of courts, which are comparable across the country. The district court (or County Court in Victoria) handles most criminal trials for less serious indictable offences, and most civil matters below a threshold (usually around $1 million). The magistrates' court (or local court) handles summary matters and smaller civil matters. In jurisdictions without district or county courts, most of those matters are dealt with by the supreme courts. In Tasmania and the two mainland territories, however, there is only a magistrates' court below the Supreme Court. In three external territories (Norfolk Island, Christmas Island, and Cocos (Keeling) Islands) there is a supreme court and a magistrates' court or court of petty sessions. The supreme courts are staffed by judges of other courts, usually the Federal Court. Appeals from those courts lie to the full Federal Court. As these territories have very small populations, the courts only sit from time to time as needed. The remaining external territories (including Antarctica) do not have permanent courts. In the event of a case arising from these territories, the courts of the ACT have jurisdiction. All the states and territories, with the exception of Tasmania, have a civil and administrative tribunal. These hear cases relating to lesser state or territory administrative disputes (involving some individual, business or government body). These commonly involve actions by persons bound to act pursuant to some form of devolved legislation; such as environmental regulations or rental tenancy regulations. A table of the court hierarchy and civil and administrative tribunals of the Australian states and territories follows here: See also Drug courts in Australia Law enforcement in Australia List of Commonwealth courts and tribunals Victoria Bar Association References Further reading Government of Australia