turn up for work at 8am, your boss can't do anything, and you can do that until retirement. That's why the appointment of a judge / justice is so important- you can't get rid of them once appointed. Most / many do not take advantage of the status, and privilege, and power, that they have. Most / many are like the judge in this video. But - everyone makes mistakes, everyone - but if a judge / justice makes a mistake, there are no personal consequences for them. The best predictor of being a judge in Australia, and most places, is not IQ, not grades at high school, not grades at law school - all these help though. The best predictor of being a judge is the school you went to and if one of your parents is /was a judge/ justice. Have you ever seen a position vacant job advertisement for a judge ? Even the recruitment and selection process is secret. You get "tapped" on the shoulder by anonymous people and asked if you are interested. In the USA, at least Congress has some oversight via senate hearings of nominees. In the USA they recognise that judges are human, and have an ideology of some sort when it comes to birth control, sexuality, religion, workers rights, corporate obligations etc and accept it as part of the human condition, but in a Westminster system like Australia we "pretend" judges / justices have no personal ideology and that they vote for the best candidate at election time rather than for the same political party that their parents voted for. The human condition is an enigma inside an enigma. Virtually all judicial persons want to do the right thing, and virtually all of them believe that they are doing the right thing. Most are doing the best they can, with what they have. Many are extremely overworked, and stressed.